Sorry, I thought I'd bring this over here. Presumably this move is the Spanish union following advice from World Rugby? Although I wonder if the primary motivation is that there is no money in Sudamerica at the moment so Perez and Hourcade are looking to increase their salary.
Spanish rugby is very confusing. It struck me as being very conservative and resistant to change, but then it accepts the South Americans and I couldn't believe three clubs agreed to send a joint team to the RESC. Perhaps if another such team is created this will enable a bridge between the Spanish club vision of the future and the Sudamerican Chile/Uruguay model (which I think Hourcade will be keen to pursue rather than something Argentinian).
Hourcade is on the record as saying each South American nation has completely different requirements that necessitate a different approach. So hopefully he takes the this into account for Spain. For Portugal I imagine it is simpler to just copy and paste the Chile and Uruguay approach using the Lusitanos in the RESC? Either way, I think he is a decent man to have in your corner.
Thank you, it makes sense to have it here.
I guess it is an imposition from WR, if we don't want to lose their grant.
And I surely prefer this kind of obligation compared to have to hire Kingsley Jones (or Lyn Jones) as coach, for example.
Hourcade has always used Spain as a cash cow (every time he comes, he finds time to do a couple of well paid masterclasses and symposiums), so I agree with you on that they might have a monetary interest on the job.
But bear in mind that our Union is quite poor nonetheless. I prefer paying Pérez than losing the grant, but part of the grant will have to be used in paying Pérez.
Spanish rugby is very disjointed, so it is understandable that it is confusing if you see from the outside.
Different clubs and regions have different realities, views and interests, so they might have totally different approachs.
And it is true that the union is somewhat conservative. Basically it is a very amateur and small organization, with a leadership elected weirdly by regional unions, the clubs playing in the top divisions, and representatives of the referees and the players, which ends being focused in clientelism, with the national team being just a minor concern of the electors.
The current management supports an "open" NT, with the French players and some naturalised players from Spanish league, as it believes that success of the NT can attract attention to the sport, but there are many conservatives which would prefer to have a "pure Spanish" team (and the last time they took power we almost ended in the Trophy).
And then the interests of the clubs clashes often with the interests of the Union and the NT. Some clubs dream of becoming real professional clubs, and are starting to request compensation from the Union for using their players, or the NT to release their players if there is a clash between international games and club games. They resent that the Union is much more considerated with the French clubs regarding players releasing, but it forces release on the Spanish clubs even for "friendly" test matches.
And the most important of these clubs are the two Valladolid clubs, which are also leading the joint team playing the RESC (with minimal involvement from the Union), and are the main support of the opposition block to the current direction of the Union (which lost the last electrions), and also have ties with Sudamerica Rugby (they wanted Spain to send a team to SLAR, for example, and apparently discussed it with Hourcade without the Union's knowledge).
So I understand we are sending mixed messages from all these different groups within Spanish rugby.
The problem with a second franchise is that it wouldn't be clear who would own it.
If it is the Union, clubs will fight it over player availability and over which clubs are allowed to use these players in the domestic competition (which is not a problem now, as the current franchise is owned and manned by three clubs). I guess that's the reason the Union didn't want to have anything to do with RESC and offered the clubs to take charge of it if they wanted.
But if it is owned by clubs, there isn't any other region with strong enough clubs to support it. Catalonians are trying their own thing (Barcelona Diables playing in the Cheetahs circus league), without much success. Andalousians and Valencians are strong grassroots rugby communities providing many players to the NT, but lack strong clubs. The Basques are quite isolationist (even though the current president of the Spanish Union is Basque), are divided in dozens of small clubs and are always trying to knit close ties with the French Basque clubs, more than with the rest of Spain. And Madrid has dozens of clubs, but all of them, bar Alcobendas, are amateur social rugby clubs without the capabilities or the ambition to push for a professional franchise.
So I see difficult to develop a franchise system for Spain. Semipro clubs fit better with our reality.
My understanding of Portuguese rugby is that it is quite similar to Uruguay's, with amateur clubs concentrated around Lisbon, so the Uruguayan system should fit them perfectly.
