Ex-Gloucester chairman applauded after he spills beans on Twitter about salary cap's ugly truth
Former Gloucester chairman Ryan Walkinshaw has launched an impassioned tirade on Twitter regarding breaches of the salary cap.
This comes after allegations from the Daily Mail that Saracens are breaching the salary cap, sparking an investigation from Premiership Rugby.
However, Walkinshaw has “no doubt” that other clubs are doing the same thing in England, even stating that he has had other owners “admit it to my face”.
Walkinshaw, who was chairman of the Cherry and Whites for over five years, clearly has strong opinions about the salary cap, something he will have first hand experience of working with.
He explained on Twitter how clubs may wrangle their way around the regulations in order to stay within the requirements, and further explained how hard it is therefore for Premiership Rugby to investigate.
The businessman, who’s father Tom argued for the introduction of the salary cap when he was chairman of the club, also said that he views breaching the cap in the same way that he sees performance-enhancing drugs.
He said: “One is financial enhanced performance and the other is chemical enhanced performance but both have a similar effect on a club’s ability to deliver on the pitch.”
Walkinshaw also explained how he suggested the investigation should be held by a third party, such as PWC. This would mean that clubs are less likely to “brush breaches under the carpet”. He also said that the real punishment is the public shame of being cheats before the fans, sponsors and players, as any financial penalty is barely a deterrent to any club.
This is what Walkinshaw had to say:
Amendment to tweet 2. Should read ‘zero doubt in my mind.’ Amendment to tweet 12. ‘Majority of Clubs appeared not.’ Obviously I would never name names, merely sharing some of my experiences and feelings from around that time as well as my dislike for cheating in a game I love.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
2. There is literally zero doubt that some Clubs break the salary cap. I have heard a number of Club owners admit it to my face. When I started I even had one offer to help me ‘bend the rules’. Another laughed at the ease with which he broke the cap at lunch with me once…
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
3. There is a difference between working in the grey of the rules, which many if not all fully funded playing departments are doing, and consciously breaking the rules, which only a small number do/did.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
4. I personally see salary cap breaching in the same way I see performance enhancing drugs. One is financial enhanced performance and the other is chemical enhanced performance but both have a similar effect on a Club’s ability to deliver on the pitch.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
5. It is extremely hard to quantifiably prove a Club has consciously broken the salary cap as it must obviously require evidence of the breach in order to find a Club guilty. This can come in many forms but clever accounting and tight lips makes this very hard.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
6. An example. I hire player A from NZ to come join my Club. I can only fit in £200k into my salary cap for player A but he wants £800k. Solution is simply to pay the player through a separate company or buy the player an asset, such as a house, to cover the gap.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
7. In this example player A will show only a £200k direct cost to the Club and salary cap. Whilst in fact the owner of the Club is effectively playing player A significantly more. So, how can they get caught doing this sort of thing?
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
8. The Club can get caught in a few ways, such as the player deciding to admit the breach and provide evidence to PRL or for there to be a financial trail that shows that a Club owner has paid the player somehow around the back of the Club’s accounts.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
9. Frankly both those scenarios are unlikely as PRL cannot really get their hands on private information from a Club owner, or a player, if those individuals don’t want them to. The player also has no incentive to admit the breach and offer evidence as they may lose out.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
10. What was fascinating during the 2014 ‘alleged’ breaches was the attitude of the Clubs. I fought hard to try and ensure that the alleged Clubs in breach would be brought to justice. Sadly I was one of only a small handful of Clubs who shared that same mindset.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
11. Many of the Clubs held surprising positions on this such as claiming it wasn’t in the best interest of the sport to punish Clubs in breach, or shaming them publicly. That any breach should be either swept under the carpet or at worst done privately behind closed doors.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
12. This led me to believe that many more Club’s were potentially in breach than I had initially feared. This also demonstrated that whilst PRL executives may have been keen to punish, the majority of Club owners themselves were not.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
13. In my mind this attitude essentially opens the door for more breaches as the precedent had been set that Club owners didn’t really want Clubs to be punished, particularly publicly which is what would matter more than the mere financial risk of a breach.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
14. The financial penalties for a breach can be severe, but if you’re of the wealth of some of the owners it could be argued the risk is worth the potential reward. The only real deterrent for all, no matter your wealth, is the public shame that surrounds cheating.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
15. Without the public shame of being caught and punished, a salary cap breaching strategy by an offending club becomes merely a financial risk assessment. Real punishment is fans, sponsors and even other players knowing you cheated. This would deter other Clubs too.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
16. Much more I could say but I won’t elaborate further. But bare in mind you, the fans, are the ones being cheated by this. You pay to watch your Club perform, and when a competing Club is cheating in this manner it reduces the likelihood of your Club succeeding. Get angry.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
P.S I offered an idea that we outsource salary cap investigations to a third party, like PWC. This would reduce self interest and the ability for Clubs to brush breaches under the carpet. PWC could be financially incentivised with bonus money from fines. This idea was shot down.
— Ryan (@RyanWalkinshaw) March 6, 2019
The salary cap has always been a contentious issue in English rugby, and this latest saga has allowed many fans, pundits and players to weigh in with their views on the topic.
In response to the allegations, Saracens have said that they comply with Premiership Rugby salary regulations.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments