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'What does a rugby player deserve? It's the wrong question… the whole cost base is out of whack'

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)

Global Rapid Rugby was 2020’s blink and you missed it rugby tournament. Three 70-minute matches, a single round of fixtures in Perth and Suva on March 14 and that was that. Nothing more. The fledgeling six-team competition was suspended the following day and its season cancelled on April 7. It was a massive blow. After two years of toe-in-the-water, ad-hoc showpiece matches, this was supposed to be the new kid on the block’s headline-making arrival, its inaugural home and away format having Aus $1million up for grabs.

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Then came the coronavirus and that was that, a multitude of ambitious plans were canned overnight until 2021 and a whole heap of man-hours catering for an event featuring Asian, Australian and Pacific teams had gone to waste. Seven months into his role as tournament CEO, the upheaval should have been enough to bring a tear to Mark Evans’ eye. If it did, he wasn’t telling. Instead, he’s stoically keeping the show on the road regardless of the hardships.

He managed to get home from Australia before the lockdown kicked in but the ramifications of having a head office in Perth and a pile of colleagues he needs to touch base with means he is burning the midnight oil in England, usually working from 1am to four in the morning before finishing off with a second wind from 8am through to two in the afternoon.

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What the former Harlequins CEO has experienced in his short time at the helm since last October has been enough to convince him that the Andrew Forrest-inspired concept – formulated on the back of the Western Force’s controversial expulsion from Super Rugby – is here to stay. Not some short-lived experiment that will quickly fizzle out whenever the world eventually reopens and rugby is again on the agenda.

“A lot of learnings, quite a lot of it logistic… what the travel plans are, the scheduling, all that kind of stuff,” he told RugbyPass when asked to reflect on fleeting first-year impressions. “That now is lost. We only got one round away but we showed how flexible we can be as we moved the Shanghai team out of China, we moved the Hong Kong schedule with a month out. It was interesting and we learnt a lot. Hopefully, that will stand us in good stead.

“The fundamentals behind the tournament are very much shifting the focus of rugby in that part of the world into time zones as opposed to hemispheres. In time it will prove to be the right way to take the game because it makes sense. That is one of the reasons I went (for the job). The days of flying between Buenos Aires or Cordoba and Auckland or Dunedin (in Super Rugby) will no longer be with us. Never mind the virus. There’s the cost, there’s the player welfare, there are the environmental issues which will not get any less as times goes on, so you have got to reconfigure things.

“We are doing the right things and therefore you would hope that over time you will attract a better calibre of player. That is a reasonable expectation… we’d love to be going to eight teams before 2021 if we possibly can.

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“Eight is quite a good number. Home and away, 14 games, Grand Final series. The move is towards shorter and sharper competitions frankly,” he continued, referencing his admiration that Perth refused to be forced out of professional rugby when Rugby Australia made its cull. “It just shows you the resilience of Western Australia generally. It’s that sort of place and sometimes out of a sense of injustice good things can come and this is probably one of those.”

Evans is a fan of Australian sports, his familiarity with the immensely competitive landscape greatly informed by his spell at the head of NRL’s Melbourne Storm, that two-year job allowing him to experience a different rugby code following an eleven-year stint at Harlequins which ended in March 2011.

Having five major field sports – union, league, NRL, A-League and AFL – all jostling for attention sharpens the mind. “If you’re in that competitive a market, battling for the broadcast dollars, sponsorship dollars and eyeballs, audience, spectators and members, you tend to be innovative. I’m old enough to remember the Australian dispensation (the late 1960s law tweak that meant you could no longer kick directly into touch from outside the 22).

“The Australians were also the ones in the ’90s doing some interesting work on a hybrid union-league game which I quite liked but never quite took off because of various reasons. But it’s just in their DNA really. They’re always looking to tweak things, partly because their two biggest other field sports, league and AFL, are largely masters of their own destiny.

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“If they want to tweak the rules they can because hardly anyone else plays. It’s interesting the NRL rules are not identical to the international rules, they just change it if they want to change it. So that’s part of the DNA to improve the product and it’s interesting World Rugby is trialling the idea of the 50/22. That was a Global Rapid Rugby innovation that is now just about to be adopted by everybody.

“In a way, Global Rapid Rugby is an incubator for new ideas and that sits well with the Australian DNA because it’s a commercial imperative to make a product more engaging.”

Evans on rugby's big changes
Mark Evans talks to media during his stint at Harlequins (Photo by Ker Robertson/Getty Images)

Evans’ wish is that rugby globally would be more tolerant towards embracing change. More than 20 years ago, while finishing up as Saracens’ director of rugby before stepping into a dual CEO/director of rugby role at Quins, he feared the then teething professional sport was worryingly struggling to pay its way.

That’s an apprehension that hasn’t changed since and his hope is the coronavirus stoppage will force club owners in places like England to finally wise up, rip up the currently broken financial model, get wage inflation under control and imagine fresh ways for the sport to properly thrive as a viable business.

“Compared to all the other issues and the recession that will undoubtedly come and the hardship people will have to endure, and the human cost of lost loved ones that has touched quite a number of us, this [rugby’s flawed business model] is all pretty inconsequential.

“It has become a cliche to reset, recalibrate, but it’s true. There is going to be so much pressure financial and otherwise on so many parts of the game globally that if anything was going to make people stop kicking the can down the road and have a serious look at putting a model together that equated costs and revenues and grow in a balanced manner, this is the time.

Global Rapid Rapid has lofty ambitions
Tom Varndell was a Global Rapid Rugby signing in 2019 (Photo by Lampson Yip – Clicks Images/Getty Images)

“It only needs one or two markets to inflate and the ripple effects on other markets are damaging. You look at the number of Australians playing out of Australia, the number of South Africans. They are other factors at play there – I’m not blind to the geopolitical risk, but this is a terrific opportunity to tackle player salaries.

“Everybody accepts the game is incredibly demanding physically and injuries are commonplace and the careers are relatively short, but that isn’t how wage levels are determined in any walk of life. What does a rugby player deserve? It’s the wrong question.

“What do miners – who do a very dangerous, difficult, physically demanding job – deserve? The fact is wages are set by the market largely, but sport is different in the sense that you also need the teams to be roughly equal to make it enticing, exciting and compelling.

“So you go the players should get a fair slice, a fair percentage of the revenues the game generates, but at the moment in many of the markets, not everywhere but many markets, the slice they are getting is being subsided by other stakeholders and I’m not sure that is sustainable in the long run.”

Calling for change in rugby circles is nothing new. Vested interests have ensured it happens at a painfully pedestrian pace, but this virus crisis means old ways are now under threat before the sport restarts around the globe. “This is a completely new environment, lots could change,” he suggested. “Revenues have dropped to zero. If revenues have dropped to zero and costs have remained the same then the gap obviously gets much, much bigger. That concentrates minds.

“The other big thing is markets like England, France and Japan. Those three are probably the highest wage markets and they are all privatised. Salaries are not paid by the union, they are paid by independently owned and financed clubs, or in Japan’s case, companies.

“The wages levels are not borne by the RFU, FFR or the JRU. They are borne by clubs that they tend to be owned by wealthy individuals, most of whom have other business interests that will be taking a hammering in this environment. This goes for lots of sports.

“I was talking to someone the other morning in rugby league and the guy behind the Catalan Dragons and that wonderful Challenge Cup success, who has been at the club for years and years, the Nigel Wray of Catalan, he provides meat to restaurants and schools. Do you imagine how that is going?

Dicky Evans' worrying letter
Cornish Pirates’ Mennaye Field (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

“It’s one thing to be funding a sport and a club that you love in the good times, it’s a very different thing now. Go and have a look at Dicky Evans’ letter to the supporters on the Cornish Pirates website. He runs luxury hotels in Kenya, they have got no guests.

“How does he turn around to his family and say, ‘Well, do I still want to put X million into the rugby?’ That now becomes a much more difficult conversation. These are extraordinary changes and that means it is more likely those guys will embrace some radical reform,” said Evans, who was heavily involved in the warts-and-all rugby business book published last year, Unholy Union.

“As ever it will be patchy and in some territories the opportunity will be grasped and in others, I’m less optimistic… there are so many variables at the moment who knows where it will change, how it will turn out. But it’s fair to say this will be across the rugby world the biggest set of changes since 1995/96, no question.

“The countries that have a collective bargaining agreement with their players’ union will probably do better. That would include New Zealand, ironically enough Australia, to some degree the Celtic nations because they will have one point of negotiation. It will be the union negotiating with the players who are the main cost.

“We also must talk about coach wage inflation and administrators. I have been both of those over the years. The fact is the whole cost base is out of whack in certain markets and the fact that one or two clubs might be able to keep affording that shouldn’t be a reason to not change it for the vast majority.”

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J
Jon 39 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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