Premiership clubs have unanimously agreed to reduce £7million salary cap and marquee player quota - reports
Premiership Rugby clubs have reportedly reacted to the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic stoppage of rugby in England by unanimously agreeing to cut their tournament’s salary cap by £1.4million for the 2021/22 season. There will also be a reduction in the number of marquee players sitting outside the cap in 2022/23.
The current salary cap for the top-flight league in England is £7m per club (£6.4m plus £600,000 academy credits), with the salaries of two marquee players sitting outside that cap.
However, it is now being reported that a meeting of clubs has resulted in action being taken to help everyone better live within their means during the financial crisis. The reduction in the cap won’t be permanent, with flexibility allowed for it to be restored to current levels once the game economically rejuvenates itself in the years ahead.
The decision to only bring in the reduction (a £5m ceiling plus £600,000 academy credits) for the 2021/22 season and not next season was due to most contracts already being signed for the 2020/21 campaign after clubs made preparations with a £7m ceiling.
It is also reported that alterations have been made to the marquee player dispensation. Rather than allow for two star players to sit outside the cap, this will be cut to one from season 2022/23 onwards. These reductions will spark fears of an exodus from the English top-flight, with high earners potentially tempted to follow the likes of George Kruis and Freddie Burns and take up deals in places like Japan.
The pinch is being felt at Welford Road https://t.co/g5cfrcpMUJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 4, 2020
Gallagher Premiership clubs convinced their squads to take a 25 per cent pay cut when the pandemic first struck in March and there are now predictions that this reduction will also be made permanent. Speaking on BT Sport last month, Lawrence Dallaglio said: “The reality of the Covid crisis is that the salary cap is going to come down, there is no doubt about that. The game, the sport of rugby, particularly at the highest level, has been living way beyond its means.
“What we have seen since the introduction of the Covid crisis is a 25 per cent reduction in salaries which all the clubs have agreed. Some clubs, I won’t name them, were pushing for a 50 per cent reduction in these salaries. The new normal for players will be that their salaries won’t be going back up again. Those reductions are here to stay for the foreseeable future. The reality is the game is starting to recognise that it has to live within its means.”
“None of those clubs have made a profit in the last few years (except Exeter). Just to give you some idea, five years ago about five players in the Premiership were earning a salary of £300,000 or more. In the five years since then, it’s somewhere around about 100 players are earning that sort of level.”
Lord Myners’ recent salary cap report, which included 52 recommendations that have been adopted by the Premiership clubs, highlighted how the business of rugby just doesn’t make ends meet. The report outlined that Companies House recorded a staggering £88.7million collective loss among the 13 stakeholder clubs in the years ending 2017 and 2018. Only Exeter turned a profit, whereas others such as Wasps lost in excess of £14m.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
27 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.
9 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.
27 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?
11 Go to comments