Bears’ accounts provide reality check for Premiership – Andy Goode
It was a brilliant festive period for the Premiership but Bristol’s latest accounts provide a stark reminder of where the league is at and the need to walk before it can run as we begin the new year.
It’s absolutely right that people should be shouting from the rooftops that there were an impressive 152,101 fans in attendance across the five games in Round 10 and just under two million watching the last couple of rounds over the festive period on television.
Clearly, the crowd of 76,813 at Twickenham for the Big Game did a lot of the heavy lifting but there were also sell-outs at Leicester, Northampton and Saracens, while over 24,000 were in attendance at Ashton Gate as well.
There is enough bad news around the sport, especially in England, so it’s good to hear a bit of positivity and everyone involved in generating those attendances and TV figures deserves credit but rugby has been here before.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results and those in charge of Premiership Rugby and the clubs cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.
It’s fair to say that 2022-23 was as bad as it gets with three top tier clubs going to the wall, and another Championship outfit falling by the wayside, and that was the culmination of years of a mindset that accepted it was ok to spend beyond your means.
The saying goes that you have to speculate to accumulate but rugby clubs have done far too much speculating and the vast majority are still at risk of going bust if a solitary benefactor decides to up sticks and leave.
Essentially, that is what happened to Wasps and London Irish, whatever you think of the motives behind the owners’ decisions, and there is no longer a queue of rich individuals lining up to throw good money after bad at rugby clubs.
That is where Bristol’s financial results for 2022/23 come in. Nobody expects Steve Lansdown to pull the plug and if he did, the Bears would obviously be in big trouble but they are an ambitious club doing a lot of good things and the numbers are worrying.
You have to add the caveat that Lansdown has deep pockets and is willing to spend more to achieve success but their pre-tax loss increased from £3.3 million to £5 million from one financial year to the next.
Bristol say that reflects “the challenges faced by the club and the wider Premiership during the year” and of course that is true to a certain extent but when you look deeper into the figures almost of the additional loss is due to an increase in spending on wages and salaries.
The number of players at the club only rose by one but there were an additional nine coaching and support staff in 2022/23 and expenditure on wages and salaries shot up from £9.9 million to £11.4 million.
The salary cap is set to rise by a massive £1.4m or 28 per cent to £6.4m for the 2024/25 season and the Bears are reportedly one of a handful of clubs who want it to keep going up rather than remain at the current level.
So, that figure of £11.4 million spent on wages and salaries is likely to keep going up and there’s not really any evidence to suggest their turnover, which was a record this year at £14.9 million, can rise at a similar rate let alone end up leading to a profit.
The likes of Newcastle, Exeter and others are spending well under the salary cap already so we could well end up with a two or three tier league and that is completely against what the system is intended to achieve.
Hopefully lessons will have been learned from the Saracens salary cap scandal in a number of respects but it’s also fair to question whether other clubs might spend more to attempt to keep pace with the likes of Bristol.
This is not an attack on the Bears, far from it, they’re an ambitious club doing an awful lot right and other clubs’ annual accounts will make for even worse reading but I can’t see how you can justify increasing the salary cap by 28 per cent when pre-tax losses have increased by over 50 per cent.
Rugby has been professional for less than three decades and there is definitely an argument to say it ran before it could walk. I’m all for players earning as much as possible given what they put their bodies through but it absolutely has to be sustainable.
The product on the field in the Premiership is outstanding and one of the major reasons for that is the league’s competitiveness. Everybody knows we can’t have another season where three top tier clubs go to the wall so it’s just hard to contemplate an increase in the salary cap.
It may seem grinch-like to some to be saying this on the back of the Premiership’s positive festive period but a bit more prudence and realism is required if the sport in England is to have a better year in 2024.
"The game could die unless something dramatically changes…"
– Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson, with Liam Heagney ???, on the planned implementation of RFU 'hybrid' contracts in England in 2024. #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/B3Z8d5UCrl
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 3, 2024
Comments on RugbyPass
To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
1 Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
4 Go to commentsCan we also show some love for Tane Edmed’s fantastic draw and pass? Put his body on the line and committed the defender before letting go of that pass. Flawless skill.
4 Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
7 Go to commentsDanny don't care. He pretends to care but he don't. He says all this stuff to justify his reasoning but no one can claim that legitimately. He knew exactly what he was doing and wondered if his old team mate would overlook it, which he did. Ref has got to be sidelined or properly trained. It's one thing for refs to move up the ranks but if it was me I would require refs to either have played in different clubs or not at all having the temptation to bias in high stakes games like this. This has got to be stamped out. But then again World Rugby is so destroying the game of rugby in an attempt to be more “safe” and “concussion free”. What they are doing is making it more infuriating for the fans and more difficult for the refs to officiate evenly and consistently. It's fast become Australian Rules football. If guys don't want concussions, they should have played chess. Stop complaining you oldies of the game. When they played the game was vastly heavier hitting than it is now but of course they can't see that.
2 Go to commentsJa, why do Bulls get flack for not bringing their best but Leinster never bring their best and it goes “unnoticed”?
3 Go to commentsIt’ll be very interesting to see how Razor’s AB’s handle the new England rush D. It’s basically the Bok recipe they copied, so if England goes well then we know most likely the Boks will go well too. If England cops a hiding then we’ll have to study and adapt.
7 Go to commentsTypical trait of an australian is to moan. Goes well with there lack of humbleness as evident by the Reds bench on the weekend.
4 Go to commentsSBW’s bro’town commentary and lazy default to hyperbole should be ignored, a technical analyst he is not. Sotutu is a good player when games get goosey loosey, high skill set that fans of Zinzan recall with starry eyes. But you need power and mongrel at no8 in the Test arena and Sotutu gets found wanting there, much like Akira Ioane. No8’s like Zinzan and Ardie have bucketloads of mongrel and power and tenacity which allow the skill sets to flourish.
11 Go to commentsAn inside pass to attacker on the angle can make a drift defence look lead footed. Relies on fleet footed forward/s to get across from the breakdown. An argument for the smaller faster 7 perhaps?
7 Go to commentsSensational tackle. The reds one was late and rightly penalised. The other two were simultaneous with the pass. If nitpicking TMOs can’t find fault there clearly isn’t any.
4 Go to commentsBrumbies fully deserved their win on the back of their physicality and desire to control the ball. Xavier Numia, Asafo Aumua and Tyrel Lomax should be the ABs starting front row when we start our test schedule. They have “come of age” and have bested all they have faced as well as been dominant with ball in hand in making the gainline. With De Groot, Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell backed up by Taukei'aho and Cody Taylor there's not an international front row that can trouble us. Can't wait to face the Boks over there, won't be no one point game this time.
7 Go to commentsKinda strange that he wasn’t with a premiership team or a higher level of rugby? Start playing late or something? With that kind of size and athleticism you’d think someone would have picked him up?
2 Go to commentsShows how much attitude matters. Last week the Brumbies got done, this week they dominated the tournament leaders, who were likely thinking they could cruise to victory.
7 Go to commentsA Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
7 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
11 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
4 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
7 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to comments