Having a Yorkshire name is one way of trying to create an enduring identity
and tradition behind a professional template. Our hope is that many of the
significant Yorkshire-based businesses will get behind that when they might
not have done so before if it was a totally Leeds-centric organisation.
We have a couple of key meetings taking place over the next two weeks and so
hopefully we can make a final announcement on the name soon. We have the
absolute backing of England head coach Stuart Lancaster on the project
while, in pure rugby terms, we have the possibility of something very
special and powerful to develop the game at all levels in a truly integrated
way.
There is huge potential in the county. The Leeds academy is one of the
strongest in the country: in the last 12 months it has been reviewed and
compares with the best of the Premiership clubs.
There are 120-odd clubs in Yorkshire with some excellent schools. Recently we
have gone from looking at 50 players in an age group to 250. And that is in
the space of 12 months.
There is a natural rugby union support in Yorkshire. They once got 13,000 at
Headingley for a Jonny Wilkinson visit, so that base is there, even if it
was not often shown when Leeds were in the Premiership.
I will give you a statistic. Of all the rugby union players born in England
who have gone on to represent the country, one in seven has been born in
Yorkshire. Even if you take all England
players, including those born outside England,
that statistic only comes down to one in 11. In the current England team you
have Danny Care who was born in Leeds and Luther Burrell who was born in
Huddersfield.
The England coaching set-up has a very northern influence too, with the
presence of Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree. It just shows what
a hotbed of rugby the North is.
What disappoints me most is that some Premiership clubs see what a good job is
being done in Yorkshire to develop and then come to raid the system,
something in principle they are not supposed to do. They should be producing
their own players, in their own areas.
I was lucky. I came through with the future England centre John Spencer. He
went to Sedbergh School, Yorkshire Schools, Cambridge University and into
the Headingley club.
By contrast, I went to West Park School and was told by my teacher Ken Dalby
to go try my luck at Headingley. Eight of us from the school went and joined
the Colts. Within 12 months I was in the first team, playing for them on a
Saturday afternoon, having played for the school in the morning.
John and I have remained good friends, but we came from very different
backgrounds. What it does show is that you can come through in different
ways.
And what is most important is that you have good people giving sound advice at
key points in your progress. If you have a system like that you hope the
young boys will want to play for Yorkshire.
That is what I wanted and my hope is that if there is any kid in Yorkshire who
has the talent to play for England, the programmes and the structures should
be good enough to find him, develop him, and then put an England jersey on
his back. That is my philosophy.
As you may have gathered, I am very excited by the whole project, but that is
not to say it will not be tough, as Sale and Newcastle can no doubt testify.
If you have not lived in the North and been around the rugby union game here,
it is easy to dismiss the obstacles that stand in our way – not least the
impact of having a third sport after football and rugby union as a
competitor for support.
Rugby league is a challenger for business support and crowds. We have got a
joint operation with Leeds Rhinos, and it is great to be part of that set-up
because it is probably the best in rugby league. They are the Manchester
United of that sport. But there is still no escaping the fact that union and
league are two different games and there are two different support groups.
They generally do not overlap. Sale will know all about that, too.
At Newcastle it is merely a football problem. That area used to have two rugby
union clubs in the old days, Northern and Gosforth, that were very strong,
and huge rivals. But Newcastle United is just so big there that it is
difficult to compete.
And let us not forget that Newcastle did win the Premiership in 1998, after
they had stolen a bit of a march with Sir John Hall’s money and the advent
of professionalism. But it showed what the money of a private backer can do,
and also in the same stroke that it does not last forever.
I see that Sale have now decided to move their home fixtures from Friday
nights to Saturday afternoons from next season. It is a good idea,
especially in travelling terms on a Friday night. But one of the problems is
that even if you are getting crowds of about 10,000 it is difficult to
operate business-wise.
The likes of Sale and Newcastle get nowhere near that. The highest Sale have
got at their AJ Bell Stadium this season is 6,876, and at Newcastle’s
Kingston Park it is 7,073. Even Wasps have only attracted 7,040 as their
highest crowd this season.
When you are only getting that sort of support, the salary budget should
probably be about £2 million in total. The salaries have now well exceeded
that, with the cap of £4.7 million going up again next season. Those costs
are simply not in the natural income.
Northampton have become one of the best professional clubs in how they
operate. They have made a profit for the last 13 years. They are extending
their ground, and ultimately want a capacity of 17,000. Leicester’s ground
can hold 24,000, Gloucester’s can also hold 16,000.
These are some of the best templates. They will have conferences and the like
throughout the week, as well as the rugby business. It helps having your own
grounds as they do, to allow a 24/7 business to evolve. But they are showing
the way. I am hoping that I can find a way at Leeds, and throughout
Yorkshire, to make our region and our game thrive through every level with
our own special template.
Article source: http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/its-win-or-bust-for-harlequins-says-england-hopeful-luke-wallace-9258428.html
My plan to save rugby union in the north of England
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