Time for clubs to take a back seat

Back in the late 80s Jim Davidson was a prophet in his own land. The former Ulster and Irish coach argued that the AIL would be a backward step and that the only way forward was through the provinces, thereby exposing our leading tier of players to higher class representative rugby. He was ridiculed for it.

Thus, last Saturday, Davidson was entitled to be doubly satisfied, both as an Ulster man and as a soothsayer. The Ravenhill epic and the upcoming European Cup final on January 30th ought to be the final definitive proof, were it needed, that the provinces must indeed be the way forward.

At a time when such considerations are exercising the minds of the IRFU and the clubs, this point needs stressing. It's tough on the clubs, but they are going to have come third in the pecking order behind, firstly, the international team, and secondly the provinces, with everything else built in around that.

The essence of Davidson's argument was that the second tier of 80 or so provincial players be exposed to as much good-quality rugby as was feasible. With the advent of a home-and-away interprovincial championship and the European Cup, this has ensured a dozen such games. Arguably, it should be a few more, and thanks to a couple of friendlies and three additional knockout games, this has meant 17 representative games for the Ulster players this season. About right, especially when added to the eight internationals pencilled into the '98-99 campaign.

This doesn't leave an awful lot of room for the clubs, yet the long-term IRFU blueprint, though more progressive and thoughtful than anything the clubs have come up with, still seems to be striving for an impossible balancing act. The proposed re-expansion of the first two divisions of the All-Ireland League to 16 clubs each also runs the risk of further reducing standards.

Starting now, and especially in next season's World Cup year, the AIL is going to have to become more flexible. Several AIL games have been re-arranged for the "free" Saturday of January 30th. Out of due respect to Ulster's achievements, there is a compelling argument for a blanket cancellation on that day.

In fact, the AIL could bend even more to accommodate Ulster at this juncture, for there is an equally strong argument for Harry Williams being allowed to bring his Ulster squad together next Monday, almost a fortnight before their decider against Colomiers, and so reduce the risk of injuries to their players. This is a gilt-edged opportunity, possibly never to be repeated, for an Irish province to achieve something historic, and everything should be done to help them.

Both Williams and the Ulster manager John Kinnear are in favour of this idea, as is the Dungannon coach Willie Anderson. It will be argued that Dungannon's backlog of matches is already too big. But there is scope for extending the season beyond mid-April into early or mid-May.

What of the provincial cups, some may ask? Well, what of them. Outside of a few parishes in Limerick, the provincial cups have long since lost their lustre. Sad but true. With other new or expanded competitions around something had to give.

The IRFU's blueprint, whereby the provincial cups are moved to the start of the season, may go some way towards achieving the right balance. Next season though, the World Cup effectively absorbs over two and a half months of the regular season, taking into account the September hibernation for World Cup squad members. This leaves about 18 weeks to accommodate the provinces' friendlies, Ireland v Argentina, a six-series inteprovincial championship and the AIL. Thus it's hard to see how up to 14 AIL Division One games and two play-off rounds can be fitted in.

All of this presumes that, of course, there will be a European Cup next season and that it will follow a similar format - questionable presumptions to make given the self-interested mentality of the little Englanders who run the English clubs and Twickenham.

It could even be that Twickenham's brinkmanship over their Sky millions and their 10-year Five Nations loyalty agreement will see them expelled from that competition as well. At times, you almost wish pan-European rugby could carry on without them.

Nevertheless, in the tangled web that is European rugby and especially the putative structures for the 1999-2000 season, who's to say what will happen? It could yet be the case that there won't be a European Cup, which makes the IRFU's premature withdrawal from the British League negotiations all the more questionable.

Basically, the IRFU and the clubs are going to have to bite the bullet on what should be the pyramid structure to Irish rugby. First off, they go to the Irish management and ask: "What do you want?" Then they go to the provincial directors of rugby and ask the same.

This won't leave the clubs with as much as they're used to, particularly next season. Conceivably, if the pan-European structures for next season come to fruition and the Irish pyramid is properly adopted, they may have as little as 10 or 12 weeks to call upon their international players at most, not the 14 league games and two knockout games devised in the expanded format.

But, if they accept the basic principle that they are going to have to play at least some AIL games without their international players, then they've plenty of scope to make their lot better; all the more so if they remember not to be hostages to tradition, and bearing in mind the following season won't be a World Cup year.

After all, what's fair about Clontarf (with two players training full-time courtesy of IRFU/provincial contracts) taking on Ballymena (with almost a full team of them), for example?

Were they to meet home and away, once with the contracted players, and once without, it would constitute a much more equitable test of the clubs' respective strength in depth and oblige them to tend to their roots as well as their cheque books. As things stand, the IRFU are funding heavily imbalanced AIL matches.

Were some games to be incorporated under lights on Friday nights, or Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons of international or provincial weekends, mightn't the attendances and bar takings be bigger than for Mickey Mouse friendlies or provincial development league matches?

Whatever about next season, the season after the clubs could improve their lot further by finally embracing an All-Ireland Cup, complete with open draw, new sponsorship and a television package.

With a little wit and imagination, being the third rung on the ladder doesn't have to be all that dismal.