No protests this time about unequal TV cash!

It’s amazing how time and circumstances can change people’s ideals and position on any number of things, even those that are supposedly ‘cast in stone’. Just around 25 years ago the RFU were removed from the Five Nations Championship on a point of principle that was agreed by the Celtic nations (Wales, Scotland and Ireland) and then after protracted discussions and negotiations, reinstated.

- JEFF PROBYN

A few years passed and once again the Celts threatened to remove England from the competition but again the RFU were reinstated.

What was all the fuss about? I’ll bet you can guess; money.

For the first time England had undertaken their own television rights negotiation and had agreed a deal with BSkyB. This deal was markedly bigger than any previous deal done between the Unions and their historic chosen partner, the BBC.

The deal offered was similar to a deal struck in the southern hemisphere at the time and was a game changer in the rugby world.

However, by doing the deal, the RFU broke from the usual collective bargaining conducted by the Five Nations committee and then felt the wrath of the angry Celtic nations.

This was not an unprecedented act by the RFU as the French had their own deal virtually from the day they first joined the competition.

It also wasn’t that Sky had exclusively offered the RFU a deal, they had in fact offered all nations far better deals than were on the table from any other television network.

The problem was simply that Sky offered money based on the potential size of an audience which effectively gave England a bigger piece of the proverbial pie.

Despite the fact that the RFU is the biggest union in the world with more clubs to fund and players to manage, the smaller Celtic nations were having none of it and insisted that all money should be split evenly.