RFU and Premiership Rugby need to work together to rethink rugby union structure, says Leeds Tykes boss

That is the message from Jon Callard, a former player, England international and head coach who now finds himself in the third tier orchestrating Leeds Tykes’ journey back to national relevance.

Callard is not pointing fingers at anyone in particular over the collapse of Premiership clubs Wasps and Worcester, but wants to use what happened to two long-standing institutions at the end of last year as a wake-up call for the game he has devoted five decades of his life to.

“I think we need to have a good look at the game and the purpose of the game,” Callard, 57, told The Yorkshire Post.

“I believe sitting here we have one of the most beautiful sports in the world, the most inclusive, we cater for all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, no matter what colour or creed, you’re always welcome to play rugby.

“And we forget that at times because we want to look at this problem, or that problem, or some organisation wants to use us as a political vehicle.

“We’re not here to be a political vehicle, we’re here to be a sport.

“When you see Doddie Weir and what a magnificent human being he was, the people that turned up to his memorial, that shows what rugby union is about, not what’s going wrong.

“There’s a lot of good things going on.”

Like many who are invested in the game, Callard has an idea how to revolutionise the pyramid to make it fairer for more clubs.

Thirteen clubs began the Premiership season - two of them have already gone bust in Wasps and Worcester - and below that there are barely a handful of clubs in the second-tier Championship who operate full-time.

Doncaster Knights do, to an extent, but Yorkshire’s highest-ranked side in the league pyramid are a long way from being flush with cash.

Last season they were in the top two with Ealing Trailfinders all season, but both were told they would not be promoted to the top tier because their grounds were not big enough.

The RFU have relaxed that criteria slightly – giving clubs time to get to a capacity of 10,001 - while Premiership Rugby recently announced they aim to ‘relaunch’ the top flight for the 2024/25 season (18 months from now).

Further down in National One, where Leeds Tykes find themselves after the club in their previous guise of Yorkshire Carnegie nearly went to the wall, the game becomes predominantly amateur.

Incorporating the lower leagues in any relaunch or restructure is imperative, believes Callard.

“What I’d like to happen is the RFU to get hold of this game, not just the Premiership clubs but what goes on below, and ask what we want from our grass roots and our club game,” offers Callard.

“I would love to see the Championship below the Premiership split into two teams of 10, regionally, so a south Championship and a north Championship.

"They all play each other and then the top four play-off and the winners out of that have the right to challenge the Premiership.

“It takes a bit of thinking but at the end of it you’re doing it for the right reasons, we need to understand what the game is about.

“It doesn’t take huge amounts of money, the top end is something else, the league structure and everything else, what do we want from the club game?

“When I was playing for Bath they were running out five or six teams, now they’re barely running out one or two. What is it we need to do to change that?

“Is it the advent of professionalism? Is it because people are travelling too far? People cannot risk giving up their jobs.

"Let’s find out what it is and if we need to at the lower levels, let’s change the game slightly.

“I’m not pointing the finger at the RFU, this is a chance for everybody to look at the game and what we want from it.”

Now 57, Leicester-born Callard speaks from a position of enormous passion for the game that has given him so much.

“I’ve been in this sport 52 years, I learn from it every day,” said the Tykes’ director of rugby, who 18 years ago orchestrated their Powergen Cup final triumph over his former club Bath.

“I like to think I give back to it every day, it is a sport you do give back to, and it’s a sport that is blessed because it caters for 99 per cent.

“The values I’ve been able to develop and I’ve been lucky to learn from are being in a team environment which was tough, you respected your fellow mates, you respected your opposition and you respected the game. That came from the value of playing rugby, and that’s what we need to get back to.”