'Guys are out of jobs' - Rugby agent details the brutal decisions facing players as the market implodes
There is a World Cup thundering down the tracks and rugby has never been more box-office, yet seldom has the life of the rugby agent been so brutal.
Clubs leaking money, no longer prepared to pay what once they were. Incentives in England and regulations in France governing the selection of foreign players. More accomplished operators competing for fewer vacancies and toiling to find new clubs.
To the agents scrambling to shift their players, you might say dry your eyes. Agents have levered up the salaries and profited handsomely from the lavish riches on offer, so how dare they moan when the gravy train falters.
Though the market’s stinginess has made his job significantly harder, Tom Beattie takes a more pensive view. His company, TDB Sports, represents a small but prominent cohort of players, including Don Armand, Nick Grigg, Sione Kalamafoni and Demetri Catrakilis.
“For the long-term vision of rugby, the salaries need to have a period of stability,” he says. “That’s the main reason guys are out of jobs. Clubs are being very strict on the salary caps, and that’s meant that unfortunately some guys are left in a position where there isn’t that contract that there was a couple of years ago.
“It’s certainly a buyers’ market this year, because of the number of players without a contract. A lot of clubs can wait a bit longer and perhaps a player has to take a reduction in salary to get that contract.
“What’s happening now is that realism is coming back and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I want rugby to grow, and have a period of sustainability and stability, so it can grow.”
In England, clubs are financially incentivised by the RFU to field more English-qualified players. Relinquishing your EQP status can mean severely hindering your chances of a Premiership contract.
France was once the land of great opportunity for foreigners, but the situation there is more labyrinthine thanks to the nuanced JIFF (Joueurs Issus des Filières de Formation) quota system. To meet the JIFF criteria, as French rugby expert James Harrington explains, “a player must have spent at least three seasons in a French club’s academy before they had turned 21, or had been licensed to play in France for five seasons before the age of 23”. Next season, Top 14 clubs must have 19 JIFF players in their 35-strong squads, and must select at least 14 on their match-day.
These numbers have gone up this summer, and so have the punishments for breaking the rules. Failure to hit the JIFF target will now result in points deductions – increasingly stringent attempts to restore the beleaguered national team to its former glory.
Ireland’s provinces and Scotland’s pro-teams are controlled by their unions, who quite sensibly prioritise the fostering of talent that can represent them on the Test stage. And “Project Reset” is supposed to deliver, among many things, financial sustainability to the Welsh regions, although the venture so far has largely brought rancour and confusion.
The rub of all this is that some players – not the real galacticos, but those with a handful of caps or a fledgling Test career beckoning – are forced to be increasingly calculating about their international prospects.
“A player can go to the World Cup this year and be absolutely fantastic, one of the stars of the show – it doesn’t mean they’ll come back and get a contract,” Beattie says.
“That is the market we’re in at the moment. There are no guarantees. You can be absolutely fantastic and have no job. What’s best for the player’s family?”
It shouldn’t be this way, but often it is. International rugby ought to be the shimmering pinnacle of the game, with the World Cup the jewel in its crown, but often it is not. In some cases, the pragmatism trumps the romance.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, the Scotland scrum-half and one of Beattie’s clients, wasn’t called up to Gregor Townsend’s training squad. Just as well, for if he had been, Hidalgo-Clyne would have had to decline. Not because he didn’t long to be there, but because he was hopelessly out of the picture at Scarlets and wanted to leave, because his chances of making the plane to Japan, let alone seeing any action, would be slim, and mostly because it would have meant spending the summer training with Scotland, rather than joining a new club for pre-season.
“Sammy’s a perfect example,” says Beattie. “I had so many conversations with clubs who like him. Why wouldn’t you like him? He’s a good player, but as a Scottish international, he’s non-French or English-qualified, so he doesn’t make their quotas.”
Hidalgo-Clyne has taken up a short-term contract at Racing 92, providing cover during the World Cup. His future beyond November remains murky, but in this fiendishly tough market, at least he’ll have the chance to play at a behemoth club and put himself in the shop window.
“Two or three years ago, a Top 14 or ProD2 squad make-up was generally 60:40 foreign:French, now it’s generally flipped,” says Beattie.
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“For a foreign player, even if you’re an English international, it’s that much tougher to go to France. The regulations often mean they can’t go –not because they’re not good enough, just because there isn’t space within the quota.
“Some agents are struggling because they’ve got a lot of players on their roster and they can’t get clubs for them all.”
There are horror stories emanating from the Top 14 alleging teams are pressuring their particularly vulnerable Pacific Islanders to shun the World Cup.
“A lot of the time, the French clubs want the guy that’s uncapped or basically saying, ‘I’m not going to play international rugby’,” says Beattie.
“And if you’re a foreign player, you kind of have to add something different in your contract, which could be, ‘right, I’m prepared to give up international rugby because I need this contract to look after my family’.
“I’ve had those conversations with players. They’re passionate about their countries, but they need a job. It’s a short career; if you get ten good years in rugby you’ve had a great career. You’ve got bills to pay, a roof to keep over your head, a family to feed.
“And it’s becoming a buyers’ market, because supply of players exceeds demand.”
Another of Beattie’s clients, the Canada prop Jake Ilnicki, has just helped Seattle Seawolves retain the Major League Rugby title. The competition is only in its second year, but the hope is that it can help chisel rugby into the American sporting psyche.
“For rugby to work, I absolutely believe it needs a strong America,” Beattie says. “That could make the global game a completely different landscape in terms of sponsors, TV monies, interest, and it could really benefit us over here as well.
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“If they can get a part of the core sports market, even a small part, we will see a massive effect on the whole of world rugby.”
For now, though, Beattie fears there is a danger that the prestige of international rugby will be eroded, players swayed towards forgoing caps or reluctant to tie themselves to a country because of the damage it may do to their bread-and-butter club career.
“I want my players who want to play international rugby to play international rugby, because it’s an amazing thing to achieve,” he says.
“The factors around that in terms of protecting their livelihood unfortunately need to be discussed. The sad thing is that you don’t want to have this club v country. No-one wants that, but it’s case by case, and all I can do is to give the player the options.
“I’ve had to put some offers to players before along those lines. I’ve given them the menu of different options to consider, and we’ve had to have those discussions, and not nice discussions. I really hope it can be solved.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments