Latest news with #BruceCraig
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Bath 37-12 Lyon: Johann van Graan's side seal second part of treble with European Challenge Cup final win over Lyon as Sam Underhill escapes red
Two down, one to go for Bath. An historic treble inches ever closer. This European Challenge Cup success followed March's Premiership Rugby Cup victory. Now, only the Gallagher Premiership – the holy grail for millionaire club owner Bruce Craig – remains outstanding. Win that and Bath's class of 2025 will seal their place in history. Bath are certainly favourites for the league title having already sealed a home semi-final. Winning three trophies in one season would be beyond Bath's wildest dreams. Here, they benefited from the decision making of referee Hollie Davidson to get the better of a resilient French side in Lyon. Davidson became the first woman to officiate a European final. But she should have sent Sam Underhill from the field for dangerous tackling in the first half. That she didn't amounted to a game-defining moment, allowing Bath to end a 17-year wait for a first European trophy. Davidson lacked control of the game, with Bath captain and player of the match Ben Spencer allowed to benefit to his team's advantage. It left Lyon not only beaten, but understandably frustrated. 'I'm grateful and incredibly happy for all the people of Bath,' said Bath head of rugby Van Graan, after his team recorded the biggest Challenge Cup final winning margin since 1998. 'I think Hollie had an excellent game. I'll stick with what the officials decide. The best is yet to come. I'm ecstatic for all involved. 'I've been coaching for 23 years but what happened was special. This is a champion team now. We'll try to get better and better. There are more things to conquer.' Spencer said: 'We speak a lot about working hard for each other. That's something we really pride ourselves on – when we go down to 14 men and how hard we want to fight. To not concede in that double yellow card period was outstanding. 'The togetherness in this group is absolutely unbelievable. Our boys showed a different level of intensity we haven't seen yet this season. 'I'm so proud to give the fans what they deserve after so many years of hurt.' Cardiff's Westgate Street was lined with Bath fans hours before kick-off, Van Graan's players choosing to walk to Principality Stadium from their city centre hotel to embrace the electric atmosphere. After years of misery, Bath's loyal supporters are now thirsty for success. They made Cardiff a cauldron and inside the ground, the roof nearly came off as Spencer led his team in a last pre-match lap. Lyon started quickest, however. Ethan Dumortier opened the scoring after his corner try was approved by TMO Mike Adamson. Finn Russell responded with a penalty. It was a scrappy opening. Will Butt charged through midfield. He couldn't find the killer pass, but it also didn't matter as hooker Tom Dunn soon barged over. Russell converted. Spencer kicked a 50:22. Slowly, Bath were getting on top and Max Ojomoh made it two. Underhill had been at the centre of Bath's power game, excelling on the flank. But when he collided head-on-head with Lyon's wonderful Georgian attacker, Davit Niniashvili, Underhill should have been shown a red card. There was no mitigation or excuse for him hitting Niniashvili so high. Davidson decided on showing yellow only, arguing there was mitigation as Niniashvili had changed direction. It was a clear nonsense and yet another reminder that while rugby continues to talk about protecting player welfare, it does not follow that with meaningful on-field action. Davidson then had to show the same card again, Will Muir joining Underhill in the sin bin for upending Dumortier in the air. With Bath down to 13, Lyon had to strike. Dumortier was at the heart of everything. He thought he'd made it a brace, but his effort from a long line-out throw was ruled out for blocking. It was salt in the wound for Lyon that it was a combination of Underhill and Ted Hill which stopped them scoring before the break. Russell kicked a penalty when the action resumed. But with Muir still in the sin bin, Arno Botha breathed life into Lyon's comeback. It didn't last long. Immediately after Van Graan introduced more power from the bench in the shape of Thomas du Toit, Guy Pepper and Alfie Barbeary, Beno Obano was driven over. When Spencer followed that with a try of his own after fine work by Tom de Glanville, it ended the game as a contest. Russell's third penalty only rubber stamped that. Bath just have too much brute force for most teams and it will be a surprise if they don't add a domestic crown to their burgeoning trophy cabinet in the weeks to come. Lyon coach Karim Ghezal said: 'We didn't score when they were down to 13. 'One of their yellow cards was rather dodgy. I will never complain about refereeing. 'Protection of the players is very important.'
Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Phil Dowson: Make Premiership a franchise league or clubs face oblivion
The Northampton Saints director of rugby, Phil Dowson, has warned that English clubs will 'sleepwalk' into financial oblivion unless the Premiership is relaunched as a ring-fenced franchise league. The Times revealed last week how the radical plan to split the Premiership from the rest of the rugby pyramid would trigger the biggest change to professional rugby in England since the introduction of the league system in 1987. Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, has endorsed the proposal by stating that promotion and relegation 'doesn't currently work' in the English game. Bruce Craig, the Bath owner, said that removing the threat of relegation would attract new investors to the league. Sweeney's comment triggered an angry reaction in the Championship. One club's source said Sweeney had 'crossed
Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Sugar daddy era is over. What happens next will make or break Premiership
We are on the verge of the second era of English professional rugby. The initial era began with the outbreak of professionalism emanating from the southern hemisphere. The RFU handed the responsibility of the elite English club league to a band of committed individuals with a long-established love of the game. The likes of Northampton Saints' Keith Barwell were heroes. They sustained their clubs and, with it, the early years of professionalism. Bruce Craig has funded Bath through dark times to the bright present. In one way, the first decade of the professional age wasn't that different to the final hurrah of amateurism. Individual businessmen accepted the challenge to ensure their beloved teams were competitive. The businessman and fanatical Bath supporter, the late Malcolm Pearce — who ironically was never to own Bath but their great rivals, Bristol Bears — employed the likes of Gareth Chilcott, Ben Clarke and Steve Ojomoh in the dying days of amateurism. These were players with the mindset of professionals but the incomes of amateurs. The arrival of national leagues accelerated the growth of the game in England. A sport that had been an excuse for a few beers at the highest levels was now competitive at the top end. Yet while in 1996-97, the National League Division One had 12 teams, all those years later, there are a mere ten teams in the top division — now the Gallagher Premiership — and a great deal more financial risk than back in the last century. Phil Dowson, Northampton's director of rugby, spoke this week of more confident investment and pointed towards a question central to rugby union's future: whether the sport is business, or the business is sport? In the first era of professionalism — the days of the so-called 'sugar daddies' — that was a valid question, but we are entering times when all kinds of investment are perceived as the future of the club game. The answer is broadly united. The dream of the men running the Premiership is to save the sport by making it into a hard-nosed business. Theirs is a world in which meritocracy on the field is secondary to the long-term benefit of the game. And maybe it is. Maybe relegation is the existential threat to the English professional game. Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, said that: 'Promotion and relegation doesn't currently work.' The most interesting word he used was 'currently'. Is this a sap to the traditional voice of Twickenham, which sees the Premiership as the problem, not a solution? Not a chance. 'Currently' translates as 'forever'. Sweeney spoke of an intention to grow beyond the initial ten teams, but only clubs who can present the right business case will be granted entry. I am not taking the side of either the pro or anti-relegation lobby. Promotion and relegation isn't the essence of the impasse in which the professional English club game finds itself. We are witnessing the crunch moments where sport becomes, first and foremost, a business. This is portrayed as wholly positive but an awful lot of business is run for the lopsided profitability of the owners. Investment in rugby is being portrayed as wholly beneficial. Rugby union doesn't bare comparison with the giant that is the NFL and the stripped-down entertainment of the Hundred in cricket. But private investment sees an opportunity to grow the game. There's no doubting the parlous state of the sport but what we are being sold sounds extremely short term. Do we want the English club game to thrive and survive for ten or 20 years only to stagnate for eternity — the investor profits long taken? After all, investors do, I presume, invest for profit as well as sport's well-being. In the long term ten teams will grow to perhaps 20 with good financial practice. There will come a time when expansion will stop. The numbers can't multiply on and on. Then what? Well, just as clubs who present the right business credentials will have an opportunity to become part of the Premiership package, so those who fail to meet corporate criteria can be dismissed. The most subjective way to decide whether a club should maintain its position or not is on the field. Or it was, until the sport started on its final leap towards becoming first, foremost and only a money-making business. Sweeney dismisses any comparison with the thriving French leagues. France has a history and tradition all of its own when it comes to the club game. The English club game was on its 15th pint in the clubhouse when Bayonne were packing the crowds in against Biarritz. The clarion call for immediate investment is marketed as the short-term salvation. I understand the Premiership's short-term needs yet the arguments seem rushed. In a ten-team league, two games a week tend to be irrelevant if Newcastle Falcons or Exeter Chiefs are involved. How do their hammerings away to Bath and Gloucester respectively last weekend help to market the Premiership? Meanwhile Vannes, newcomers to the French Top 14, had a thrilling victory against Toulon last weekend in their fight for survival. It's gripping stuff for the French TV audience. France's long-term focus on what happens on the field seems more of a template than what the Premiership has offered in the shape of Newcastle in the past few years. A closed shop is worrying. The debate is not straightforward, whatever your age and sporting preference. And yet there is a rush to turn rugby into business as the sugar daddy era gives way to the age of the investor. Who knows; it may well make the Premiership. It could also break it. One thing for sure. It is too important a moment to allow anything to be hastily decided upon.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IPL-style Premiership revamp suggested by Bath owner
Scrapping relegation and relaunching the Premiership as a collection of centrally licenced franchises, similar to cricket's Indian Premier League, would bring investment and stability to the tournament, says Bath owner Bruce Craig. Major changes to the top flight are being considered by English rugby's powerbrokers after Wasps, Worcester and London Irish's bankruptcies knocked confidence and dented finances among elite clubs. Cash-strapped Newcastle, who are bottom of the table this campaign, have been up for sale since November, while every club in the league operates at a loss. Craig believes the threat of dropping into the second tier, which operates on far smaller budgets and income, deters fresh investment and tempts current owners into unsustainable spending. "The instability it breeds has led to short-term decision making, investor uncertainty, and, in a number of cases, financial ruin," Craig told the Times. "Persisting with a system that restricts investment and prevents long-term growth is no longer an option "Under a new franchise system, clubs will no longer be forced to gamble their future for short-term survival. Instead, they can focus on building a robust, sustainable, and commercially attractive sport that engages fans across the country." Such a radical change would require approval from the Rugby Football Union Council, whose 62 members represent the wider game and is unlikely to be made imminently. Licences for a revamped Premiership, which could be time-limited, reviewed and potentially revoked, may be a route to gradually expanding the number of teams competing. The division consists of 10 clubs, but had plans to expand to 14 teams before Wasps, Worcester and London Irish went out of business. Promotion and relegation between the Premiership and Championship was paused in February 2021 because of uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic. Although the link between the divisions was, in theory, restored this season, only Doncaster Knights were judged to have met the Premiership's minimum criteria around facilities and finances, with no other side eligible to contest a two-legged play-off against the top-flight's bottom side. Doncaster, however, are sixth and out of the running for the Championship title. Leaders Ealing Trailfinders and fourth-placed Coventry – the other two clubs to apply to be assessed – were judged to lack sufficiently solid plans for expansion of their home grounds in an independent audit. Coventry chief executive Jon Sharp has said his club would be interested in the franchise route, while expressing concerns that the model could shut out other sides with ambitions to compete at the highest level. Worcester, restored under new ownership, are set to return to an expanded Championship next season, while Wasps and London Irish also have aspirations to return to the top level after being bought out of administration. Multi-millionaire Craig bought Bath in 2010, but has only recently seen his heavy investment pay out in a sustained challenge at the top of the table. Last season, Bath lost out to Northampton in their first Premiership final appearance in nine years. They are 15 points clear at the top of this season's standings and into the European Challenge Cup semi-finals. "This is not about self-interest," he added. "It is an acceptance of the perilous state today of English club rugby. It is about aligning club rugby in this country with the world's strongest sports competitions, almost all of which use an expansion model rather than a system that deters investment through the constant threat of relegation." Listen: Sport's Strangest Crimes - Bloodgate Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast
Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Times
Bath owner: Premiership must become franchise league with no relegation
The Bath owner Bruce Craig insists Premiership Rugby has no option but to relaunch the top flight as a ring-fenced franchise competition — and push through the biggest change to the English club game since the introduction of leagues in 1987. Craig is the first Premiership official to confirm publicly the league's 'transformative' franchise vision, with an ambition to break away from the existing club pyramid and implement the new structure as early as next season. Premiership Rugby has been moving towards this point since negotiating a moratorium on promotion and relegation during the pandemic. Work has accelerated over the past year, with a succession of developments revealed by The Times that included: • Plans to rename the league• New branding that leans heavily
