Cloud of uncertainty hovers over Top League
BY RICH FREEMAN
DEC 26, 2018
Japan Times
The New Year is traditionally a time for looking back on the past and looking ahead.
And while the future may appear bright with the Rugby World Cup kicking off in nine months, there are a lot of people involved in the sport in Japan who are spending the holiday period looking at a glass half empty.
The 2018-19 Top League season has already come to an end despite us not even reaching the new year.
... Sources tell me there will be a cup competition in June and August — either side of Japan’s involvement in the Pacific Nations Cup — that is set to involve the 16 Top League teams and eight Top Challenge sides. Though given the heat at that time of year, the proposal has not been exactly well received by many coaches, particularly given that World Rugby has said player safety should be paramount.
Beyond that no one knows what is happening.
Some sources say the Top League
could eventually be cut in size — with a national third division introduced — to allow a home-and-away schedule. Yet that would seem to be impossible for the 2019-20 season given the Japan Rugby Football Union has already announced there will be 16 teams next time around.
... The real problem, the official told me, lies in the hands of World Rugby, which is hoping to introduce a global league involving the top 12 countries from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
The proposed tournament would be aligned with a shift in the dates for test matches, which will, from 2020, see games played in July and November. All of this means the JRFU is still
not sure as to when their
domestic competition should run, despite the view from Dublin (where World Rugby is based) that everything had been agreed upon.
... Making things even more complicated is that
a decision will not be made on the future of the Sunwolves and their involvement in Super Rugby until at least March,
by which time another Japanese team could be taking part in the new Global Rapid Rugby competition.
The word is that team will be Panasonic Wild Knights with a second Japanese side set to join in the future — though that could be a privately run venture as opposed to a corporate set-up.
With the 2019-20 Top League season set to kick off in January 2020, that means, for at least a year, there will be Japanese sides involved in three different competitions running at the same time.
It’s no wonder coaches, players and fans are unsure who they should be pledging their allegiance to.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/.../#.XCNrMtR967A