So that is that…the problems that have beset the European club rugby are all but sorted out and we can all go back to enjoying the game we love. So says Owen Slot in today’s Times newspaper. In this gushing piece it would seem that every one at an official level is ready to sign up for this brave new world. All great. What he doesn’t mention is the one thing that has brought this matter to a head – whether BT Sports are willing to do a deal and thus allow the English clubs enter the competition. For those of you not aware this whole thing came about because BT Sports paid a huge amount of money for the exclusive rights for live coverage of English premiership club rugby and next year this included their European matches. Currently the rights for this are owned by Sky sports but if this agreement goes through those rights will no longer exisit.

So why isn’t the continuing problems of TV rights not mentioned in Slot’s article? The most obvious answer would appear to be News Corp or whatever name the Murdoch organisation now has. News Corp owns The Times newspaper and are the largest shareholder in Sky or BSkyB. So it isn’t too much to suggest that somewhere in The Times newsroom there is some form of edict that says any news must be spun in the most favourable light for Sky Sports and hence Murdoch. I do hope that this is not the case but it is very difficult not to draw that conclusion.

When you contrast this report with the report in The Guardian you see what I mean. Whilst this is upbeat about the probable signing off at the Union level it also mentions that there is still much to be agreed about the TV coverage of the European club rugby games involving English clubs next season. When you see terms like ‘cautious opptimisum’ and ‘it will take compromise on both sides’ you know that there is still a long way to go. This is especially so when the person talking about ‘compromise’ is the Sky Sports representative. As things stand they have no control over the English club teams and so any compromise will have to come from BT Sports.

I hope things do work themselves out and that some form of deal can be done between the TV companies but I suspect things are not going to be plain sailing. Remember, if England doesn’t take part then France may not and this whole house of cards will fall down. Even if France does take part the competition will be devalued from a commercial point of view.

Everything is awesome…sort of, maybe, perhaps, lets hope so.