FOUR HOME UNIONS STATEMENT

THE Four Home Unions yesterday condemned the warning of a breakaway of clubs as "a threat to the integrity of Northern Hemisphere rugby."

Tom Kiernan, chairman of the Five Nations Committee, said the activities of English clubs in fermenting unrest among teams in other unions was "unwelcome, divisive and an affront to the common purpose of the Five Nations."

The Home Unions have had confidential discussions in recent weeks since agreement was reached with the RFU on the Five Nations Championship, to ensure that Northern Hemisphere rugby moves forward in partnership.

Kiernan said the unions were now actively pursuing a strategy for the future which would involve analysing current competitive structures in each of the Home Unions and assessing the domestic fixtures, current and proposed, with a view to making recommendations on further competitions on a national and international basis.

"With more top-level competitions, such as the Heineken Cup and European Conference, there will be more money to distribute to the participants, the clubs and all sections of the game," said Kiernan.

"We need to have a vision that enables rugby union to be actively managed and actively developed for the benefit of the game as a whole, rather than for partisan self-interest.

"We have an overriding responsibility to warn of the consequences of a breakaway at a time when the unions have forged a new common purpose to deal constructively with the issues of professionalism."

Yesterday's statement underlines the concern in the Home Unions, that if the breakaway of English clubs was to take place, the international structure of Northern Hemisphere rugby would be at risk.

"This is not merely an English issue to be dealt with between English clubs and the RFU. This is a shared issue that goes to the very heart of the governance of the game.

"We have forged a new partnership between the unions. It is our intention to move forward with a shared vision of the development of rugby at all levels, to maximise income into the game and to share that income equitably.

"Most of all, in a new era of change and uncertainty, the unions have a responsibility, as never before, to work together and to represent the entire game of rugby union, not merely a few clubs."