The growing pains of a major world sport
Rugby union’s capacity to exhibit the complexities and difficulties of a modern sport trying to advance in all directions – without yet generating the sort of income, turnover and profit that make any business model being applied actually work – continues to startle.
The lack of any long term vision, and commitment to carry it through, within the heart of the game’s world governing body is one issue that somebody is going to have to sort soon, otherwise it’s all going to go pear-shaped.
Another is that the interests of the national bodies and those of each countries’ club, provincial or franchise teams are to all intents and purposes irreconcilable.
And, worse than that, the ever-more consistent answer that each of them come up with (more games) is the one thing that the already-over used players need for the sake of their own safety and long-term health.
The state of the game in England is about as bad as can be – but it’s probably the same all around the world.
The Rugby Football Union has little control of the international-standard players upon which it depends. The Premiership clubs are self-interested and only interested in generating cash, something at which they are either hamstrung by circumstances and/or uniquely bad at (I say that because those are the only two possibly explanations).
Meanwhile, at the second (Championship) level, there isn’t a business plan in the land that has any chance of delivering sustainability. The irony is that owning an elite rugby union club in England is still only something that a rich man can aspire to as a loss-making hobby.
But – if you ask anyone involved in it – below the professional and semi-professional level, grass-roots rugby is dying on its feet.
Because elite (professional) rugby is only interested in itself.
The RFU cannot escape the impression it gives that – despite its remit to “look after” the game as a whole – by laziness, a fat cat sense of entitlement and unwarranted self-importance – almost without exception its executive have been seduced by their access to the best tickets on match days and the frequent opportunities to hob-knob with the good and the great of the professional game.
And now we have the Saracens ‘exceeding the Premiership salary cap’ scandal running and running.
They have effectively admitted breaching the salary cap rules for the last three seasons.
Nigel Wray has resigned as chairman and disappeared off into the sunset.
The chairman of the investigating team into their salary cap breach activities has denounced the Premiership governing body for issuing a redacted and heavily-summarised version of their reports’ findings – he wants it published in full in the interests of transparency but the Premiership is resisting … I wonder why.
And now, overnight, we learn that it is quite possible, despite their recent multi-point docking and (in rugby terms) heavy one-off fine for their conduct over the past three seasons, it is actually quite possible that Sarries are going to turn out having breached the salary cap again this season.
What a mockery of integrity in sport that amounts to!
