"No options should be removed from the table in spite of the fact that at this stage, a priority should be given still to diplomacy,"
VOA: standard.2009.07.27
But they were relegated after one season and then lost the 2008 Championship play-off semi-final to eventual winners Hull last season after leading the table at one stage.
Burton stumbled over the finishing line on the final day of the season, pipping Cambridge by just two points, having led the table by 18 points at one stage.
In this day and age, when Britain sometimes struggles to justify its status as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council or as a "major player on the world stage", the medal table may prove to be a more accurate measure of international standing than the size, for example, of the GDP or the armed forces.