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Quietest this section has ever been?

Rinkadink

First XV
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Joined
Jul 16, 2016
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1,946
Club or Nation
Bristol
Does this follow the downward trend in attendance figures and money in England's second tier? How does it get fixed? Is ring fencing inevitable? Will another club go to the wall like LW before something changes?
 
More and more people abandoning tier 2 rugby. You would have to be a masochist to watch this rubbish on a cold winters day/night. There are so many more enjoyable and important things to do these days. Such as paint the house and go to the pub. At least there we can watch something exciting like frisby golf on TV. Bristol excluded from this because they have actually assembled a premiership ready club. I don't understand why they aren't winning by 30 every week. Today I watched Scottish vs Richmond on TV/internet. I cannot believe how bad Scottish are with at least some experienced 'not-totally useless' ex premier club players. I don't think they wanted to pass the ball out to wing once. They either kicked the ball away or when it gets to anywhere looking like a center or someone in space, they run back to the pack for zero yards gained. Why? If you are useless and at the bottom at least lose with some class and ensure paying public leaves having seen an exciting game. And please don't tell me this is impossible.....think NPC/Mitre 10
 
I think that it really doesn't help that we now get 4 matches per week on TV; so English rugby fans can (more than) get their fix from the top level without leaving the house / pub.

I really hope the proposal of shrinking the Prem, increasing the number of promotion/relegation spots and properly funding the Championship actually comes off (even if we have to pay the price of ringfencing between the championship and ND1).
I do think that we can support 2 tiers of professional rugby, but the 2nd tier will need charity to get there. The longer we leave it though, the tougher it will be to realise, and we may have already left it 3-4 years too late - it would have been relatively easy when the salary cap was £3.5M; not so easy now that that's doubled, and the increase has gone on individual salaries rather than squad depth.
Of course, any TV deal would also need to include compulsory broadcasting of the Championship - I've always felt that 2 Prem and 1 Champ match per weekend is about right; I also feel that the Prem going up to 4 matches has saturated myself for rugby, and I now pick and chose which matches to watch, rather that watching anything and everything.
I stand by my proposal of a domestic cup competition between the Prem, Champ and however many invitational teams are needed to make it happen (which can be drawn from ND1, or the Welsh/Irish/Scottish); with limits on experience. This would A] be more interesting than the AWC or B⁣ B] give the opportunity for giant slaying C] increase the variety of teams any 1 club can play against over a season, or multiple years.
 

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