Celtic clubs face "financial oblivion" if they do not join English and French ...

But only the top six from England’s 12-strong Premiership and France’s Top 14

are guaranteed a place.

English and French clubs are also unhappy at the way Heineken Cup revenues are

divided, arguing they should receive a greater share on the grounds they

generate the bulk of the revenue.

However, all the Celtic League sides have been invited to join the Rugby

Champions Cup.

Craig, a bilingual businessman, having built up and sold a multi-million-pound

pharmaceutical business in France before buying Bath, has warned the

national unions and the International Rugby Board they face legal action if

they try to stop the Rugby Champions Cup from going ahead.

“If all 38 European clubs were actually given the opportunity to come into the

Rugby Champions Cup, I believe all 38 would probably agree,” said Craig, a

former scrum-half with Paris side Racing Métro.

“It’s basically the Celtic unions that would stop them from participating.

“Everyone would prefer that we didn’t go down the legal route. We all want a

competition that is a fabulous European competition.

“The reality though is that if there was to be a blockage there are

obvious questions around restraint of trade.”

Craig believes some Celtic League sides receive up to £3million for competing

in the Heineken Cup. By contrast, Craig said English clubs received some

£800,000 annually.

“The amount of money that is generated in the English and French games through

our domestic leagues accounts for approximately 80 per cent of our revenues,

so the implication of not playing in a Heineken Cup is much less serious for

French and English clubs than it is for the Celtic nations,” said Craig.

“People say the English and French clubs are greedy. The fact is we are losing

money.”

Craig confirmed English and French clubs would boycott the next ERC

stakeholder meeting in Dublin on Oct 23.

“The reality of it is that if the Rugby Champions Cup doesn’t happen, then the

Celts will not be playing in a competition and they won’t have those

distributions from that competition.

“This new competition is one in which all the clubs are invited to play and

there will be an equal distribution of money on a per-team basis.

“The unions should be approving that so there is continuity in English, French

and Celtic rugby, because if there isn’t, there would be financial oblivion

for the Celtic countries.”

Article source: http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=40037

Celtic clubs face "financial oblivion" if they do not join English and French ...