If only everything in the garden of the English rugby club was as impressive as the ground at Franklin’s Gardens. There are less smooth pool tables and the scene is set perfectly for a spectacular 250th East Midlands derby between Northampton and Leicester. “It’s the biggest game of the year,” whispered Saints captain Lewis Ludlam as his side prepared to take on the defending Premiership champions.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to avoid the financial undercurrents that are currently destabilizing two of their neighbors. As the pips creak louder at Worcester and Wasps, the mood of the whole English game darkens. Any league is only as strong as its weakest link and, at the moment, the Premiership feels as vulnerable as it has at any stage since Richmond and London Scottish disappeared from the professional radar in March 1999.
Ludlam, as a member of the England squad and a loyal man to one club, feels deeply for these fellow pros stuck in the middle. As grateful as he is for Northampton chief executive Mark Darbon’s efforts to keep Saints players informed of their club’s secure position, he can’t imagine how his Worcester counterparts like Ted Hill must be feeling. .
“That’s a horrible thought,” he said flatly. “All Ted should have to worry about is playing on the weekends. But for many of these boys, it’s about whether they’ll have the money to support their families and pay their mortgages. Or if they will have a job next year.
For Ludlam and other high-profile English players, it is increasingly clear that wider issues need to be tackled urgently. It can be difficult for the majority of players in the thick of the fray to see the big picture with any real clarity. Others like Ludlam, who took part in all three Tests of England’s summer tour of Australia despite a badly injured thumb – ‘Basically I didn’t have a tendon to grab, it was just taped’ – might teach any administrator a lesson in honesty. , eloquence and good judgment.
Take Ludlam’s instinctive view, for example, of the future of the league. “I think we have to look at the structure of the Premiership.
“The position many clubs have found themselves in over the past two years is no longer a joke. We can really see how clubs are struggling now.
“There must be discussions about how we structure the season and how we develop the game as players – because for some rugby is really on its last legs. If we continue as we are, it does not look good.
An easy fix, he says, would be a clearer separation between club matches and international weekends. “People want to go out and see international players play and we want to play and contribute to the club. In football you have an international break.
“I sometimes wonder if there is a way to reduce the number of fixtures and get people excited for just one or two competitions. That way we could go out and play for our international team and our club as well. Less is more.”
Another obvious point is to make the game more appealing to a wider range of audiences, whether through free television exposure or more modern methods.
“I don’t believe Formula 1 is a more exciting sport than rugby. But the way they’ve set up the product, via Netflix’s Drive to Survive, encourages people to get into it. People who haven’t never watched F1 say, “It’s exciting, it’s a real story.” If you can get people involved in something like that in rugby, that can help grow the sport as well.
Ludlam, 26, grew up outside rugby himself, as did his father, Arron, a football and boxing enthusiast with Palestinian and Egyptian family roots.
“If Spurs won he would have a good week, if they lost he would be miserable all week,” smiled Ludlam. “It was pretty much do or die. No question that my father launches into rugby without me playing it.
It took his mother, Dorinda, to step in and put Lewis on a different path. “My mum was like, ‘You go to the boxing gym with your dad, your dad is your football coach, can we do something that you can figure out on your own?’ Then England won the 2003 World Cup and I thought, “That looks good. I came to Ipswich rugby club with gold football boots. People were thinking, ‘Who is this? kind ?’ I was partying after scoring tries like I scored a goal My nickname was Golden Boots for two or three years.
As a mixed-race child, there were also other cultural differences to overcome. “At school, I was one of the only people of my color. The kids don’t want to exclude you, but you still feel, ‘Where do I fit in here?’ Then you take down the rugby club and suddenly it doesn’t matter. I felt part of it. You find your tribe. But how many children miss out on something that has allowed me to travel the world and given me some of my best friends? »
This is another reason why he is passionate about the future. “How to reach a younger audience, how to rally people? That’s what I think is really important.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to bring the game to people from all walks of life, of all different classes and to show that the game is suitable and welcoming for everyone.
“People can see with Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler that the England team relies on players from different backgrounds. Hopefully this opens up rugby to a massive new audience, which it needs.
“When I was growing up rugby was an old boys sport, a kind of private school sport. A large percentage of our season ticket holders at Northampton are in their 60s and 80s.
“How do we get a younger audience to come to rugby because in 20 years they are the ones who are going to pay to come and see us. We can offer a lot to people who are not involved in rugby. It’s a great sport with values incredible clothes that they will wear for the rest of their lives.
If the passionate and impressive Ludlam plays half as well as he speaks, Leicester are set to have a tough afternoon.
