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Montpellier successful in appealing salary cap punishment
French media are reporting that Montpellier have had a €470,000 salary cap fine – €70,000 for the failure to communicate certain elements and €400,000 for exceeding the ceiling – for the 2017/18 season annulled.
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However, a French rugby federation (FFR) appeal commission increased to €100,000 a fine of €50,000 that had been imposed for what were described as ‘breaches of transparency obligations’, with an additional €20,000 further added to the punishment.
The Top 14 club was originally sanctioned for having exceeded the €11.3million per annum payroll ceiling. This decision was taken by the salary cap section of the league’s disciplinary committee, a body set up to strengthen control over how clubs spend their money.
Already in the dock for exceeding the ceiling by an estimated €350,000 to €400,000 during the 2016-2017 season, a decision revoked in 2018 on appeal to the FFR, it was Montpellier lawyer Antoine Vey who tweeted the club have been largely exonerated in this latest case of exceeding the salary cap.
However, the matter might not yet be over as the Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) are waiting to learn the reasons why the main part of Montpellier’s punishment was quashed.
(Continue reading below…)
“The LNR can only be surprised and deplore the questioning of this decision in the first instance which was taken on the basis of the salary cap manager’s report and in the application of the procedures,” read a statement.
“We are awaiting the reasons for the outcome of this appeal decision to determine the follow-up that will happen next.
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https://twitter.com/antoinevey/status/1197502624934907910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1197502624934907910&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lequipe.fr%2FRugby%2FActualites%2FSalary-cap-montpellier-une-nouvelle-fois-mis-hors-de-cause%2F1082342
“LNR wish to state the importance of the salary cap in the regulation of professional rugby, both for the fairness and uncertainty of the Top 14 and for the economic balance of the clubs.
“Clubs and the public expect the institutions to have the greatest transparency and firmness over the control of the salary cap to ensure the fairness of our championships.”
La LNR a pris connaissance de la décision de la Commission d’appel de la FFR de ne sanctionner que partiellement le club de Montpellier (MHR) pour manquements aux règles du Salary Cap??? https://t.co/QQ5nboi69M pic.twitter.com/gWMBOugdqs
— Ligue Nationale de Rugby (@LNRofficiel) November 21, 2019
LNR president Paul Goze added: “The control system is getting stronger every year and makes circumvention more and more difficult.
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“The English experience (the deduction of 35 points from Saracens along with a £5.3million fine) shows us that we must remain determined and we are.”
WATCH: The Rugby Pod give their reaction to Saracens not appealing their 35-point deduction for breaching salary cap regulations in England
Comments on RugbyPass
My heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
74 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
74 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to comments