Boycott threat to force RFU's hand

13 April 2012

Bristol owner Malcolm Pearce last night threatened to plunge English rugby into deeper chaos by stopping his club from playing next Sunday's Premiership match at Saracens.

'Unless the RFU sort out the agreement with the clubs, we are not going to play,' he said in angry response to the Union's failure to sign the peace deal which they promised the clubs.

'There is simply no point in continuing. Someone has to make a stand and I am going to force the issue.

'I shall call Saracens owner Nigel Wray in the morning and say: "Sorry, Nigel, we are not playing this match.î I will square up with him and it will be a happy release from an absolutely crazy situation.'

Such a boycott would alarm the sport's sponsors as well as the RFU amid renewed fears of a club breakaway.

But Pearce, a multi-millionaire who rescued Bristol from bankruptcy almost three years ago, insisted he was serious about going through with a threat, which would result in the Premiership descending into pure farce at a time when the clubs are supposed to be scrapping for places in the play- offs reserved for the top eight.

'I don't care if they want to fine me for bringing the game into disrepute.' he said.

'I don't care if they ostracise me or blow me out. The fine will be a petty cash docket compared to the money I've been pouring into the club. It's cost me £5million in two -and- half years and by making this stand, I will force the RFU to the table.

'The organisation is run no better than a parish council. I have enormous admiration for the RFU as past- masters at doing nothing. Nobody could be more adept at it. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone at the RFU.

'They have used and abused the club owners now for nearly five years without any recognition of what we have done for the English game.

'We have gone for two-and-a-half years not knowing what we are doing. I'm not contracted to go on losing money without being compensated and I'm just being made to look a complete fool.

'I went to an RFU-clubs meeting a fortnight ago. We were there for seven hours and got nowhere.

'This is a cry for help and I might think differently if the RFU signs the agreement without 37 amendments. But sooner or later I am going to pull the rug and there are many other Premiership owners who are going to do the same. Whether we all do it together, I don't know.'

Pearce, who threatened to quit earlier this season in protest at Bristol's lack of support, delivered his broadside after watching his club lose a dire match 24-12 to Wasps, who crept back into the Premiership's top three in another grim advertisement for the English game at the start of another week of conflict.

Judging by the shocking overall standard of their victory, the interminable political row between the RFU and the clubs is in danger of manifesting itself on the pitch, a point acknowledged by Wasps rugby director Nigel Melville.

'It's very difficult for players, coaches, owners, fans and sponsors to understand what's going on,' he said.

'We have to get this conflict sorted out so we can have a prop-erly structured season and give the entertainment we know the game can provide.'

Wasps, given more than a helping hand with two of their three tries by Bristol's blunders, remain the only club with a mathematical chance of overtaking Leicester. But Tigers would have to lose their four remaining games without taking a single bonus point and Wasps would have to win all five of theirs without dropping a single point.

Boycott threat to force RFU's hand

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