Calendar will shift from next season, putting the biggest club games deep into June and up against football and traditional summer sports
Not everyone will be aware that this week is the end of an era. From next season rugby union’s fixture calendar is due to change, with the 2020 Premiership final pushed back to 20 June and summer tours spilling over into July. The new season will not commence until late October because of the Rugby World Cup and the rhythm of the domestic professional game will feel significantly different.
For many it is an uncomfortable development, not least from a scheduling perspective. This weekend is bad enough: the Exeter v Saracens final will clash, in no particular order, with the Champions League final, the early stages of the Cricket World Cup, Anthony Joshua’s latest big fight, the French Open tennis and the Derby from Epsom. Next year it will be similarly buried, coverage-wise, beneath football’s European Championship, Royal Ascot and the build-up to Wimbledon. In 2021 the final is slated for 26 June when the nights will already be growing shorter.
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