Cheshire Chair of Selectors, Dave Partington on what county rugby means to players
Having just seen his side win a tough encounter against Yorkshire at the weekend, Cheshire Chair of Selectors Dave Partington spoke about the meaning of the County Championship for the players in the modern game.
Situated at the back end of a long hard club season, it could be a fair judgement that there is little appetite for the competition among many within the game, but you certainly won’t find Partington agreeing with them.
“Most players that you ring, come and want to play in the County Championship, for what it represents. Whether you like it or not, everyone has an ego, they like to be tapped on the shoulder to be told ‘we think you’re a great player, will you come and represent your county?’
“Of course then it leads to Twickenham, and potentially an England Counties tour. I think the England Counties aspect of it is also another hook.
“You go down to the lower leagues, and there are players that you pick who would die for it, and will have gone away from the biggest day of their lives having worn a county shirt. People from the likes of Northwich, Lymm, Wilmslow, down at level six, which is what we have had to do over the last few years – we have a Northwich player play for us on Saturday, and he did brilliantly.
“Don’t forget that when Ben Foden first played for Cheshire, he was playing for Chester.”
But he understands the pressures of those who play at Championship level when he said: “Some of the players at the top end, maybe in the Championship, will have been training since June, and it’s five or six days a week, so for them, this is their only holiday. May is the only time when they don’t put their boots on, so I can quite understand why that becomes an issue.
“This is perhaps a slightly Corinthian view, but if you are a professional set-up, do you need to have them there for eleven months of the year?
The timing of the County Championship was another issue he discussed: “Everything that’s in the structured season deserves its place. Just as international and representative rugby deserves it. The problem that it has had is finding its place, because of the leagues having been expanded and the league season being set in stone
now.
“If anything I think it gets viewed in the light of what it was, as opposed to what it is now. What it was, before the introduction of leagues, was a stepping stone directly from the clubs, up the ladder, and on to regional representation and then the England side.
“Obviously that has gone, but it still represents the only form of representative rugby for anybody playing outside the Premiership, so does it have value?
“I think the biggest problem is that it is viewed in the light of what the previous championship represented, and the answer to the question is that it’s not serving the purpose of what it did. What it does, is that it is a vehicle as the only competition for anybody outside the Premiership, and on that basis I can only judge it on what it means to players.
“You get a squad of 30 at the end of a hard season who certainly in the north of England and some parts of the south west see it as a fantastic competition. You’ve got three games and if you’re successful you play at Twickenham.
“The Premiership and the professional game, if it didn’t have what is referred to as the ‘community game’ my feeling is that without those foundations, the rest would crumble.
“The first time David Strettle stepped on to Twickenham was in a Cheshire shirt in the final of the County Championship.
“I had a conversation with Steve Diamond and Jim Mallender, and they thought that for the right players, it was a fantastic way of getting them through the Academy system to give them an experience which could lead to a final at Twickenham, and you can’t take that way, and it does add value.
“I know that it is supported strongly in Lancashire because there is a great tradition there, Yorkshire are exactly the same. I wouldn’t have it any other way, because in the north, we have to take it seriously, because if we are not going to do it for 80 minutes, then it is not going to happen.
“We are given the opposite of every other side that these players play for. We are given very little preparation time, and they are just thrown together. It is a great growing up process, being thrown together in a changing room, not knowing each other. Being thrown in to a situation, they have got to respond.
“It’s not a slow burner like it is within a club. The only time that players will tend to mingle with their opposite number is when they have been on a tour, so when England Counties comeback, and the players get off the plane having been away for two weeks, will then meet each other in opposition, and it’s a course for dialogue. The benefits of this type of environment are not purely rugby, and it’s something that I think is extremely important.
“The unfortunate thing for the County Championship now is that it is judged in the light of what it was previously, and it is a completely different competition now, there is no doubt about that.
“It is the same principle, but doesn’t have the same gravitas. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t got value, and if you took it away, there would be absolutely nothing but the club grind for every player outside of the Premiership. That is the choice that is there to be made. Everybody might have a moan about it, but take it way, what have you got left? Club rugby, and that is it.
“I think that is really unfortunate.”
Situated at the back end of a long hard club season, it could be a fair judgement that there is little appetite for the competition among many within the game, but you certainly won’t find Partington agreeing with them.
“Most players that you ring, come and want to play in the County Championship, for what it represents. Whether you like it or not, everyone has an ego, they like to be tapped on the shoulder to be told ‘we think you’re a great player, will you come and represent your county?’
“Of course then it leads to Twickenham, and potentially an England Counties tour. I think the England Counties aspect of it is also another hook.
“You go down to the lower leagues, and there are players that you pick who would die for it, and will have gone away from the biggest day of their lives having worn a county shirt. People from the likes of Northwich, Lymm, Wilmslow, down at level six, which is what we have had to do over the last few years – we have a Northwich player play for us on Saturday, and he did brilliantly.
“Don’t forget that when Ben Foden first played for Cheshire, he was playing for Chester.”
But he understands the pressures of those who play at Championship level when he said: “Some of the players at the top end, maybe in the Championship, will have been training since June, and it’s five or six days a week, so for them, this is their only holiday. May is the only time when they don’t put their boots on, so I can quite understand why that becomes an issue.
“This is perhaps a slightly Corinthian view, but if you are a professional set-up, do you need to have them there for eleven months of the year?
The timing of the County Championship was another issue he discussed: “Everything that’s in the structured season deserves its place. Just as international and representative rugby deserves it. The problem that it has had is finding its place, because of the leagues having been expanded and the league season being set in stone
now.
“If anything I think it gets viewed in the light of what it was, as opposed to what it is now. What it was, before the introduction of leagues, was a stepping stone directly from the clubs, up the ladder, and on to regional representation and then the England side.
“Obviously that has gone, but it still represents the only form of representative rugby for anybody playing outside the Premiership, so does it have value?
“I think the biggest problem is that it is viewed in the light of what the previous championship represented, and the answer to the question is that it’s not serving the purpose of what it did. What it does, is that it is a vehicle as the only competition for anybody outside the Premiership, and on that basis I can only judge it on what it means to players.
“You get a squad of 30 at the end of a hard season who certainly in the north of England and some parts of the south west see it as a fantastic competition. You’ve got three games and if you’re successful you play at Twickenham.
“The Premiership and the professional game, if it didn’t have what is referred to as the ‘community game’ my feeling is that without those foundations, the rest would crumble.
“The first time David Strettle stepped on to Twickenham was in a Cheshire shirt in the final of the County Championship.
“I had a conversation with Steve Diamond and Jim Mallender, and they thought that for the right players, it was a fantastic way of getting them through the Academy system to give them an experience which could lead to a final at Twickenham, and you can’t take that way, and it does add value.
“I know that it is supported strongly in Lancashire because there is a great tradition there, Yorkshire are exactly the same. I wouldn’t have it any other way, because in the north, we have to take it seriously, because if we are not going to do it for 80 minutes, then it is not going to happen.
“We are given the opposite of every other side that these players play for. We are given very little preparation time, and they are just thrown together. It is a great growing up process, being thrown together in a changing room, not knowing each other. Being thrown in to a situation, they have got to respond.
“It’s not a slow burner like it is within a club. The only time that players will tend to mingle with their opposite number is when they have been on a tour, so when England Counties comeback, and the players get off the plane having been away for two weeks, will then meet each other in opposition, and it’s a course for dialogue. The benefits of this type of environment are not purely rugby, and it’s something that I think is extremely important.
“The unfortunate thing for the County Championship now is that it is judged in the light of what it was previously, and it is a completely different competition now, there is no doubt about that.
“It is the same principle, but doesn’t have the same gravitas. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t got value, and if you took it away, there would be absolutely nothing but the club grind for every player outside of the Premiership. That is the choice that is there to be made. Everybody might have a moan about it, but take it way, what have you got left? Club rugby, and that is it.
“I think that is really unfortunate.”