Premiership: No promotion at end of season after Championship clubs fail to meet standards
- Published
Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights did not meet the standards required for promotion to the Premiership
There will be no promotion to the Premiership this season after Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights failed to meet the standards required for the top flight.
They were the only clubs to apply to be eligible for promotion in the event of winning the second-tier Championship.
But an audit found neither club "met the minimum standards criteria based on capacity (among other factors)".
Both clubs are entitled to appeal against the decision.
One of the minimum standards criteria is that the stadium must hold a minimum of 10,001 fans, with Trailfinders' and Doncaster's grounds each currently holding a capacity of around 5,000.
According to the Rugby Football Union, neither club had "formal planning permissions" in place to expand their stadiums, nor did they have a groundshare arrangement in their applications.
The decision leaves the Premiership as a ring-fenced 13-team league, while now only the winner of National One will be promoted to the Championship for the 2022-23 season.
If either Doncaster or Ealing had gained promotion to the top flight, the Premiership would have expanded to a 14-team league from next season.
"The RFU and PRL would welcome a Championship club being promoted to create a 14-team Gallagher Premiership league," said the RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney.
"In the past, clubs with home grounds which would not meet the minimum standards criteria have nominated other grounds, under a groundshare agreement to provide a bridge between a club developing its own facilities to provide safe, compliant participation in the Premiership.
"The RFU and PRL would like to support and encourage all Championship clubs to continue to develop their proposals for the expansion and development of their grounds including the submission of formal planning applications."
The Championship title race had been shaping up to be the most dramatic in recent history, with Doncaster leading the table on 67 points, four points ahead of Cornish Pirates in second and seven ahead of Ealing in third, but with both clubs having two games in hand on the Knights.