KEY POINTS:
Four decades after the Americans put a man on the moon, the space-cadet politics that have bedevilled rugby in England since the collapse of amateurism have finally come to an end.
Twickenham's governing classes embraced professional club rugby as the crucial dynamic in the country's fastest-growing spectator sport and agreed to pay upwards of £110m ($300m) over eight years for access to the leading players.
The Premiership fraternity also gave ground in ending two years of intense negotiations and had good reason to celebrate. The new agreement goes through to the end of the 2015 World Cup, which the Rugby Football Union hopes to host. The top end of English rugby will be managed by a Professional Game Board made up of Twickenhamites, club representatives, players' union delegates and former England coach Geoff Cooke, representing National League One teams.
The RFU and the clubs plan to recruit a heavyweight to their PGB team, probably Martin Johnson.
Thirty-two - man squads will be named each summer - test contenders, the second-string Saxons and the Under-20s - and will be made available to the national coaches. The senior squad will have at least 13 days' preparation before the autumn tests and the Six Nations Championship, and will ordinarily play a maximum of 32 matches a season, rising to 33 if England have a fourth autumn international, and 34 if the Lions are on tour in the Southern Hemisphere.
In return, the RFU will pay the clubs more than £7m a year in fees. They will also foot the bill for international match fees - almost £15m - and shell out another £16m in support of those teams producing England-qualified talent.
Crucially, from the union's perspective, these monies will be paid directly to the clubs providing the players, rather than into the central Premiership pot.
"This was absolutely at the heart of the matter for us," said Francis Baron, the RFU's chief executive.
"We wanted to establish the principle of RFU money going towards those clubs who are working to the benefit of English rugby at representative level."
Rob Andrew, RFU elite rugby director, will play an influential role in player management including making the final decision on whether a player is fit to perform or when he has surgery.
One of the more contentious issues in the deal is the right of the national coach to drop an individual should his club refuse to play him in a certain position. Mathew Tait, who turned in such a striking performance in last month's World Cup final, might be a case in point. When this deal kicks in, the England hierarchy may well identify him as a fullback. If Newcastle continue to pick him at centre, he could, theoretically, lose his place in the elite. For the time being, though, everything in the garden is rosy.
"This is an English solution for the English game - a deal that takes the best of what we've achieved over the last 10 years while taking into account the things we've learned," Andrew said.
Gloucester chairman, Tom Walkinshaw, the clubs' main negotiator, said: "We couldn't afford another band-aid agreement; we needed a once-and-for-all agreement. There were many low points but when it was stripped right down it was clear we had to work together.
"There is an overwhelming desire to make this happen."
- INDEPENDENT
