Bill Sweeney, the chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, believes a proposed alignment of the global calendar could be the biggest change in the sport since the dawn of professionalism. The coronavirus crisis has accelerated long-mooted discussions about bringing the northern and southern hemisphere schedules into line, with the matter debated at World Rugby’s professional game forum earlier this week. Bill Sweeney is hopeful of a positive change in the rugby union calendar (Nick Ansell/PA)“I think this is a 1995 moment,” Sweeney told the Daily Telegraph, citing the year rugby union moved on from the amateur era. “If you talk to people who have been in the game a long time, they will say that we have actually never come to terms with the game going professional. The question is how do you get to a better one that works for the club game, the international game, the players and the fans?

Source: Express June 20, 2020 07:52 UTC