Ealing Trailfinders can confirm that former England international centre Billy Twelvetrees has decided to retire from professional rugby union.

It is with a warm heart that we wish Billy all the best in his future endeavours, having been a core member of our Championship winning squad last season, with two tries and 46 points from the boot in 18 appearances for Trailfinders.

Twelvetrees’ remarkable career has spanned over a decade and a half, with his first taste of senior rugby coming through Leicester Lions back in 2006. It was there that he would gain the attention of the Leicester Tigers academy and make his first venture towards English rugby’s top tier.

Gaining vital experience from the academy and learning of his versatility at both fly-half and centre, Twelvetrees moved to then National League 1 side Bedford Blues for the 2008/2009 season. Twelvetrees had a sensational campaign, notching 18 tries, 16 conversions and 13 penalties. As to be expected, this did not go unnoticed.

Tigers came calling for Twelvetrees again in 2009, and he made his professional debut for them in remarkable fashion that year. Thrust into the starting line-up with only 10 minutes notice, he scored a try and nine points from the boot against Ospreys, taking home the man of the match award.

Twelvetrees would go on to make 46 appearances for Leicester, scoring 301 points. He established himself at the top tier of English rugby, showing his dynamic ability at multiple positions, and all the while learning from some of the best players in the world.

He would also be part of a record-breaking period for the club, where they went to nine successive Premiership finals from 2005-2014, showing why they were one of the very best in the ‘modern’ era. They won five out of those nine finals in that period, with Twelvetrees playing some part in three of these campaigns, one successful and two not.

Fondly nicknamed ‘36’ by many, due to his captain Geordan Murphy’s Irish accent making Twelvetrees sound like ‘twelve threes,’ he left the club for Gloucester midway through the 2011-12 campaign to boost his England chances. Having been on the England periphery for a while, a move was necessary to gain more playing time.

Twelvetrees hit the ground running on his arrival to the West Country as he earned himself an England call-up ahead of the 2013 Six Nations.

He made the dream debut, scoring against Scotland as England won the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham. His impressive performances during the Six Nations campaign saw him go on tour to Argentina in that summer, where he made one appearance before being drafted into Warren Gatland’s British & Irish Lions squad in Australia.

A fan favourite and a well-respected leader amongst the Kingsholm faithful, Twelvetrees was named Gloucester Rugby’s Club Captain ahead of the 2014-15 season, leading the side to a second European Challenge Cup title at the end of that year.

Billy marked an incredible 10-years of service to the club during his testimonial year in 2021/22, a season in which he also notched up his 250th appearance in Cherry & White.

Twelvetrees made over 270 appearances for Gloucester over an 11-year tenure, with memorable performances against Bordeaux and La Rochelle in his last year there before departing the club as a legend.

During his short time at Trailfinders, his wealth of experience and leadership, as well as his skill, played their part in a memorable campaign, reaching the semi-finals of the Premiership Rugby Cup and winning the Championship.

Director of Rugby Ben Ward paid his tributes towards Billy’s brilliant career:

“Although we only had Billy with us for a year, he made a big impact on our squad. His career speaks for itself and he can be incredibly proud of all that he has achieved. We will miss him as a player, but more than that, he is one of the good guys and a really good bloke that we will miss even more. We wish him all the best for the future.”

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Below is a statement from the Championship clubs.

The Championship Clubs have recently been issued with a deadline by the RFU to accept certain terms or effectively be removed from the current professional game structure.

After nearly two years of discussion, which have been characterised by the RFU agreeing positions, sometimes unilaterally or in separate negotiations on the Professional Game Partnership (PGP) – from which we have been excluded – we have now been presented with a proposition which we cannot accept as to do so would risk potential bankruptcy for Championship clubs and would also further isolate the Premiership to the detriment of the game in England.

Like anyone who wants to see the game grow, we need to challenge the current RFU position.

To be clear, we have always aspired towards a new Tier 2 league as part of a whole-game solution, but this can only work if there is appropriate governance, a credible and equitable approach to promotion and relegation, and a funding model which will support growth and sustainability.

At present, we are far from that.

The facts are clear:

1/ The incoming RFU executive cut Championship funding in 2019 without warning or any proper explanation from £645,000 to £325,000 a year, and again to £150,000 when the pandemic hit. These cuts forced clubs to appeal to the Government for emergency loans to keep playing rugby and supporting our community activities. The promise to reinstate pre-pandemic funding of £325,000 was never fulfilled, leaving many of our clubs with significant government debt.

This is in stark contrast to the comprehensive approach the RFU took with regard to Premiership loans and negotiating repayment schedules with the Government.

These funding cuts were neither evidence-based nor a subject for discussion. They came from arbitrary decisions that left the Championship clubs in a precarious position. The clubs have worked hard to maintain standards (highlighted by the creditable performances of many of our clubs in the recent Premiership Cup), but the reality is that the status quo has created existential challenges for clubs in key areas of the country (eg Cornwall. See the recent statement by Cornish Pirates).

The current RFU proposal for 2024 and beyond is £4m pa, to be shared among a 12-club league.

This is purportedly intended to provide sustainability, to help grow the league and bridge the gap with the Premiership. But it comes nowhere close to achieving that, by our assessment.

An overwhelming percentage of this is value-in-kind (VIK) and would be centrally allocated across various areas. In a spirit of good faith, we continue to debate and discuss the best way to distribute any agreed funds.

By contrast, the cash amount rumoured to be allocated by the RFU to the Premiership in the PGP is £33m pa to be distributed among 10 clubs, a significant uplift from the previous agreement.

2/ Promotion and Relegation is an essential feature and underlying principle of sport in this country.

A ‘ringfenced’ Premiership undermines that principle, and increases the risk that people lose interest in the game. We think that everyone accepts and acknowledges that.

The current proposals include a playoff for promotion from the Championship, but the current and significant imbalance, including highly onerous and mandatory minimum operating standards, precludes any Tier 2 club from being able to participate meaningfully in that playoff, let alone be promoted and be sustainable thereafter.

By way of example, the current ground-capacity requirements would result in expenditure of many millions by a club with no guarantee of promotion and, if they win the league, investment that would have to take place while simultaneously attempting to grow the business.

A more equitable way is through a progressive approach towards achieving a sustainable level, which we have proposed.

The imbalance is further underlined by the fact that the 10th club in the Premiership receives a pro rata share of the £33m, whereas the promoted club would not access anything like that number, receiving approximately £125k in comparison.

In stark terms, this is the outcome of these allocation decisions made by the RFU. They are inequitable and set a promoted club up for failure and immediate relegation.

They are also far removed from a whole-game solution. An equitable bridge must be created to enable a promoted club to be competitive.

It is also important to note that the relegated club is entitled to access funds from the RFU and Premiership through its position as a Premiership shareholder. This allows it to maintain a very significant financial advantage over rival Tier 2 clubs and essentially guarantees promotion back, as has happened in 14 of the 16 seasons when promotion occurred. This is unfair and undermines the integrity of the leagues.

We must find a mechanism which allows a relegated club to recover, rebuild and participate in Tier 2 on an equitable basis and, as stated above, to allow the promoted club to participate and prosper in the Premiership.

There is another way forward for professional rugby, and our role within it. That is why there is no choice for us but to challenge the current status quo.

After 20 years of an unfair and broken structure, we have the opportunity to develop a new one.  It would be more affordable and progressive, and which would be in the interests of the whole of the game of rugby union in England.

We have presented such proposals, to no effect so far.

3) Governance.

We do, of course, recognise the need for the RFU to administer the regulatory parts of the game.

For the new Tier 2 League to move forward, it will have a properly constituted and independently-chaired board which has the ability to make decisions to drive forward the commercial programme and overall strategy of the league. However, our clubs still have no meaningful representation on the new body which is to replace the Professional Game Board. This is a significant issue, because it separates the sport and further distances us from Professional Rugby matters.

This cannot be right. We seek that representation.

We understand and support the need to stabilise the top tier of the game, but our clubs must properly be part of the structure.  We have supplied a pathway for 200 players many of whom are now household names (as well as numerous coaches, referees and administrators) to the very top of the game. That pathway must not be lost, because it underpins the game. The only route to that stability and sustainability is for the whole game to move forward together. The PGP is about the next eight years at a time when the game globally and nationally is changing rapidly, so this is a pivotal moment.

If there are not changes now, it will be too late.

During our long negotiations with the RFU and PRL, there is much that has been agreed, such as the driving of minimum standards, but there are major points that have not been properly addressed and, in some cases, ignored.

In the interests of the game in England, and for our own sustainability, we challenge the current proposals.

We continue to seek urgent meetings with the Board to discuss our solutions, which we believe are deliverable and realistic. In that regard, The RFU Council, which is mandated to be guardians of the whole game and meets later this month, should intervene, request a review of our position, and help facilitate a whole game solution, particularly in the matter of promotion and relegation.