Ealing dream remains on hold

Sadly I still can’t claim to have ever played for a Premiership club following the news last week that Ealing Trailfinders have chosen not to pursue their appeal against the decision to deny them entry to the Premiership next season owing to a failure to meet minimum ground requirements.

My own personal disappointment aside (!), it must also be a blow to Ealing’s players, members and supporters who must, at the beginning of the season, have had expectations of promotion to the Premiership if they won the Championship.

The club may well have decided that, on reflection, they were not ready for the step up – but it does seem to me that the goalposts have been shifted fairly late in the day and certainly there may be players who committed to Ealing on the basis that they would be playing Premiership rugby next season and who may be having second thoughts about committing to another gruelling season in the Championship with no guarantee of just reward.

It’s also not a great look for the Premiership to be denying entry to a club who have been consistently excellent at Championship level for a few years now.

Total Flanker – the older I get, the better I was