Unanimous Premiership support for the Myners report's 52 salary cap recommendations
The board of Premiership Rugby have unanimously supported the Lord Myners report and its 52 recommendations following the fallout from the repeated breaches that resulted in the automatic relegation of Saracens to the Championship for 2020/21.
All 13 Premiership Rugby clubs have united to support the recommendations and agreed to move to the next stage of developing these recommendations into detailed regulation. This stage will involve further consultation with our clubs, the RFU and RPA. These new regulations will then be presented to Premiership Rugby Board for approval.
As part of the review, Lord Myners undertook an extensive public consultation so that anyone interested in professional club rugby, including supporters and players, could have their say on the future of the regulations. Around 450 individuals and organisations responded to the consultation and Lord Myners held follow-up interviews with around 200 stakeholders to discuss their views in detail.
Darren Childs, Premiership Rugby CEO, said: “I’m immensely grateful to Lord Myners for his thorough, diligent and robust approach to conducting this review.
“It’s a credit to our clubs that they have acted so quickly to support these recommendations and take the Premiership Rugby salary cap into a new era. We want to create the gold standard for delivering sporting integrity, financial viability and competitive balance.
“The next stage is for us to consult with our clubs, RFU and RPA and to enshrine these new regulations for the start of the 2020-21 season, which will be created for the long-term benefit of our sport.”
Appendix: the recommendations in full are:
1. Separation of Investigation, Decision to Prosecute and Enforcement
1.1 Enshrine a commitment by the clubs to respect the independence of the regulations.
1.2 The current discretion for clubs to choose to remove a director of a club pursuant to Regulation 14.7 should be removed.
1.3 Appoint an independent Cap Governance Monitor, with reserved powers in relation to the enforcement of the regulations.
2. Transparency
2.1 Announce the fact that a charge has been brought as soon as is reasonably practical and within seven days, with a brief summary of the substance and details, and proposed dates for a hearing.
2.2 Publish disciplinary decisions in full, with the redaction of confidential information or personal data.
2.3 Include details of all breaches and sanctions in a comprehensive SCM annual report, which is made public.
2.4 Publish guidance from the SCM regularly and make this publicly available.
2.5 Publish general information to share details about the operation of the cap and how it is achieving its objectives.
2.6 Publish any changes to the regulations, along with a rationale for how it is consistent with the five regulatory objectives.
3. Drafting of the Regulations and Definition of Salary
3.1 The regulations should remain as a set of detailed rules, backed up by principles.
3.2 All permitted payments to players should be automatically included within the salary cap, except for a few clearly communicated exceptions.
3.3 All exceptional items to be pre-approved by the SCM, otherwise they will be automatically treated as salary.
3.4 Prohibit payments which are subjective, extend beyond a player’s playing career or come from connected parties (including sponsorship by connected parties). Any prohibited payment should result in a sanction.
3.5 Broaden the current definition of connected party.
3.6 The SCM must approve all sponsorship arrangements in advance.
3.7 Tighten provisions around player loans to ensure they are bona fide.
3.8 Review provisions for exempt (marquee) players.
3.9 Remove the provision to deem a salary. Instead allow evidence of inaccurate salary declaration to be sufficient grounds for the SCM to launch an investigation.
3.10 Strengthen emphasis on clubs seeking clarification from the SCM in relation to any uncertainty in the interpretation of the regulations. Failure by a club to do so should be treated by the disciplinary panel as an aggravating factor leading to an increased sanction.
4. Club Accountability
4.1 The entry level for points sanctions should be increased.
4.2 The disciplinary panel should be entitled to take into account a wider range of factors and be given more guidance in relation to how those factors might influence their decision and their relative weighting.
4.3 Increase sanctions for failure to co-operate to a level equivalent to the sanctions available for breach of the salary cap.
4.4 Make additional sporting sanctions available, including relegation, suspension, stripping of titles and return of prize money.
4.5 Provide the disciplinary panel with the power to install an independent monitor for consistent and serious breaches.
4.6 Increase the sanctions available to the SCM for breach of lower level regulatory breaches, including the ability to deduct 2 points, with a right of appeal for clubs before an independent disciplinary panel.
5. Player Accountability
5.1 Tie players into the regulations so that they have accountability with respect to the salary cap.
5.2 The following player obligations should be adopted:
i) Player declaration
ii) Reporting arrangements for players
iii) Onus on player to clarify arrangements
iv) Co-operation.
5.3 Provide sanctions for players who are in breach of their obligations under the Regulations. These sanctions should include fines and sporting sanctions.
6. Accountability of Others
6.1 Introduce a fit and proper test for club owners to be available to the Disciplinary Panel in extreme circumstances.
6.2 Define a category of “club officials” to include directors and shareholders with more than a 10% holding and each club official should register with Premiership Rugby.
6.3 Require club officials to sign a declaration confirming that they have read the Regulations and agree to abide by them.
6.4 Require a board representative to sign a declaration of anticipated and actual compliance with the Regulations.
6.5 Provide that any club official who knew, or should have known, about the breach of the salary cap and who has signed a false declaration or certification or has unreasonably failed to co-operate with salary cap regulations is subject to sanctions including a ban from Premiership Rugby for up to two years (first offence) or up to lifetime (any subsequent offence).
6.6 Require clubs to nominate a salary cap officer who has duties to the SCM.
6.7 Provide obligations for agents in the regulations that mirror those of players in relation to disclosure and obligation to co-operate with the SCM.
6.8 Add a provision to the RFU’s agent declaration that includes an agreement by each agent to comply with the regulations.
6.9 Provide sanctions for breach of the regulations by an agent, including suspension of licence, forfeiture of any commission and/or fines.
7. Powers and Resource of the SCM and the auditors
7.1 Extend system to allow central access to each club’s salary cap spreadsheet at all times.
7.2 Require clubs to provide copies of documents such as new contracts to the SCM within 14 days.
7.3 Clarify the power of the SCM to attend clubs without notice and require them to provide him with finance reports and access to management accounts.
7.4 Allow the SCM to make requests to see players’ tax returns on a random basis.
7.5 Clarify that, as a part of their annual review, the auditors are able to obtain downloads of raw accounting data from each club’s system.
7.6 Enhance the powers available to the auditors in their annual audit to include mandatory interviews, sampling of tax returns and more extensive provision of information and documents by the clubs.
7.7 Introduce sanctions for clubs that do not comply with reasonable requests from auditors within a reasonable time frame.
7.8 The SCM should work with the Rugby Players Association and RFU to provide a programme of education for players and agents so that they understand their obligations under the regulations.
7.9 Change the title of the “SCM” to salary cap director”.
7.10 Appoint a deputy SCM to assist the SCD.
7.11 Appoint a full-time data analyst.
7.12 Make investigatory audits compulsory if the SCM has reasonable grounds to initiate.
7.13 Expand the scope of investigatory audits to include broader powers of search.
7.14 Provide sanctions for any club or individual who is found to have deleted evidence post the notification on an investigatory audit.
7.15 Introduce random mini investigatory audits for two clubs every year.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments