‘We have got what we came for’ – Championship clubs delighted as RFU makes promotion play-off decision

Dylan Coetzee 15 Jun 2024 10:54 AM

Championship clubs are delighted that the Rugby Football Union has approved promotion into the Premiership from the 2025-2026 season.

The winner of the Championship and the worst-placed Premiership side will face off in a home and away play-off battle to secure the spot in the top flight.

This will be the first time there has been team movement between the leagues since Saracens were promoted in 2021 following their salary cap breach-related relegation the season before that.

The RFU council also voted to relax minimum operating standards for promotion, which deprived the Doncaster Knights and Ealing Trailfinders of promotion in to the Premiership in 2022 because their stadiums were too small to satisfy the minimum capacity of 10,001.

The Championship will also now have better control of its commercial deals, with a tier two board being set up.

Breakthrough

Championship chair Simon Halliday praised the decision and feels it offers clubs in the second division a fair chance at climbing the ladder. He also underlined how the decision makes English rugby fair from top to bottom.

“We have got what we came for. Now our clubs – and every club – can realistically dream of promotion to the Premiership,” Halliday said.

“There is now a genuine path for ambitious clubs to rise. The top tier is reconnected to the rest of English rugby and we can use our commercial potential to fund the growth that rugby sorely needs at our level.

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“This is a result that brings common resolve to our sport, guaranteeing that English rugby remains open and fair from the lowest league to the highest.”

It is a big decision for English rugby which has gone through a tough period with Worcester Warriors, Wasps, London Irish and Jersey Reds all succumbing to financial concerns over the last two years.

England