Let the rest of the world talk about Eric Wynalda’s preferences in oral sex givers. We’ve got ourselves a full-scale rugby union soap opera on our hands!
You probably aren’t familiar with the Heineken Cup, but it’s pretty much the rugby union equivalent of the UEFA Champions League. The best clubs in Europe qualify to compete in the H Cup every season, and it’s considered one of the most prestigious trophies in all of rugby.
Oh, but it’s in turmoil, folks. England’s Rugby Football Union is having a scrum with Premier Rugby, the organization that represents England’s top flight rugby clubs. Premier Rugby wants to be a direct stakeholder in the H Cup, but the RFU is trying to block this, because it wants greater control over England’s rugby players.
Because of this spat, the French Ligue Nationale de Rugby has threatened to boycott the H Cup, claiming that the RFU are being doodoo heads, and that’s hurting the future of the competition. Besides, France is hosting the Rugby World Cup next fall, and it doesn’t have the time to mess with this stupid H Cup, anyway.
Premier Rugby, meanwhile, says that if the French clubs pull out, the English clubs will pull out, too. The RFU, which claims that Premier Rugby is under contract to participate until 2009, responded by turning off Premier Rugby’s web site. (Here’s how that site looks as of this afternoon.) That’s just mean. Bad Rugby Football Union! Bad!
The whole fiasco will end up in a courtroom in a few months. The BBC has a good Q&A about the whole situation here. Meanwhile, rugby league fans up in the North are just sitting back and having a good laugh at those poncy union-playing Southerners — probably while drinking Heineken. But hopefully not. Heineken is crap. Pass that Newcastle, mate…
