We have to resist moving union to summer, says Tait

Dec 3 2010 by Mark Smith, The Journal

NEWCASTLE Falcons head coach Alan Tait believes rugby union should resist any temptation to switch seasons and become a summer sport.

With his Falcons’ game against Bath tonight being postponed due to the snow, Tait said: “I can understand why the old debate might rear its head when the weather is as bad as it is now – but I can’t see it changing.

“Rugby union folk seem to like the whole challenge of playing in the winter conditions, and the Six Nations period around February time is massive for the game.”

Tait went through the change himself as a rugby league player back in 1996, when over 100 years of tradition was turned on its head with the formation of the Super League.

“We were just told one day that the season was going to be played from March to October, instead of September to May,” said Tait, who was a player with Leeds Rhinos at the time.

“Rupert Murdoch had pumped a load of money in, and it was his big brainchild to revolutionise the game by playing it in the summer.

“You’d have to say it’s been a massive success for them, but I think it’s also been good for rugby union because you now have a real separation in identity between the two codes.”

Highlighting one change he believes should be made to the 15-man game, however, the dual-code international said: “There needs to be more investment in pitch protection from the league as a whole. At the moment there’s something like three or four of these big pitch cover systems that the Premiership authorities rent out when the bad weather comes in, but there really needs to be a situation where all of the 12 top-flight clubs have them available full-time.

“It would cost a lot of money to make it happen, but the last two winters in England have shown that this snow looks like becoming an annual event that is going to mean games being called off.”