THE temptation of clubs stacking their strongest players in one side could become a reality if the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union goes ahead with plans to hold a Premiership based on seedings derived from the league competition, according to Roger Patterson.
The Football Club and Hong Kong back-rower said the Union should take pressure off clubs by not using the league competition to seed teams for the season-ending Premiership.
In the spirit of co-operation and for the sake of making First Division rugby in Hong Kong competitive, the territory's three main clubs, Football Club, Valley and Kowloon, have decided to field two teams each - most importantly of equal strength - in the league tournament.
But Patterson warned that this idea would come to nothing if the Union decided to use the league to seed teams for the prestigious Premiership as sides will start jockeying for position.
In the past the league has been the basis of judging the best side in the territory. But this season, in an attempt to make rugby more competitive, the territory's clubs have decided to field sides of equal strength in the league. The real indication of quality will be decided in the planned Premiership when the strongest sides will be fielded by each club. 'There will be a temptation to stack your teams in the league so that you can jockey for positions in the Premiership. I hope the Union does not use the league competition to seed teams,' said Patterson.
Patterson said Football Club will have two squads - the Blues and the Whites - for the league. 'There will be restrictions on who can cross over. Only on special circumstances will someone be able to move from one squad to the other.' Valley will adopt a different approach according to club captain Andy Fields.