Ealing Trailfinders ineligible for Premiership promotion over ground capacity
- Published
Championship holders Ealing have finished in the top two in each of the past five years, and are top of the table after 14 games this season
Championship leaders Ealing Trailfinders will not be eligible for promotion to the Premiership this season after failing to meet the minimum standards criteria.
The club were also refused promotion from the second tier last season as their home ground was not large enough.
Stadiums hosting Premiership games must eventually hold more than 10,000 fans.
However, the Trailfinders were not able to obtain a licence or planning permission to meet that requirement.
Doncaster Knights, meanwhile, have satisfied top-flight criteria and are eligible for promotion at the end of season, but the club are fifth in the Championship table and 23 points adrift of Ealing with eight games remaining.
The recommendations were made by the Professional Game Board, which represents the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Players' Association and Championship clubs, and subsequently ratified by the RFU board.
An RFU statement said minimum standards criteria were in place to ensure clubs "have suitable facilities to protect player safety and welfare, provide financial sustainability and to deliver a good quality, safe environment for spectators".
Wasps and Worcester Warriors have withdrawn from the Premiership this season because of financial issues, leaving an 11-team division, with both clubs possibly entering the Championship in 2023-24.
New rules for 2022-23 said a side must have a minimum capacity of 5,000 in January this year to be considered for a place in the Premiership - but that those applying must have permission and funding to increase it to 10,001 by the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
"Ealing Trailfinders were not able to evidence the necessary licensed capacity, supported by a safety certificate or planning permission to achieve a capacity of over 10,000," the RFU statement added.
The Vallis Way-based outfit initially opened an appeal against the decision to deny them promotion last season, before withdrawing it.
Ealing's Trailfinders Sports Club on Vallis Way only holds about half of the Premiership's minimum required capacity of 10,001