New Life for the Seasonal Rugby Championship

New Life for the Seasonal Rugby Championship
Back in February 2009, the first fixtures for the inaugural Seasonal Rugby Championship (SRC) were announced. Little over a year later, and mere weeks away from the Grand Final of the SRC’s 2<SUP>nd</SUP> season, the competition collapsed in a heap of bitter recriminations. Amidst cries of financial mismanagement and atrocious governance issues, teams such as the Chiefs and Cheetahs had failed to even make it to the end of the second season. Then, the debacle that was the forced/unforced implosion of the Season One SRC winners, the Giants, heaped more manure on the slowly festering corpse of the competition.

The individual players skulked off into the night, sure that the collapse of the tournament spelt the end of their dreams of playing professional rugby for Club, Province and Country. The Seasonal Rugby World Tour, which had been arranged with such fanfare, disappeared like so much untimely British drizzle down the proverbial drains of time. Some players disappeared to play in overseas leagues, some tried their hand at a transfer to the Cricsim Rugby League, only to find further disappointment as that competition also rapidly fell by the wayside.

The Seasonal Rugby Championship was no more.

Fast forward another 12 months and the green shoots of recovery were first seen. A few former SRC players go together under the umbrella of some of the former great and good of the competition and started playing some friendly matches of Rugby. Teams led by young wingers Lucas Schaw and Regan Hutchinson took to the field to compete in the final of this friendly competition. David Dafter led the way in a crushing victory for Schaw’s team.

But could the SRC be relaunched? The first tentative toes were dipped in the water with the eventual playing of the Season 2 Grand Final. The former Vikings and Spartans management hastily reassembled their teams from the previous year and took to the green fields. It took much of the match for the former SRC stalwarts to blow the cobwebs away but the Spartans eventually emerged as clear winners; thanks in no small part to Bobby Blunder’s superb game.

But one game does not constitute a re-launch of the league. With much trepidation, Season 3 eventually started with no players knowing how long they’d be able to draw a wage from their club. Gone were the hefty wage payments and complicated financial structures of Season 2, and as a result the clubs found it much easier to live within their means. Season 3 rapidly turned into a success as rival teams from foreign climes eagerly eyed up entry into the League. As the Season reached the halfway stage, the first foreign visitors reached our illustrious shores as the CricketWeb XV took on the evocatively named Ryan Gayler plus 14 Other Cunts XV. Not long thereafter, the SRC saw its first forays into Provincial competition; with New South Wales and Australia emerging victorious from the short competition.

The SRC has continued to move from strength to strength. New players arrive every day hoping to gain a potentially lucrative contract. A new team has been granted entry into Season 4 – the Gamblers RUFC. We will also welcome the CricketWeb XV as regular competitors into the League; with many of their players hoping to tout their abilities in order to gain a Provincial spot.

This weekend sees the Grand Final of the Third Season of the SRC, followed by a potentially massive date in the Cricsim diary – the first international Rugby Union match played by SRC players. They take on the Scottish for a chance to take their first International scalp. I, for one, can’t wait.

 

Yep. Possibly straight after, but soon after.

 

Depends how busy I am.