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Times are changing so rapidly in rugby that even the competition names now have go-faster stripes. Farewell to the familiar old Premiership and welcome, kicking off on a Thursday this year, to the Gallagher Prem. Or, strictly speaking, PREM. Who needs boring extra lower-case syllables or superfluous vowels in 2025 anyway?
Even the league’s updated logo is now bright orange to denote “intensity” and the mission to woo new fans – the younger the better – is accelerating by the week. Ask Rob Calder, Prem Rugby’s suitably bearded head of growth, what he thinks, for example, about the traditional rhythm of promotion and relegation and he does not hold back. “There’s a Victorian interest in promotion and relegation but actually that’s existential for a lot of clubs.” Sorry, are you suggesting the meritocratic English club pyramid is a Victorian concept? “Yeah. I think it’s old school. If you want the sport to grow you need to grow the conditions for ambition and investment.”
To which the obvious retort is: what did the Victorians ever do for us? Apart, obviously, from the railways, the sewers, improved public health, the invention of the telephone, the abolition of slavery, etc. And, hang on, surely English rugby union didn’t have leagues before 1987? It is Calder’s firm belief, regardless, that club rugby needs to wake up and smell the energy drinks. Given he was also among the founding fathers of the Hundred in English cricket, you might say he already has a dog in this particular fight.
So never mind about the second-tier Championship – also now retitled the Champ in the abbreviated new order – or the crumbs they would be left with. Prem clubs are now pushing for a five-year block on relegation to allow them to establish a more lucrative, ringfenced franchise league. The freshly titled Newcastle Red Bulls, in theory, could be the first of several new iterations. Bulgari Bristol v Leicester Lego Men? Give it time.
The good news is that the product, to use that unsexy word, has rarely been more attractive. Six different title winners in the past six seasons certainly indicates a healthy level of competition, albeit with only 10 competing sides. The rising fortunes of England’s national sides – male and female – should also help to attract a few more neutral eyeballs. Meanwhile 25% of tickets to the 2025-26 Prem final have already been sold before a ball has been kicked with Newcastle, for one, awaiting this week’s opening round with more optimism than has been the case in years.
And despite club rugby’s historic inability to turn a profit, the hope is that all boats will now rise on a crimson-infused Red Bull tide. “People know that, if Red Bull are involved, there’s going to be energy, it’s going to be a great night out,” Calder says. “I think it’s going to raise the game across the league and we believe it’ll create interest among other potential investors.
“That doesn’t mean clubs can’t emerge from the Champ. Of course they can. We’re very open to expanding the size of the league but we want to make sure that those clubs who come in are sustainable at the very least. I think everyone agrees we want the game to grow and our view is that the best way to do that is to create an expansionist model where it makes clubs more investable.”
With that in mind the emphasis on eye-catching derby weekends and festive fixtures will continue in conjunction with TNT as the league’s long-term broadcasting partner. Longer term, discussions continue about neutral semi-final venues and possibly staging games in the US. And, following talks with the players, Calder says the league’s shortened name reflects a harder-hitting marketing strategy. “The vernacular is important. People already call it the Gallagher Prem and we wanted to reflect that. It needed to be punchier. There was a sense we needed to modernise and be less formal and less establishment.
“The players said the product on the pitch is incredible but the way we present it is a bit too old school. We know from the research what people want from rugby. We are going to focus on physicality and intensity. On something more raw and the real athleticism that makes rugby unique. It’s a physical game and we’re very unapologetic about that. We’re putting the building blocks in place to really tell that story.”
Here’s hoping that, somewhere along the line, they still remember to cater for lovers of subtle outside breaks, flashing sidesteps by diminutive outside backs and anybody aged over 35. Rugby’s appeal, regardless of age, relies as much on its uplifting shafts of light as onrushing darkness. Particularly if modern parents are to be encouraged to let their young kids play the sport rather than steering them elsewhere.
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In that respect nothing beats watching top players close up. The majority of those involved on the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia will be sidelined for the opening couple of rounds but the on-field action should still be lively from the outset. Can Steve Diamond’s Newcastle finally escape the basement? Will Exeter, Harlequins and Leicester confound the impression that, right now there are potentially stronger, more settled squads out there?
The remaining six teams – Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Northampton, Sale and Saracens – will certainly all be targeting playoff involvement. Sarries might be another 12 months away from a trophy-clutching renaissance while Gloucester will need all their main men to stay fit.
Which leaves Bath, Sale, Bristol and Northampton as the Breakdown’s potential top four next June. On paper Bath – with Santi Carreras and Henry Arundell to add further backline fizz – should defend their title but the Premiership – sorry, Prem – is seldom that predictable. Then again, a four-letter winner of a now four-letter comp would chime nicely with today’s shorter, snappier times.
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