Tuesday 10 June 2014

FIRA-AER set to be replaced and reformed?

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Following recent reforms at the top level of European rugby, the European governing body FIRA-AER for those outside the 6 Nations may also be modernised.


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The new Rugby Europe logo?
French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique reported recently that the European governing body, FIRA-AER, was set to be replaced by a new body called "Rugby Europe". These reports appear to carry a lot more credence following the inaugural EPCR pool draw for the Rugby Champions and Challenge Cups, where the "FIRA 1" and "FIRA 2" teams were drawn out with a new "Rugby Europe" logo (which curiously soon changed back to the FIRA-AER logo)

The reports suggested that the new body may have a wider influence in developing the club game, which would fit in with the reforms at the top level.
With respect to FIRA-AER, they are a small body, and don't really do an awful lot other than organise tournaments such as the European Nations Cup, along with a few Youth and 7's stuff, and aren't really in a position to execute fully what EPCR would want. The new body would likely be a more professional outfit, with more aptitude commercially than the predecessors.

There is still no word on what exactly the "Qualifying Tournament" will be, but it's possible if Rugby Europe is taking over as soon as this season we may have to wait until that is officially unveiled. Considering it was scheduled to start on September 8th, it would not be surprising if the initial edition was a cut down type of tournament rather than a fully fledged one. Rumours suggested it may be an 8 team tournament, involving 4 Italian clubs and the rest from ENC nations including Romania, Georgia and Russia, and possibly the Iberians.

4 comments :

  1. Hope to see more clubs from countries other than Italy in qualifying tournament.

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  2. An 8 team tournament and 2 teams in the Challenge Cup means 10 teams. That's plenty of opportunity for teams from other countries alongside Italy.

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  3. No, the rumours are of an 8 team tournament for the 2 places in the Rugby Challenge Cup. Not both.

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  4. http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?p=72106#p72106

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