'Something has to change' - Jack Dixon reveals stark reality of Welsh deadlock
Dragons centre Jack Dixon has laid bare the stark reality faced by players and their families amid Welsh rugby’s contracts freeze.
Dixon is out of contract with his Newport-based regional team at the end of this season; he is among an estimated 70 to 100 Welsh professional players in the same boat.
A new six-year financial agreement between the Welsh Rugby Union and Wales’ four professional regions – Dragons, Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets – has not yet been signed off in writing after months of discussion, and the clock is ticking.
The regions are braced for financial cuts, but no playing budgets have been finalised for next season, so no contracts can be offered in writing.
A players’ strike is seen as a possibility, and 28-year-old Dixon, whose wife Lauren is expecting the couple’s second child in August, admits it is a difficult time.
“The uncertainty of the next couple of weeks and the next couple of months is tough,” he said. “My contract runs out in three or four months’ time.
“I have a two-year-old son in the house, my wife is pregnant with another baby expected towards the end of this year, and I don’t know if I have got income coming in June, July and next year yet. Nothing has been said.
“When you take the field you try to park it as best you can but, subconsciously, you are one big injury from being thrown out the door, to put it frankly.”
Dixon has been made a verbal contract offer by the Dragons, which the regions are currently permitted to do, but nothing can be set in stone until a written long-term agreement is finalised.
The Wales Under-20 international joined the Dragons in 2011 and has made more than 160 appearances for them.
“There is quite a good bond and trust between players and coaches at the Dragons but, like in any industry, until something is set in stone and signed on the dotted line, it doesn’t mean anything,” Dixon added.
“Dai (Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan) has sat us down and explained the situation the best he can to every individual.
“As players across all four regions, we have to stick together with this. For me and a lot of the boys, it is not really about money.
“It is about players having a fair say in the board meetings and just having a voice. We feel as players we don’t get a say – we are always last to know information.
“I feel like it has got to the point where you are asking me about Welsh players striking for Wales versus England. That says it all.
“We are the ones who go out there every weekend and put our bodies on the line. We signed up to be rugby players but, at the end of the day, we deserve to have our say in what goes on in the whole organisation.
“At the minute, we are just holding on until we get answers. Something has to change. The outside pressures are pretty overwhelming at the minute.”
Cardiff captain Josh Turnbull, a Wales Test player not currently in the international squad, has also aired his views.
“What the PRB (Professional Rugby Board) and WRU have done in the past few months is show a complete lack of respect and empathy towards the players,” Turnbull said on Twitter.
“There has been very little consultation or transparency throughout their process.
“Let’s make it clear. This is not about what players earn. It’s the fact that players don’t know if they have a job in four months’ time.
“This vulnerable and uncertain situation is causing severe stress and wellbeing issues for several players, and this is increasing by the day. We are anxious about the lack of progress, and time is rapidly running out.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments