English rugby has adopted a franchise system for the first time with promotion and relegation from the Prem scrapped from the end of this season.
In the biggest change to the club game since the introduction of a formal league in 1987, the Rugby Football Union’s council voted overwhelmingly in favour of proposals to ringfence the existing 10-team Prem on Friday, with a view to expanding to 12 clubs in 2029-30.
Entry to the Prem will be decided on a points-based system rather than simply on-field performance, with applications to be invited from expansion franchises. Birmingham City’s owner, Knighthead Capital, is interested in joining, as reported by the Guardian on Thursday.
The criteria will include minimum standards regarding stadiums and player development, as well as a commitment to operating a team in Premiership Women’s Rugby or funding a regional women’s development plan.
“We recognise that moving away from a traditional system of automatic promotion and relegation represents a significant change,” said the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney.
“However, it is equally clear that the professional game must evolve if it is to thrive. The previous structure was not delivering the financial stability, investment confidence or wider system benefits the game now requires.
“This reform is about safeguarding the future – creating a model that is ambitious, sustainable and capable of supporting the whole rugby community, from the grassroots to the international stage.”
Prem Rugby is working with the Raine Group and Deloitte to sell potential expansion franchises and bring in new investment to the league itself.
World Rugby has denied any liability after filing its first defence to lawsuits brought by hundreds of former rugby union players over neurological injuries, arguing such injuries are a “foreseeable and inherent risk” in playing the sport. Nearly 800 ex-amateur and professional players are suing World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, in a case which began in 2022 and has been beset by delays including over disclosure of the claimants’ medical records.
The claimants’ lawyers say repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows left them with serious neurological conditions and allege the governing bodies breached their duty of care by failing to protect them from those risks.
The governing bodies have always denied liability and World Rugby filed its written defence to the lawsuits at London’s High Court on Thursday, which was made public on Friday.
“World Rugby denies that the claimants ... suffered any injury as a result of any breach of duty by World Rugby, as alleged or at all,” their lawyers said.
The defence states: “It is denied that rugby union carries with it a ’likelihood’ of head and brain injury. It is admitted that physical injury, including head and brain injury, is a foreseeable and inherent risk in the sport of rugby union, and that all those who participate in the game voluntarily accept this risk.“
World Rugby also denies that it “knew at any material time of any established science supporting an association between non-concussive head acceleration events ... and neurological injury“.
The latest preliminary hearing in the case is due to take place next month. The Rugby Football Union, the Welsh Rugby Union and a lawyer representing the claimants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is one of three similar actions working its way through the courts, with governing bodies for rugby league and soccer also facing litigation from ex-players. Reuters
An Expansion Review Group (ERG) will be set up to examine the readiness of potential applicants before clubs eager to join go through a formal expression of interest and tender process during the 2027-28 season.
The Prem’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, said: “We are now firmly on the path to a more prosperous and brighter future for Prem Rugby.
Our vision is to become the best league in the world – for fans, players and investors in current and future Gallagher Prem clubs. These important changes throughout the game will help us achieve this.”
In another significant change, the RFU council also voted to strip itself of all future decision-making powers, with a special general meeting to be called to approve the reforms. The council will be repurposed as an advisory group and reduced in size, with membership of the RFU baoard and committees to be opened up to representatives of the community and grassroots game.
