THE chief executives of two top English clubs want an American-style draft system implemented to increase the Guinness Premiership's unpredictability and commercial viability. David Davies of London Wasps and NEC Harlequins' Mark Evans both favour the scheme used by major American sports whereby, in an annual summer draft, emerging young players and newly-arrived foreigners are ranked on a central register, with the lowest placed Premiership club from the previous season having first pick.

"We want the best possible domestic league and increasing the uncertainty of the outcome will help, " said Davies, a former chief executive and chairman in British ice hockey and basketball, as well as Queen's Park Rangers FC.

"The draft system levels the playing field and over time the weakest teams become stronger." Only five clubs have been champions since English rugby introduced leagues in 1987.

Wasps, with five titles, have dominated alongside Leicester and Bath (six titles each).

The interlopers were Newcastle in 1998 and Sale in 2006. Davies says it is an open secret that the salary cap of just over �2m per club is being flouted, and that, "there is a group of clubs who can find players because they have the biggest wallets."

Under the draft a player such as the All Black centre, Aaron Mauger . . . signed recently by Leicester for next season . . .

would declare himself available by 1 July, to be picked up or traded by the Premiership's lowest placed team.

While relegation is in place, the demoted team might hang on to the player or loan him out.

Players outside the Premiership or youngsters in academies would also be given a value.

"Some clubs are bound to say 'our coach has made the best of this player', " said Davies, "but you could argue the academies should be run on a mutual basis.

In reality, they are currently paid for predominantly by the RFU, so the issue is one of joint-interest. It is clearly not healthy for the clubs and the governing body to be at each other's throats."

Intriguingly, the Rugby Football Union have mooted a central register of players to control the Premiership's running costs in their "Way Forward" discussion document currently doing the rounds in a four-month consultation period.

The RFU insist everything is up for debate but they certainly favour central management of England players, and their inch-thick "fact base" and "framework for debate" contain numerous references to improving professional rugby's uncertain finances. Clubs need more revenues to invest in facilities; Davies says they are more likely to be delivered by a strong domestic competition than the Heineken Cup, while Evans favours a draft system for 18-year-olds, an equal split of central revenues and a properly enforced salary cap.

A shake-up seems nigh, with Saracens said by one senior RFU source to be debating its future ownership.

A league of some independent clubs alongside others part-owned by the Union cannot be discounted. In a recent column for Running Rugby magazine, Davies speculated, "Given the stories surrounding the RFU's Super 10 Plus, if you dropped down to 10 teams, with six being new franchises, that would be ideal for a draft system because all the contracts would be on the table."