17 key points of the damning Saracens salary cap report
Premiership Rugby opted to publicly publish the salary cap report on Thursday following the withdrawal of Saracens’ formal opposition to its publication (click here).
The document that Premiership Rugby published was reportedly the same version of the decision shared in confidence with the other member clubs in recent weeks.
However, in order to respect the privacy of personal information, this published document omits the names of players and other information that could be used to identify individuals. It insists that no other information has since been redacted from the report. Here are its key points according to Press Association:
1. Saracens were alleged by Premiership Rugby’s salary cap manager Andrew Rogers to have exceeded the cap by £1,134,968.60 in 2016-17 and £140,249 in 2017-18. For 2018-19, the figure was £960,505.57. The panel determined the overspend to be £1,134,968.60 in 2016-17, £98,249.80 in 2017-18 and £906,505.57.
2. Saracens challenged the decision on the basis that a salary cap is anti-competitive, but the report says in paragraph 50 that the candid acceptance of the need for a salary cap under cross-examination by chief executive Mitesh Velani and owner Nigel Wray “puts the final nail in the coffin of Saracens’ case on (the cap being an anti-competitive) object”.
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3. The panel found in paragraph 60 that Saracens’ evidence to support the argument that a salary cap had an anti-competitive effect was “decidedly limited”, and pointed out that a written statement from Velani on the matter had “largely been copied verbatim” from an earlier submission by former CEO Edward Griffiths from an earlier, settled salary cap case in 2015.
4. Paragraph 95 says Saracens were in favour of a salary cap and that seems to have been the case until at least 2014 when the club along with others voted in changes to the regulations to come into effect from 2015-16 onwards.
5. Referencing a quote from Wray, the panel wrote in paragraph 100: “We entirely understand why Mr Wray thinks there should be a salary cap. It is an obvious means of bringing under control a major risk to the viability of professional rugby.”
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6. Paragraph 106: “In our (the panel’s) view, it is the case that the salary cap has operated and continues to operate in a pro-competitive manner.”
7. In paragraph 111 the panel rejected Saracens’ competition law challenge to the charge.
8. In paragraph 142 the panel says it felt Rogers took a “reasonable approach” that only in exceptional or unusual circumstances should payments or benefits conferred on a player by a club’s ‘connected party’ be excluded from salary.
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9. In paragraph 151 the report quotes Rogers from his witness statement, referring to 2016-17 co-investment arrangements. He says: “There has been a concerted and deliberate attempt to create structures that supposedly take that reward outside the ambit of salary.”
10. In paragraph 179 the panel state: “We are confident these capital contributions were salary.”
11. In paragraph 209 it refers to an arrangement between events company MBN and an unnamed player. MBN paid a total of £95,000 to the unnamed player across 2016-17 to 2018-19, but Saracens failed to disclose a copy of the agreement to the salary cap manager and no evidence was supplied by Saracens to show any events that the unnamed player had attended to warrant the payments. Velani and Wray apologised for this oversight.
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12. In outlining Premiership Rugby’s case for sanction in paragraph 274, Rogers is quoted saying: “I disagree with the suggestion that the club has been open and transparent. In a number of ways, Saracens has over the years been reckless in its approach to the salary cap and the related rules and has frequently crossed the line into breach. At best, the club appears to accept the risk of breaching it.
13. Paragraphs 275 states that “PRL submits that there is no basis for decreasing sanctions that would result in a strict application of the table set out in Regulations 14.3 (c).”
14. Paragraph 276 states that PRL says that the table should be applied separately to each of the three salary cap years. “The charge contains allegations in the three years compendiously because the breaches were concealed from Mr Rogers by Saracens. Otherwise, each year would have been the subject of a separate charge.”
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15. In paragraph 296 it states: “It follows if we were to accept PRL’s submissions and apply a strict mathematical approach cumulatively to each of the three salary cap years, we would impose the following sanctions: A fine of £5,360,272.31 and a deduction of 70 points.
16. In paragraph 304, it states that Saracens’ 2015 settlement over salary cap matters was “a clear yellow card” and “the onus was then plainly on it to ensure that it stayed firmly within the regulations”.
17. In paragraph 319 the panel state a 70-point deduction would be “disproportionate”. “We are conscious that the breaches were not deliberate,” it adds.
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Good 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.
16 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.
7 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.
16 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?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments