European Cup deal expected

Rugby/ Heineken European Cup:A meeting between all of the Heineken European Cup stakeholders tomorrow is expected to see resolution to the dispute that has ripped apart relations in international rugby and threatened the existence of the most successful rugby club competition in the world.

It is expected that Premier League Rugby (PRL), who represent the 12 Premiership clubs in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the International Rugby Board (IRB) will announce an agreement has been reached between the three bodies with regard to participation next year in the European Cup.

The expected follow-on from that decision is that the Serge Blanco-led French league sides, who have also withdrawn from the competition in a gesture of solidarity with the English clubs, will make a return too, allowing the competition to resume next season as planned.

Following a leak from the RFU to a Sunday newspaper saying they and Premier Rugby had found common ground, the IRFU yesterday issued a statement supporting the progress made over the last few weeks. While the IRFU statement did not explicitly state agreement had been reached, it did express "cautious optimism" that the warring parties had come much closer in their thinking these past two weeks.

"The Irish Rugby Football Union are pleased that it seems significant progress has been made towards reaching an agreement with regard to the Heineken Cup and the participation of both English and French clubs," said the IRFU statement.

The IRFU chief executive, Philip Browne, added, "There has been a huge amount of work behind the scenes over the last number of weeks by all parties to find a solution and we can now look forward with cautious optimism that an agreement may be signed to secure the long-term future of the competition.

"This is important news for the game on a global level but most importantly for rugby in Ireland. The importance of the competition to the professional game and in turn its influence on all other levels of the sport cannot be overestimated."

The news will allow all of the home unions to breathe a sigh of relief given the amount of money that was at stake and the potential damage the French and English boycott would have done to the burgeoning European competition, which is arguably still only in its adolescence.

Last week the chief executive of the Premier League, Mark McCafferty, said unless a resolution was found before the European Cup final on May 20th all sides would walk away, leaving the unions with a headache of how to move forward without many of their most heavily supported clubs.

McCafferty clearly also stated last week the RFU would have to afford the clubs an "equal footing" in the decision-making process that directly affected them and they would have to be consulted more seriously with regard to the structure of the club and international season.

It was also reported the IRB chairman Syd Millar was central to the negotiations, and after a blistering attack on what he called the "disgraceful and shameful" conduct of English and French clubs when they first pulled out, he quickly got down to talking to all sides.

Now Millar, Martyn Thomas (the IRFU chairman) and Tom Walkinshaw (the PRL chairman ) have reportedly signed what they are calling a memorandum of understanding.

"The work of the IRB and its chairman Syd Millar cannot be overlooked in bringing all the parties to this point and hopefully we will have an agreement in place as soon as possible," said Browne.

It is quite a staggering turnaround in such a short time, because though all parties concerned had good reason not to kill the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg, they had become entrenched and in some quarters bitter.

Keith Barwell, the businessman who took over the reins of the recently relegated Northampton Saints, even lampooned the RFU, suggesting they were a crowd of toffs who would rather sip tea with the queen than get their house in order and share some of the power with the clubs, who paid the salaries of their players.

Those scathing utterances are only three weeks old. Tomorrow we will know for certain whether, for the common good, Barwell and the other PRL chairmen have moved as far away from their original positions as Millar appears to have done.