English rugby fans will turn up in droves this weekend - as they always do - for the latest round of Guinness Premiership action.

Yet those admirably committed supporters have every right to turn their back on a sport which continually lets them down.

Once again, rugby union finds itself totally overshadowed by fiddling men in suits, who just cannot leave things alone.

Yes, we all know the Heineken Cup - subject of an anticipated Anglo-French oycott next season - could produce a better commercial performance and generate more income for its participants.

Yes, we all understand English clubs have an ability to make it a greater earner than at present.

No, most of us cannot understand why the Rugby Football Union won't hand over shares in European Rugby Cup to the clubs. After all, it is the clubs - not Twickenham top brass - who continue to make it such a great competition.

But why can't it be sorted without hurling toys out of the pram and resorting to desperate measures?

A season without the Heineken Cup is short-changing fans who, quite frankly, relate to it far easier than they can the RBS 6 Nations.

The Six Nations has become a corporate feast of prawn sandwiches, whereas the Heineken Cup is rugby in the raw - all beer and pies.

The vast majority - those people who watch their clubs play in all weather - cannot obtain tickets to watch England perform at Twickenham, or in Cardiff, Paris, Edinburgh, Dublin and Rome, for that matter.

That is not to decry the Six Nations, which still produces moments of spine-tingling drama, yet give your average punter a choice - Heineken Cup or Six Nations - and I believe European club rugby would win hands down.

Ask those Wasps fans at Lansdowne Road in 2004 when Lawrence Dallaglio and company beat Munster about their greatest rugby memories.

Ask Leicester supporters at the Parc des Princes three years earlier for the Tigers' heroic Heineken Cup final victory over Stade Francais the same question.

And talk to any Bath follower about Bordeaux 1998, and you will still be discussing it three hours later.

Then there are the trips supporters dare not miss - the wonderful weekends in places like San Sebastian, Toulouse, Biarritz, Treviso and Perpignan, which are now about to enter cold storage.

Whatever the English and French clubs might say, nothing can replace what has become a truly epic tournament.

They might well go about trying to organise some trumped up Anglo-French Cup in its place - although expect the Rugby Football Union and International Rugby Board to abort that one by refusing to sanction it. But rugby fans are not stupid.

They want the real deal, not some marketing man telling him or her they really should get down to Welford Road, where Leicester and Toulouse are playing in Pool B of the Beaujolais Bowl.

The Heineken Cup is irreplaceable, and those suffering supporters have little to look forward to next season without it.

English rugby's political landscape has never been bleaker, which is a damning indictment of those entrusted with running the sport.

After 11 years scarred by posturing, infighting and egotistical behaviour, I would suggest your average rugby follower has totally lost interest.

They don't care anymore what the warring factions are even fighting about because, as sure as night follows day, another row will come along before dust has even settled on the Heineken Cup saga.

The RFU have entitled their document aimed at finding a lasting solution to English professional rugby, `The Way Forward'.

`Way Forward?' more like `Stuck in the Dark Ages'.

The bottom line here is quite simple. Premier Rugby and the Rugby Football Union don't trust each other, never have, and probably never will.

If they did, so many of the English game's burning issues would surely have been resolved by now.

Failure is not a word with which businessmen like to be associated, but there are people at Premier Rugby and the RFU who have failed, and continue to fail, the great sport of rugby union.

They should do the honourable thing and go quietly, leaving England's elite professional game to be run, say, by a six-man group who would have an empathy and understanding for the game and its followers.

Could I suggest the following?

Rob Andrew (RFU elite rugby director), Damian Hopley (Professional Rugby Players' Association chief executive), Simon Halliday (former England player and successful businessman), Geoff Cooke (former England team boss), Will Greenwood (England World Cup winner) and David White (Bristol chief executive).

Looks better already, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it will probably never happen.

So, in the meantime, expect more rows, more recriminations and more ridiculous decisions like pulling out of the Heineken Cup.