'It's been the darkest week in English club rugby history'
England hooker Jamie George has insisted that senior players must be consulted as rugby chiefs look to restructure the game in the wake of the financial crisis gripping the Gallagher Premiership. Wasps followed Worcester into administration on Monday when all 167 players and staff at the club were made redundant and they are expected to join the Warriors in being relegated to the Championship.
Other teams are thought to be in similarly precarious positions and officials from the RFU and Premiership Rugby will face a parliamentary committee next month to answer questions about the league’s troubled finances. The RFU favours a reduction of the top flight and will even assess the feasibility of central contracts among a range of proposals being examined amid the consensus that an overhaul is vital.
Whatever is decided, George believes it is essential that experienced players are also involved in reshaping the game in England. “What has happened has opened the eyes of a lot of players. It’s made people realise that rugby isn’t in the place we thought it was,” said the Saracens and Lions front row, speaking on behalf of Sage.
“We thought we were comfortable and that Wasps would never go down, Worcester would never go down. Now Joe Launchbury doesn’t have a job and Dan Robson doesn’t have a job. And 167 people at Wasps don’t have jobs.
“It’s been the darkest week in English club rugby history. That is a concern. What I want is to look at the global picture and say, ‘How can we fix this?’ Maybe it took something like this to create some form of change. It’s horrific that it had to be this way, but if we can channel this into English rugby becoming a lot more secure then that’s probably the only thing we can hope for.
“The players need to be at the forefront of it. I spoke to (England and Harlequins scrum-half) Danny Care and he is hugely passionate about this. He is a perfect example. He has been around the game for a long time and he has got some great ideas. Why would you not utilise that? Players are going to want certain things and how it works logistically and financially might be two separate things. But why would you not have them in the room? That is absolutely vital. I’d love to be in the room.
“I understand the value in potentially compressing the league: less games, make the games bigger, allow for the internationals to play more for their clubs. These types of conversations need to happen. Whether they can work logistically is for the RFU or PRL to decide, but players need to be at the forefront of these conversations.”
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney claimed that central contracts were the nuclear option but they will now come under serious consideration as talks continue over the new professional game agreement that begins in 2024. George has reservations over the idea, insisting there is no appetite among players for club rugby in England to be marginalised.
“I see the positives and negatives. Fundamentally my priority is playing for Saracens. They are the club that I love. If I then get picked for England off the back of it, that’s fantastic,” he said. “I wouldn’t want a central contract to take away from the importance of the club game. If it can enhance it in some way then absolutely, that’s a conversation to be had, but it shouldn’t be about just taking the England players out of the club game.
“I speak on behalf of a lot of players in that we want to play for our clubs. That’s why players need a voice in this conversation. It would be very easy to look at this commercially and say, ‘well let’s just make England as big as we can and take away from the club game’. For me, that isn’t the answer and it’s not what players want.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments