Root of All Evil

2014 is just a few hours old and things are already looking pretty rough. As perhaps some of you know, the Heineken Cup is my favorite rugby competition (except for the World Cup which doesn’t even count) and these are some dire times for the H Cup. The H Cup, for the uninitiated, is the champion’s league for European club rugby featuring the best clubs from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, and Italy (and theoretically sometimes Romania).

The thing is, not all of the aforementioned countries have equal representation in the H Cup which is to be expected since they don’t all have the same number of professional clubs anyway. France and England have the most clubs by far, with Wales and Ireland tying in at a distant third with just four teams apiece. Given the larger number of squads (to say nothing of generally stiffer domestic competition), it is statistically more likely for any given Welsh or Irish club to qualify for the H Cup than for any French or English team. Meanwhile Scotland and Italy, featuring only two professional clubs apiece, are both guaranteed to see both of their clubs automatically qualify for the H Cup.

This disproportionate representation has been a source of much grumbling from the French and English, who felt that their footprint in the H Cup should be larger as well as their share of the involved revenue. Both countries had been threatening to pull their clubs from the competition but the ERC (the organizing body behind the H Cup) pulled itself together and managed to get all parties back to the negotiation table. All appeared to be well and the future of the H Cup looked to be secure as far as anybody could tell.

Until last week.

The English clubs were dragging their feet, trying their best to get another competition, the prosaically titled “Champions League”, off of the ground but nobody was biting. Then along came a spider. BT Sport, a British broadcasting group, has offered the four Welsh clubs 4M£ apiece if they commit to the Champions League, an as of yet strictly conceptual competition to which BT Sport has already purchased the rights. The Welsh clubs have been falling on rough financial ground over the past few seasons and 4M£ may prove to be more than they can ignore. If the Welsh jump ship and leave the H Cup, it is unlikely that the competition will survive as much of anything. Which would be sad.

So, in summation, screw you, BT Sport. Also, screw you English rugby.

Speaking of English rugby, 2013 was a mighty fine year for Jonny Wilkinson. He won the H Cup, won ERC player of the year, PR’s player of the year, and captained the Top 14 runner’s up.

Happy New Year!

-Ryan