London Welsh are set to launch their appeal to gain promotion to the Aviva Premiership. Last month, prior to beating the Cornwall Pirates, London Welsh received notice that they had failed to meet the minimum standards criteria set down by RFU. The biggest stumbling block would appear to be the fact they would be ground sharing with Oxford United Football Club. Initially this was a solution to play rugby at a stadium designed for both rugby and football. The RFU, it would appear, do not like the fact that London Welsh, would not be the main tenants. So, when the RFU or Sky TV, decide a fixture needs to be played on a different day, Welsh would only be able to move a fixture if it didn't clash with Oxford's division 2 fixtures. But, in our opinion, this is no different from London wasps, Saracens, London Irish and Sale Sharks situations. They all ground share with football clubs and the RFU have no problem with these clubs and rescheduling fixtures. So how can London Welsh be penalized for a problem that is already being dealt with by 4 other Aviva Premiership sides. From the outside it looks as if they are trying to protect their existing members and by relegating Newcastle Falcons, they will do serious damage to one of the best feeder academies in English rugby. The RFU need to release full details, stating all of the reasons why London Welsh cannot gain entry into the Premiership this year. If the ground issue is the only problem then we expect Welsh to win their appeal and the Falcons to be relegated.
