A RETURN TO ECONOMIC REALITY?
“Credit crunch” – two words which have become synonymous with the year 2008 and which are, in the light of the failure of banks and businesses, redundancies, unemployment, and bankruptcy, giving concern to all for the future of many in 2009.
Already it is obvious that sport will not prove immune to the two words which daily capture the headlines in the media; and that Rugby Union clubs will be among those most affected by the financial downturn and the mood of doom and gloom which surrounds any still thriving enterprise.
But, though those at the helm of clubs large and small will have to batten down the hatches and justify every penny spent, could not the current state of the economy prove a blessing in disguise for many in a game who, in the professional era, have suffered delusions of grandeur and set their club on the road to bankruptcy - often by selling grounds to pay ordinary journeymen and mercenaries to play before pitiful crowds in leagues demanding costly travel the length and breadth of the country?
In such difficult economic climes why should the RFU pay out millions to support a £4 million pounds salary cap for clubs in the Premiership, only to see clubs seek to pay out vast sums of money to players to justify such a high cap when a sum half that would lower the financial expectations of players, ease the costs on clubs, and achieve the same outcome? Why pay £250,000 to a Kiwi prop under a £4 million pounds salary cap when he could be paid £150,000 under a £2 million pounds cap? Such players can only play rugby union. Leading players can’t go off to play football or cricket and they can only switch codes to play rugby league for the same money. Limit a salary cap and a club’s financial constraints will ease.
What of the “Sugar Daddies” who have poured money into clubs right down to the lowest levels of competition, and brought about a professionalizing of the union code to areas never intended? What of those well intentioned men who have backed their club’s elevation through the ranks with hard cash when the very structure of a club, its spectator base, its locality etc have not favoured such rises to the top? And what of the disasters when the “Sugar Daddies” have decided that the time has come to stop the donations, or when the monies from the sale of a pitch are at an end and the flying in of players from exotic countries ceases? The loss of such misguided benefactors might allow a club’s management to look once again at the virtues and advantages of a truly amateur outlook in those areas of a sport that demand an amateur outlook. The absence of a generous employer and a lack of work opportunities locally might see fewer overseas recruits flocking to play at the lower clubs. Such an influx can often prove beneficial to a club on and off the pitch but can also help to distort the management’s view of the realities of sensible and planned progress in accordance with the constraints at their club.
What of those players who masquerade as professionals at cash strapped junior clubs around the country; clubs whose bar profits in these difficult times hardly justify payment to a cleaner for the dressing rooms never mind a player? Will such clubs be forced to re-address their often extravagant policy on player recruitment?
Though the fully professional arm of the 15 a side code, with enlightened adjustments to suit the harsh economic realities forecast for 2009, will continue to flourish it might just be that those two words,” Credit Crunch”, will have a positive effect on that large percentage of union clubs which should never have got themselves into difficulties. And that a return to economic good sense can bring about a level playing field for those clubs which still hope to succeed without stuffing some very ordinary players’ pockets with large wads of cash.
Ray French (December 2008)
Already it is obvious that sport will not prove immune to the two words which daily capture the headlines in the media; and that Rugby Union clubs will be among those most affected by the financial downturn and the mood of doom and gloom which surrounds any still thriving enterprise.
But, though those at the helm of clubs large and small will have to batten down the hatches and justify every penny spent, could not the current state of the economy prove a blessing in disguise for many in a game who, in the professional era, have suffered delusions of grandeur and set their club on the road to bankruptcy -
In such difficult economic climes why should the RFU pay out millions to support a £4 million pounds salary cap for clubs in the Premiership, only to see clubs seek to pay out vast sums of money to players to justify such a high cap when a sum half that would lower the financial expectations of players, ease the costs on clubs, and achieve the same outcome? Why pay £250,000 to a Kiwi prop under a £4 million pounds salary cap when he could be paid £150,000 under a £2 million pounds cap? Such players can only play rugby union. Leading players can’t go off to play football or cricket and they can only switch codes to play rugby league for the same money. Limit a salary cap and a club’s financial constraints will ease.
What of the “Sugar Daddies” who have poured money into clubs right down to the lowest levels of competition, and brought about a professionalizing of the union code to areas never intended? What of those well intentioned men who have backed their club’s elevation through the ranks with hard cash when the very structure of a club, its spectator base, its locality etc have not favoured such rises to the top? And what of the disasters when the “Sugar Daddies” have decided that the time has come to stop the donations, or when the monies from the sale of a pitch are at an end and the flying in of players from exotic countries ceases? The loss of such misguided benefactors might allow a club’s management to look once again at the virtues and advantages of a truly amateur outlook in those areas of a sport that demand an amateur outlook. The absence of a generous employer and a lack of work opportunities locally might see fewer overseas recruits flocking to play at the lower clubs. Such an influx can often prove beneficial to a club on and off the pitch but can also help to distort the management’s view of the realities of sensible and planned progress in accordance with the constraints at their club.
What of those players who masquerade as professionals at cash strapped junior clubs around the country; clubs whose bar profits in these difficult times hardly justify payment to a cleaner for the dressing rooms never mind a player? Will such clubs be forced to re-
Though the fully professional arm of the 15 a side code, with enlightened adjustments to suit the harsh economic realities forecast for 2009, will continue to flourish it might just be that those two words,” Credit Crunch”, will have a positive effect on that large percentage of union clubs which should never have got themselves into difficulties. And that a return to economic good sense can bring about a level playing field for those clubs which still hope to succeed without stuffing some very ordinary players’ pockets with large wads of cash.
Ray French (December 2008)