The National Cup - what is it for, exactly?

[Dear Reader. It is possible that some people of a nervous disposition may become agitated by that which follows, or read into it all sorts of slights which are not there. If that is the case could I first please direct your attention to this note, and secondly suggest that you direct you wrath to a more constructive end by engaging in the discussion via the comments link at the end. Open debate is a wonderful concept - its how we improve things].

With the first ever RFUW Junior 10s this weekend, it was interesting that last weekend the “other” club competition was still an the object of discussion among several people I spoke to at Rugby. Apparently some even have heard that the National Cup is being reviewed – I do not know if that is so, but if it is it is so its not a moment too soon and is a debate that everyone who cares about the club game should be involved in.

After all, The National Cup is – or should be - the premier club rugby competition for girls teams. A competition that everyone aspires to, thinks about, dreams about even. But it isn’t.

In fact over large swathes of the game its an irrelevance, ignored by the vast majority of clubs. Out of the whole south-eastern quarter of England (containing half of the population of the country) only four teams took part this season. FOUR. And three of them were from Herts. Other areas barely did better than that - over the whole country the number of entrants just about staggered into double figures.

The reason for this indifference is simple. To be remotely competitive you not only need to be able to field a full XV (difficult enough for many clubs), but you also need a pretty full subs bench too as opposition player numbers are not reduced if you suffer injuries.

In the real world the number of clubs capable of pulling together the 20-25 girls needed directly from their own membership can be counted on the fingers of one hand. With fingers to spare. As a result sides combine forces - as we did this season (and would do next) – or otherwise field “guests” from other clubs.

This means that the vast majority of entrants end up being, in effect, artificial combinations created for the sole purpose of entering the cup. When even superpowers like Welwyn feel the need to reinforce their squad with a few "guests" alarm bells should start ringing, and when you hear that the winning team featured players from five different clubs, resulting in a team with a remarkable five TDGs in it (more than most regional sides can manage!), you do not need to be told that something isn’t quite right.

The trouble is that is anyone ever dares to question this or even mumble “erm… just a minute here” the world falls in. “None of these girls could have played otherwise because their own clubs are not big enough” you are told, and “how dare you suggest that anything underhand was going on – no-one is breaking any rules”. You even get threatened with being thrown out of the competition.

So please do not think that I am not remotely attempting to have a go or criticise anyone or any club for using the rules to their advantage. I am not – good luck to them. They are not at fault - its the rules.

Because fact is that it would be quite stratospherically difficult to break the rules on player selection as, to put it bluntly, there aren’t any. The players do not have to be members of, or registered with, or have previously played for, the club they turn out for.

Indeed you do not even have to go to the pretence of entering under the name of an affiliated club at all! There is absolutely nothing to stop Hertfordshire - or even East Region - entering the Cup next year AS Hertfordshire (or East)! Indeed there is nothing to stop someone signing up a complete squad of TDG girls from across the land if they wanted to.

So what is the point? What is the RFUW expending all this time, effort – and money – to achieve? Because it clearly isn’t a “club competition” – certainly not one for ordinary rugby clubs representing ordinary communities (unless you define your “community” as an area in excess of 1,000 square miles). It is, in effect, an event for invitational teams – with the winner being potentially less the “best club” as the club with the “best contacts" or the “biggest phone book” – and what does the game gain from that?

As a result it is small wonder that most clubs vote with their feet and that consequently winning it carries little glory. I know who won this year as someone told me, but I challenge anyone to tell me who won in 2005/6 as even the RFUW website seems silent on the issue!

So why is the RFUW persisting with a format that most clubs do not care about, that generates more ill-feeling than anything else, that forces clubs into something close to a player arms-race, and which has – moreover - been largely abandoned at senior level?After all, its not as if there aren’t alternatives.

One idea I have heard suggested is that - if a 15-a-side event is sacrosanct - then eliminate the temptation to cherry-pick superstars and make it an event for “ordinary” club players by simply running the tournament on TDG training weekends.

It’s a nice idea – after all the RFUW does damn all for the ordinary player most of the time, other than maybe killing off their season between Christmas and Easter by allowing the regional programme to wipe out every other weekend (or three weekends in four, if the latest draft for 2007/8 goes ahead). But in practice it would require even more combining to go on, and there are plenty of “well-known” girls on the fringe of the TDGs who would become the next targets.

So why not regularise the inter-club mixtures by making it a County Cup? After all the RFUW currently does nothing at all for the county game and at least a county-based competition would result in a proper definition of who could, and who could not, play for a given team. RFU have a tried and tested set of rules based on years of experience.

Trouble is that, in practice, neither of these solutions help clubs - real, local, individual clubs - the bedrock of the game. What is needed are competitions that even relatively small – but genuine - club sides can reasonably enter on their own.

Which brings us to this weekend, and Regional/National 10s. The entry for this wasn't great this season - but stuck at the fag end of the year on hard grounds and clashing with major exams it was hardly set up for success. However fact is that 10s tournaments in the main season work well - look at the Rochford 10s, or Worthing, or Exeter, or... well, many others.

Okay some clubs might still be tempted to get in a few, well, "ringers", and in the end that is difficult to legislate against (there is a bit of a contretemps going on in the US over a similar issue), but it would be far more blatant in a 10s so most clubs would not have the brass neck to do it. Well, one lives in hope.

Moving the 10s to the main season would also give more space to the evolving "7s circuit" (Dorking, Herts, Nationals) – another format that “real” clubs can enter. It may not be the "proper game", but at least it gets girls playing a form of rugby that is accessible to even the smallest team.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Am I talking nonsense? Do you care?

If you do have a view, why not leave a few comments? And while you are about it, why not write to RFUW as well? Regardless of your views – whether you are in favour of the status quo or not – the centre needs to know. They do not have a monopoly on wisdom at Twickenham.

Its your game.