Business as unusual at Rotherham but play goes on

If Rotherham prevail at Bristol today, they will complete a remarkable year of 33 matches played, 33 matches won. It is bizarre, then, that England's most successful senior club in this regard have earned a notoriety outside of south Yorkshire for their non-achieve- ment in failing to be promoted to the Zurich Premiership.

The story of Rotherham's failure, last May, to meet the Premiership's entry criteria was well-documented, yet a suspicion lingers that a chapter was unwritten. Submission to ruling mandarins was not the style associated with a club who fought their way through seven promotions in 13 seasons to achieve a single year in the top flight in 2000-01.

And therein lies a conspiracy theory. If Francis Baron and the board of England Rugby were the Lee Harvey Oswald of the piece, some of us could not resist the search for a second gunman on the grassy knoll at Clifton Lane. It did not help when Rotherham's owner, Mike Yarlett, a window magnate, made as much fuss as the feather that floated behind the double-glazing in Ted Moult's TV ad. For all anyone knew, Rotherham had bent over backwards to meet the criteria, but the impression was that they were happy where they were, at least for one more season. The club received a £740,000 "parachute" payment that ought to have gone to the Premiership's relegated side.

Last Monday the club sent Dave Scully, at 37 their most experienced player, to Twickenham to rub shoulders with representatives of the weekend's other cup participants. During a photocall on the pitch, he may have glanced up at the function suite where, seven months earlier, Baron had announced the "No" decision. Scully, on the fateful day, was "milling about the rugby club" with the rest of Rotherham's championship-winning squad. "I think it came through on the TV, and with a press release," he recalled. "Everybody was upset, I wouldn't say shocked, but upset not to get in. All the hard work you'd done, playing your heart out, done your bit of the bargain, only for them to say, 'No, I'm sorry you can't go up' was heartbreaking."

With his jutting jaw, butcher's-dog-fit physique and day job as a firefighter, Scully does not come across as a man whose heart is easily broken. Again, it seems, we look in vain for a boiling rage at the club's fate. "We're a very tightknit club, we keep ourselves to ourselves, mainly," he said. "There is an anger, I suppose, in private. The decision was made, and what we did then is what we're doing now, coming back as a stronger squad. We've said, 'Right, this year we'll do it again and see what comes off'. Obviously we're hurting but we'll come out again to prove we're the best side in the division."

An independent inquiry chaired by Anthony Arlidge QC has been launched by the Rugby Football Union into allegations by Worcester's owner, Cecil Duckworth, that Premiership clubs colluded to pay Rotherham to stay in National League One. It took two months last season for another QC, Michael Beloff, to dismiss an allegation of a racist remark by a player. Goodness knows how long Arlidge will need to substantiate or dismiss Duckworth's claim. Meanwhile, Worcester and Rotherham are engaged in another tug-of-war at the top of National One which may come down to a single bonus point either way.

"It is tough," said Scully. "Every Saturday, you must win the game, and hopefully get a bonus point, and the pressure's always on. You win the game first, and then the bonus point is an advantage. As long as we keep winning games, we're going to win the league [having beaten Worc-ester at home, Rotherham play the reverse fixture in April]. But there will be some shocks, everybody's got hard games coming up."

Rotherham moved into Millmoor, to share with the town's football team, in the summer. Incredibly, given the previous fuss, Baron says he has yet to see the agreement between the two clubs. This will, after all, be a basic tenet when the England Rugby auditors investigate the promotion candidates at the end of March. "The players probably take more interest in the criteria now," said Scully. "But it's down to the owner and the chief executive to get in touch with the RFU and hopefully they're working hard behind the scenes to sort that out. I can't see any sort of gain, not to allow us to go up.

"Until the end of this inquiry, we're in limbo. The allegations are flying, and as far as we are aware, nothing untoward was going on."

In the meantime, here's one for the conspiracy theorists. It is the responsibility of England Rugby to nominate the qualifiers for Europe next season. If Rotherham beat Bristol, and go on to win the Powergen Cup, they should take one of England's six places. In theory...