After a thrilling weekend of Champions Cup semi-final action, an intriguing story began to pop up across various British media outlets earlier this week.
EPCR, the tournament organisers, have apparently been exploring the possibility of hosting ‘destination’ semi-finals in the same city for future tournaments.
Portugal and Spain have been mooted as potential places under consideration for 2025. EPCR are believed to be assessing whether it would be feasible to stage both semi-finals in a city such as Madrid, Lisbon or Porto in the future. The timing of this revelation is curious to say the least.
After all, the combined attendances across the recent semi-final fixtures at Croke Park and Le Stadium reached 114,794 – the second highest in tournament history behind only the 126,420 total which attended semi-final games at GAA HQ and the Principality Stadium in 2009.
If fans are flocking to these games, then why are Champions Cup chiefs mulling over whisking big knockout matches to far-flung destinations?
This ‘destination’ semi-final proposal has been put forward as a welcome change to the format but it sounds like the English clubs are up in arms, again.
The fact that Leinster and Toulouse – with top seedings – played their semi-finals at so-called neutral venues seems to have hit a nerve. Both teams shifted to bigger arenas in their home cities. And it sounds like it has put a few noses out of joint across the Irish Sea. Should we be surprised? This is familiar territory.
There has been no shortage of criticism and comment about the Champions Cup. The endless tinkering of the format. A confusing pool stage which only eliminates 50 per cent of the participants after four rounds. Teams sending weakened squads to South Africa and vice versa. Big English and French clubs throwing in the towel early. We could go on – thing is, this flawed tournament is a direct result of the English and French clubs holding the rest of their rival nations to ransom a decade ago.
The halcyon days of the Heineken Cup are a distant memory now, but it was a simpler time. A better product, too. It wasn’t a perfect format, far from it. The 24-team, six-pool structure was a bit bloated. It was easy to follow, however.
The winners of the six groups qualifying for the quarter-final stage, with the two best performing second-placed teams sneaking in as well. The four teams with the highest points total were given home advantage. Easy.
It made for some real drama. The ‘Miracle Match’ was the pinnacle.
The back-to-back home and away ties around Christmas time were always box office as well.
And Sky Sports were right behind it. Admittedly, the broadcasting giant can veer into the realm of hysteria when it comes to rugby coverage. The way they cover Lions tours polarises fans. But they got the tone bang on with the Heineken Cup. There was something reassuring about Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes in the commentary booth on big days.
Sky got behind Munster’s quest for the Holy Grail in a big way. Toulouse, Warren Gatland’s Wasps and a stellar Leicester Tigers side also provided plenty of great storylines.
It was a glorious era for the Irish provinces, with Munster and Leinster sharing five titles between them across seven trophy-laden seasons. When Joe Schmidt’s Leinster and Ulster met in a 2012 Heineken Cup final at Twickenham, it proved to be the last straw for the English clubs.
Along with their French brethren, they gave notice to withdraw from the tournament when the current agreement expired in 2014. After years of boardroom negotiations, a truce was eventually reached. The old Heineken Cup was to be wound up. The headquarters in St Stephen’s Green was shifted to Switzerland for some bizarre reason.
ERC became EPCR as a new 20-team tournament was launched ahead of the 2014/15 campaign. Finally, the big clubs had their way. Crucially, there would finally be ‘meritocracy’ in the qualification process. The view from England was Irish provinces were sailing through their domestic season with no threat of relegation.
Then Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty told the Guardian that the Irish clubs had it too good for too long.
‘Most of the Ireland squad will not be released for the Pro12 until rounds three or four, something they could not do if they depended on their finishing position in the league for European qualification,’ he said at the time.
The irony now is that the Premiership hasn’t had relegation since 2021. Covid-19 drove that decision. Three clubs (Wasps, Worcester and London Irish) going bust in the meantime has solidified that stance.
England’s top-flight is now a 10- team, ring-fenced competition. The URC, meanwhile, has never been more competitive since the big South African teams arrived.
We can still remember attending the second year of the Champions Cup launch in 2015. It took place at the Twickenham Stoop in south London and Simon Halliday, then EPCR chairman, was positively giddy.
The tournament had just secured Turkish Airlines as a new sponsor. The Champions Cup was going to follow in the footsteps of the Champions League, gathering an army of blue-chip backers. BT Sport were on also board as broadcasters. The only way was up, apparently.
It didn’t quite pan out that way. The extra sponsors never materialised with Heineken coming back on board as a title sponsor in 2018. It is believed that deal was substantially less lucrative than the original partnership.
BT Sports have since rebranded to TNT Sports in the wake of the takeover from Warner Brothers Discovery. TNT, it is understood, have yet to put pen to paper on a new deal ahead of next season.
Sky have moved away from the rugby market – save for Lions tours – while the terrestrial broadcasters don’t have the resources to cover a cross-border tournament which spans both hemispheres.
There are other issues with the Champions Cup. The don’t have a smartphone app, which seems like a pretty basic thing for a competition which is 10 years old.
There has been better news on the commercial front of late. Investec came on board as the competition’s new title sponsor last season in a five-year deal.
Interestingly, one line from the press release jumped off the page: ‘Investec and EPCR will focus on progressing towards a carbon neutral tournament.’
How you can manage a carbon footprint after signing off on South African clubs participating it the tournament is anyone’s guess.
Speaking of the South African clubs, that’s a whole other issue. The travel and logistics involved in taking big squads on long-haul flights to places like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria is not an easy fix. And yet here we are, hearing about more travel and more complications.
And once again it sounds like the English clubs, who collectively suffered losses of almost £25million last season, are kicking off.
This ‘destination’ semi-final idea is yet another self-serving gimmick. It’s time they piped down and got their own affairs in order.