London Welsh will not be promoted – Rugby News Update
The Rugby Football Union has dashed London Welsh's hopes of promotion by stating that the club does not meet the minimum requirement to seal a place in the Aviva Premiership. The club currently plays in the Champions, the first tier of rugby in England.
In order for a club from the Championship to win promotion into the top tier of English rugby, it has to firstly win the play-off, and then meet a certain minimum requirement to gain promotion. The London Welsh club had applied for independent auditors to
assess their bid, but a few hours before their first leg of the final against the Cornish Pirates, the RFU released a statement, which stated that the club will not gain promotion even if they are to win the Championship.
The main sticking point has been the failure of London Welsh to secure a primary tenure at their nominated Premiership ground - Oxford United's 12,500-capacity Kassam Stadium. The stadium does meet the minimum requirement set by the Premiership to hosts
games, and other clubs in the top tier such as the London Irish, Sale, Wasps and Saracens also share premises.
A statement released by the club read, "London Welsh RFC would like to express its grave disappointment on learning of this decision, coming as it does just a few hours ahead of the first leg of the club's Championship final against the Cornish Pirates."
"The club firmly believes that it has met the minimum standards criteria for promotion to the Premiership, particularly as regards the issue of primacy of tenure, and reaffirmed its belief in this respect in a detailed communication to the RFU as recently
as Monday May 21 highlighting its case for having satisfied the MSC."
The independent auditors did find various problems and the London based club has the right to appeal the decision.
However, the loss of one club is the gain of another. The Newcastle Falcons ended at the bottom of the Aviva Premiership and it looks at the moment that they will not be demoted as the Cornish Pirates did not apply for promotion.
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