The World Cup party is warming up nicely moving from the Group Stage to the nail biting sudden death Knock Out Phase, To the Victors will go the spoils, as reputations and fortunes WILL be made!

The winners of the World Cup Rugby tournament will be universally accepted as World Champions. On 23rd October they will raise the Webb Ellis Cup high in the air as a testament to their achievement.

Having eased through the group stages to battle all comers in the knock out phase and beating whatever is put in front of them, including the pressure cooker of a showcase final beamed to ‘zillions’ around the globe, one team will emerge as Champions.

The Champions justly elated, the ‘also rans', well they ‘also ran’. Behind the scenes the promotion men will be queued greedily for endorsement rights, IRB National Union Officials will bask in the kudos of their own Blue Ribbon event while the media crews and sponsors move on to the next ‘Big Show'.

Rugger was once a game played by ‘nice chaps’ in the spirit of fair play, embodying all that is good in a Corinthian spirit of sport. It was a game unlike any other, totally amateur without professionals.

Unpaid amateurs played internationals in front of massive crowds, with the players going to their proper jobs on Monday. Ambitious clubs were known to put a few quid in the boots of outstanding players, but rugby remained the bastion of the amateur until the dawn of the professional era.

The advent of professional rugby in 1995 has had a profound effect on the game. The ‘Five Nations’ now six, and the ‘Currie Cup’ and Super 15 competitions are regular visitors to our living rooms, courtesy of Sky television. We read only last week of yet further expansion of TV coverage into the Championship, but make no mistake the current World Cup tops the lot to evidence the immense progress ‘Product Rugby’ has made in our lifetime. 

Six previous Rugby World Cups have rocketed rugby union into a global sporting phenomenon, with the current tournament in New Zealand the ‘Big One’, a showcase for ‘Product Rugby’ on a worldwide stage unprecedented in the history of the game.

The commercial reality of professional rugby is a phenomenon of recent years that the sporting world, and especially those controllers of our game, are only just coming to terms with. 

Just when it might seem to have peaked the home nations players will return to record crowds at Aviva Premiership, Celtic League, Heineken, Amblin, LV, the Championship and oodles of branded and sponsored rugby games, cups, and leagues around the land.

‘Rugby’ has ‘Momentum’ that continues to grow and develop in a manner unprecedented in the history of our sport. It has the momentum that comes with mass media exposure. 

Yet many who love the game lament the passing of the ‘Gentlemanly' Corinthian sport that once was rugger. Professionalism has brought great gains but, conversely, there have also been losses. However, whatever your position on the ‘Pro Game’, it’s here like never before, and its here to stay.

I’ve watched with interest the growth and development of certain clubs and the demise of others. It’s interesting how some embraced professionalism to build rugby-based businesses off the field, rather than building rugby success on the field. The professional game has moved on.

Those incumbents who formed Premiership rugby Ltd are well set with their ‘franchise rights’ and a £2,500,000 parachute to protect their investment in the event of relegation. The Championship appears to be following the same path.

I believe there is still a small window of opportunity for a well-organised National League to club to climb to Championship status. The Premiership, I believe, is out of reach to all but the relegated clubs.

The Championship however, I believe will soon be out of reach for most other clubs in the land other than the present incumbents and a very few first division clubs. The ladder is being pulled up and the window of opportunity for ambitious developing clubs is soon to close...