G
gchewie
Guest
Anyone out there find it ironic that no sooner have the city slicker pukes (Harlequins RFC) gotten (sorry, I meant bought) their way back into the top flight than they are no doubt behind the latest RFU airing of the idea of no drop at the end of the season for the worst team. As Harlequins being a spineless shower of money grabbing has beens are inevitably going to always be that team, anyone taking bets on that Harlequins have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that once they manage to buy their way back into the big time, they want to trap door underneath them closed, no doubt because deep down they know they are a show pony side as as such will always be bottom of teh table or damn near to it.
Quins are an amateur team at heart, as is the club. There is no heart in it whatsoever for real rugby; far too many "rugger" supporters there. Real rugby is about going to war with the opposition for 80 minutes of raw passion, intensity, power and visceral combat. Professional rugby is a faster version of the same. Harlequins being a completely souless side have no capacity for the dog in the game - they are a show pony side and always have been. They have not contributed one thing to English rugby to my memory - sure they have supplied England with some great players, but only because they flashed obsence amounts of cash, or in the old days, obscenely well played jobs, to take those players from the clubs that actually produced them and taught them how to be superb players.
However, they are one of the oldest teams in rugby history and as such, along with their traditional riches, they exert a far greater influence in the RFU than is healthy.
If there is to be a break in the reglagation rule, then we shoudl properly follow the example of American Football' franchise arrangement by having two conferences. Each should have 8 teams in it and at the end of each year, the top four sides play off against each other for the ***le. Yes, have franchises, but extend that franchise to the top 1st division sides too - Leeds, Bradford, Cornish Pirates, Plymouth Albion. If we have to suffer Harlequins to have a fair end to relagation that does not tax too greatly the players, so be it.
This would also lend itself better to a more structured season in England, with blocks of play for different competitions at the national, supra national and intenational levels. Failing that, let me add to my scap book of pain with yet more pictures of Harlequinns being relagated until one day they end up where they belong - in the third division, an amateur club who no longer influence the RFU solely for their own ends.
From www.myspace.com/chewonrugby
Quins are an amateur team at heart, as is the club. There is no heart in it whatsoever for real rugby; far too many "rugger" supporters there. Real rugby is about going to war with the opposition for 80 minutes of raw passion, intensity, power and visceral combat. Professional rugby is a faster version of the same. Harlequins being a completely souless side have no capacity for the dog in the game - they are a show pony side and always have been. They have not contributed one thing to English rugby to my memory - sure they have supplied England with some great players, but only because they flashed obsence amounts of cash, or in the old days, obscenely well played jobs, to take those players from the clubs that actually produced them and taught them how to be superb players.
However, they are one of the oldest teams in rugby history and as such, along with their traditional riches, they exert a far greater influence in the RFU than is healthy.
If there is to be a break in the reglagation rule, then we shoudl properly follow the example of American Football' franchise arrangement by having two conferences. Each should have 8 teams in it and at the end of each year, the top four sides play off against each other for the ***le. Yes, have franchises, but extend that franchise to the top 1st division sides too - Leeds, Bradford, Cornish Pirates, Plymouth Albion. If we have to suffer Harlequins to have a fair end to relagation that does not tax too greatly the players, so be it.
This would also lend itself better to a more structured season in England, with blocks of play for different competitions at the national, supra national and intenational levels. Failing that, let me add to my scap book of pain with yet more pictures of Harlequinns being relagated until one day they end up where they belong - in the third division, an amateur club who no longer influence the RFU solely for their own ends.
From www.myspace.com/chewonrugby
