2
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/down_dis.png)
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
The Japanese Top League won't much outlast the Sunwolves in Supe. New pro comp supposedly for 2021 is September to February.
Linky (in French) -- dodgy translation below:
Katsuyuki Kiyomiya announces the creation of a new professional league!
Author Hinato
Published: 07/28/2019
With less than two months of the World Cup rugby was held today the most important and crucial event for the future of Japanese rugby, more than the World XV rugby competition! Katsuyuki Kiyomiya , appointed vice president of the JRFU last month and supports national reforms , announced the creation of a new professional Rugby League! It separated from the Top League and consists of 12 clubs, would start in September 2021.
The former manager of Waseda Univ. (2001-2006), Suntory Sungoliath (2006-2009) and Yamaha Jubilo (2011-2019) said that 12 teams would be based in the twelve host cities of the World Cup Rugby 2019 , namely: Sapporo (Hokkaido ) Kamaishi (Iwate), Kumagaya (Saitama), Tokyo (Tokyo), Yokohama (Kanagawa), Shizuoka (Shizuoka), Toyota (Aichi), Osaka / Higashi-Osaka (Osaka), Kobe (Hyogo), Fukuoka (Fukuoka) , Oita (Oita) and Kumamoto (Kumamoto).
The new league will be a closed league 12 clubs, with finally a real stadium for home games and would be held with a schedule to / between September and January / February is not overlapping with the Super Rugby . Six to eight clubs in Top League (corpo championship) were very favorable to this project. One can in particular thought Panasonic Wild Knights , who moved to Ota and will now move in Kumagaya Stadium .
The sunwolves could also integrate this league representative Tokyo . Kamaishi Seawaves , which evolves Top Challenge League (second division), looks set to represent meanwhile Kamaishi . The Top League cease to exist after the 2021 season and give way to higher national corporate clubs that would play mostly of Japanese players. More details to come on this capital project in November after the World Cup rugby .
Not sure where (or whether) GRR fits into all this??
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
So is this replacing the Top League?
Correct. And an all-time classic ad! I seem to think the phrase somehow first came to prominence in "Shogun" - the James Clavell mini-series - but I can't nail that down (Clavell was an aussie - and wrote some interesting factual/fictional stories). Does anyone recall this?
What does this Top League plan have to do with Rapid Rugby? ... Well, "wakannai naa" ... BUT ...
One thing is significant, though: The calendar being proposed will no longer overlap with a February to June window.
When there was a seasonal overlap in prospect, it was a stick used to beat down the possibilty of Japanese club involvement overseas. Obviously Japan has been booted from Super (South Africa ensured that) so there's no going back there. There is a window, however, for Rapid Rugby.
At least the top division of it, I think (assuming this goes ahead). Maybe the "industrial league" would continue on but no longer as the top tier.
Interesting:
https://twitter.com/FreemanrugbyJPN/...20799664910336
Plus an article in actual English:
Rugby: JRFU vice president proposes new pro league
KYODO NEWS KYODO NEWS - 17 hours ago - 21:54 | Sports, Rugby2019, All
Former Top League head coach Katsuyuki Kiyomiya, currently a Japan Rugby Football Union vice president, announced Sunday a proposal for a new Japanese professional rugby league.
The proposed league, which would begin operation in the autumn of 2021, would be based at the 12 venues being used to host games for this year's Rugby World Cup in Japan. A formal announcement of the plan is slated for November.
"The only way to change Japanese rugby is by professionalizing it," said Kiyomiya, who had previously coached Waseda University as well as Suntory Sungoliath and Yamaha Jubilo in the Top League.
The new league, he explained, will be a transition away from the current Top League to a new setup and could include the Japan Sunwolves, who are being excluded from Super Rugby after the 2020 season.
Kiyomiya said he had spoken to Top League clubs and said that six to eight "strongly agreed" with the plan. He said the new league's season would run from September to January or February.
Probably idealistic, but I would have thought that could then tie in very well with three or four regional teams in a higher level competition...
Are the GRR sides looking to jump to this competition?
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
There's a Russian fan from Krasnoyarsk keen to get the two teams from that city involved in GRR.
Japan would be closer, though.
I think a team based in Burkina Faso is worth exploring
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?