John Dawes wants to fight RFU ruling – Rugby News Update
John Dawes, the Club President of London Welsh, a club that plays in the Championship, the first tier of rugby in England, has stated that Chairman Bleddyn Phillips will take every possible action to ensure promotion into the Aviva Premiership, the top tier
of rugby in England.
London Welsh wanted to gain promotion to the Premiership, but the Rugby Football Union has stated that the club does not meet the minimum criteria for promotion. Dawes was dazed by the decision, calling it confusing.
"If you get the results, it should be sufficient to seek promotion but it doesn't look that way," said Dawes.
"The criteria by which we can go into the Premiership, we have met, and I understand there are clubs already in that division who are in the same boat that we are.”
He was alluding to clubs in the Premiership that have a stadium sharing agreement with other clubs, such as London Irish with Reading, London Wasps with Wycombe Wanderers, Saracens with Watford, and the Richmond-based club signed a similar agreement with
Oxford United for their Kassam Stadium.
Dawes also spoke about Phillips and said that the Chairman will do anything possible. He has already stated that he will fight a legal case.
"We are lucky we have a chairman with such resolve. We have fulfilled the playing conditions laid down by the RFU, we have won the division. If we win the play-offs we should be promoted,” Dawes said.
The London Welsh club have already won the first-leg of their Championship final by beating the Cornish Pirates 37-21, and it looks for certain that they will clinch the title in the return match. Dawes was a Welsh player as well, a legend at the Old Deer
Park, and he played with greats such as Mervyn Davies, JPR Williams, Gerald Davies and John Taylor.
The RFU in their decision had stated that the London Welsh club had various failures, and it was not restricted to the stadium only. Their loss is going to be the advantage of the Newcastle Falcons, as they look certain to stay in the Premiership, following
their last place finish at the end of the season.
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