Don't blame the salary cap - why Premiership must start building instead of buying players
On the same week that Nigel Wray’s South African partners pulled out of Saracens due to the club’s ongoing financial losses, comments from Wasps director of rugby Dai Young that the “salary cap is an issue” could not have come at a worse time.
Speaking to ESPN.co.uk, Young brought up several issues with the cap, including that its recent increases were not allowing teams to contract more players, as top-tier internationals demanded more money as a result, squads across the competition were getting smaller in response and that if they weren’t prepared to pay their players market value, then “11 other clubs would”.
He also stated that “the Welsh and Irish players will get more rest and the Leinster side that beat Sarries will probably play together eight or nine times this season.”
It’s an interesting statement, especially when you factor in that many Guinness PRO14 sides, pretty much all those not among the Irish provinces, will operate on significantly smaller budgets than those of their Premiership rivals, yet they still have the depth to rotate and rest players.
Young has hit the nail on the head, though, in his assertion that the market value of top-tier internationals has increased rapidly in recent years, but what drives that is a recruitment-heavy market, something which Wasps have contributed to significantly over the last few years. An example of this would be one fringe international who was, this season, touted around Premiership clubs for a salary of £450k. That equates to roughly 15 senior academy contracts. That’s a trade-off which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Wasps are on their third set of academy coaching staff since Young arrived and the pathway from their junior academy to the first team has been barely trod by up-and-coming players. Since the quartet of Christian Wade, Elliot Daly, Billy Vunipola and Sam Jones burst on to the scene, the pickings have been slim for Wasps, with perhaps the two most prominent graduates being the Willis brothers, Jack and Tom, who have made the most of the injuries that have afflicted the club this season.
If you are not going to push through youngsters, allow them to train with the seniors and give them that opportunity, then there is no doubt you’re going to have a top-heavy squad, many of whom have been recruited on big money from other teams or countries.
The beauty of bringing through your own players and having them on senior academy contracts in your squad is that you can essentially write them off the salary cap, with the Premiership’s system of academy credits. This is something Saracens have had a lot of success with and other clubs, such as Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs, are also making effective use of. With increased funding and/or emerging talented crops of youngsters, it’s something which may well play an influential role in the fortunes of Sale Sharks, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints in the coming years, too.
The issue is not the salary cap, but how certain teams choose to play it.
Wasps have gone heavily down the recruit-first path and trimmed their squad size as a result, but they’re not alone in that regard. Bath have taken a similar journey and like Wasps, you see them struggle with their depth when injuries come knocking. In terms of the best 23s that those two sides can put out, irrespective of fitness, they are a match for anyone in Europe.
If that’s the approach you have decided to take, then fair enough, but it opens your club up to extraneous variables, like injury, potentially derailing your season. There are ways to approach a salary cap league and this is undoubtedly a risky way of doing it.
The whole purpose of a salary cap is to ensure the competition is as competitive as possible and this means that teams cannot hoard star players and lesser teams will be able to improve by acquiring higher calibre players who can’t fit in their current side’s cap. That does jar with some fans, who think it’s unfair that their club go to the effort of producing and developing a talented player to then see him join someone else, but this is the nature of a salary cap.
If you look at the NFL, the perennially competitive and effective teams are the masters of drafting new talent, evaluating it’s worth to the franchise and then opting either to pay them the big money themselves, or let them go test their value in free agency and potentially pick up a lucrative deal elsewhere.
Honestly, rugby clubs should be even more successful at doing that than NFL franchises.
Instead of working with a draft system, whereby it’s a lottery influenced by the ability of their scouts, rugby clubs operate an academy system and have unrivalled access to evaluate and improve the players they have coming through their pathway.
The senior academy at a Premiership rugby club should mirror the initial contracts that NFL rookies sign after they are drafted. This is the evaluation time.
You can identify who is vital to your club’s success and long-term vision and pay them accordingly, whilst others can be let go to teams who are willing to pay them more, or are more in need of their services. This group should be refreshed each year, with new players leaving school and graduating from the junior academy.
If you neglect that pathway, then you’re like an NFL team signing 90% of its talent through free agency. History shows us that this is not a particularly successful way of operating and often proves to be a very financially-costing mistake.
Even if you put the issue of trying to create a competitive tournament to one side for a moment, there are also very significant financial implications behind any movement to remove or expand the salary cap.
Of the 12 Premiership clubs, only Exeter recorded a profit during the last fiscal year, with Worcester Warriors showing the worst accounts in the competition, operating with a £4m loss.
Plenty of clubs are making strides to reduce their losses and become more sustainable, whether that’s through stadium expansion, playing games at bigger venues, increasing commercial opportunities or looking to expand in new markets, but it’s not something which will be solved overnight. This is why the salary cap has been set at the £7m mark for the foreseeable future.
The Premiership is believed to be on the verge of signing a new title sponsorship deal with US insurance giants Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., whilst a new TV deal will need to be negotiated for the 2021/22 season and onwards, so there will be opportunities to re-evaluate that figure over the coming years, but keeping it at its current level is not a bad move, irrespective of whether or not a handful of owners are willing to underwrite losses in a search for glory.
The salary cap promotes a competitive league, production of homegrown talent, a smaller and more organic rise in wages and responsible fiscal management.
Why would you want to end that?
Comments on RugbyPass
A Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
2 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
9 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
3 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
2 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to commentsBrilliant article! Harry of 8/9
1 Go to comments‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
1 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
45 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
5 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
45 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
45 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
5 Go to comments