'You have players asking, what is my salary going to be next season? You can't give a definitive answer'
Niall Woods thought he’d seen it all over his many years in rugby. Ireland Test winger. Chief executive of the Irish Rugby Union Players Association. Owner of Navy Blue Sports, the Dublin-based consultancy that represents upwards of 40 current professional players, a varied client list headed by Garry Ringrose and Andrew Conway.
Despite being around the block, the 48-year-old has never known such uncertainty. Rugby has completely ground to a juddering halt and the business is completely in limbo. It’s a frightening situation, especially when health is factored into the equation.
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“I have one client who is waiting for a test for Covid-19,” he told RugbyPass, diving straight into the only topic on the rugby agenda these last few weeks – the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m sure there are more players, probably not clients of mine, around the country and in different countries who have it as well. A couple of players have been sick already, sort of three, four, five weeks ago who think they have had it because they had all the symptoms of Covid-19 but didn’t know it at the time.
“You have players asking, ‘what is my salary going to be next season?’ You can’t give a definitive answer. Legally and contractually the fees are agreed, the salary is agreed, but depending on how long the no sport goes on for, I can’t give an answer on that. Some guys are more concerned than others. Others are getting on with it. It varies from player to player, what they make of it as an individual. But there is a genuine concern just in general.
“I have been on to my clients a lot and I’m still looking for contracts for a couple. The uncertainty is even worse for those guys. It’s very hard, and then it is very hard to get answers from clubs because they don’t know what is going on either. Clubs in France, there is pretty much a freeze on recruitment in most clubs. Nothing is being done so it is hard to make any progress on that,” he said, going on to reference clients in other leagues such as America where they cancelled the whole season after just a few rounds.
“They are getting paid in full, the MLR are paying all their players. As it stands, they will be paid and most of them are already home. I have a client James Coughlan in France. He is in an apartment in Pau, can’t go out the door, has to sign a form when he wants to go out to the shop, so he is staying where he is.
“I have a client Danny Kenny in Italy, he has been like that for three weeks. It’s full lockdown except for an emergency or grocery shopping. Jerry Sexton at the Kings in Port Elizabeth, he is actually in Jersey. They allowed him to come up home. His partner had a kid in August/September time. A lot of clubs have been very understanding.”
Salary cuts have been a hot topic, but Ireland-based players have so far escaped that burgeoning global trend as the IRFU opted for a pay-deferral arrangement ranging from ten to 50 per cent. How long that agreement will hold, though, is uncertain.
“If it’s a deferral they are going to get their cut back, but that depends as well then on how long this goes on. If this stoppage goes on for six months that’s a different story, is it definitely going to be a deferral? If it goes on for another month, two months, it’s a deferral.
“This again goes back to the uncertainty and people not knowing. I can’t give the player an answer, a club can’t give me an answer because they are living in uncertainty as well. So it’s just difficult all round for everyone in every walk of life.
“Sport normally escapes a recession to a certain degree but there is no escaping this one. It’s probably one of the worst industries because they just can’t do anything, they can’t even train other than train on their own.
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“That is the other factor and people have talked about it already – even if say May 1 they can train (collectively) you’re probably talking May 21, a three-week period in effect a pre-season to get players back into it. It’s not like football where you could probably just start again within a week and play a couple of games every week.
“You can’t force anything or rush anything with this. Even if we were to declare no cases tomorrow in Ireland, I don’t know how many more weeks it will be before things go back to normal. You can’t rush it no matter whatever line of work you’re in to get it going again. It has just never happened before.
“The players just have to do what they are told like they always do. The S&C coaches are in overdrive in ways to keep them active, obviously reducing the mental side of it which is quite a hard part as well. There is only so much you can do on your own at home.
“You have seen on Instagram a lot of players buying home gym kits. Like, none of my clients had it already. Various machines, watt bikes, skiers, horrible pieces of equipment that define torture really. But how long they can do that for?
“They can go out for a run in most cases but it’s probably not that advisable. It’s just a matter of trying to keep themselves ticking over, eating well, keeping the immune system up, hoping you don’t get sick and if you do getting the various medicines, getting over it and getting back into it again.
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“It’s about riding out the storm, unfortunately. There is an element of old school knuckle down, you just have to get on with it, do what you’re told, and just get on with it. It’s not easy for anyone.”
Getting the Six Nations completed is imperative from an Irish perspective. A sell-out crowd was due to attend the postponed March 7 fixture in Dublin the week before Ireland were due in Paris to face the French. Then there is the prize money allocation, a multi-million euro divvy-up dependent on where Andy Farrell’s team finishes in the championship.
“They have to play the Ireland-Italy game because that is such a big revenue generator for the IRFU which then has a knock-on effect to the four provincial teams,” ventured Woods. “If you go to England, it has been reported they could lose up to £50million from not having games played. Games that are missed are important. Even England against the Barbarians.
“All rugby clubs are looking to get as much revenue as possible. It’s not like soccer where TV rights are so big. TV rights are important, but in rugby the gate money is how they survive. But for me it really goes back to Six Nations, can they get it concluded?
“From a selfish and Irish perspective, they need to get it concluded because the revenue from Italy being a home game is important to the IRFU and then where they finish on the table, the higher up they finish the more revenue they get from the Six Nations, so they all have knock-on effects into next season. There is talk about it being played in October – as long as it is played is a good thing, but I can’t answer if it is going to be played.
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“When Ireland-Italy was cancelled, we as a company would have had numerous players and ex-players speaking at events around the week of the game and the day of the game and that got cancelled… I genuinely didn’t see a situation where it was going to escalate. Like this virus was in China and until it comes onto your doorstep you don’t take it very seriously. It was hard to predict everything was going to come to a standstill.
“But certainly in Ireland the way we reacted, the government, I’m not into politics but in fairness to them they reacted pretty quickly with support for unemployment benefits, people losing jobs, supporting businesses, what they have done so quickly is very impressive. I’m not so sure the UK government has been as efficient as ours looking at it, but that is going outside of sport.”
Woods himself has had to take radical action to future-proof a business he started from scratch nine years ago after lengthy service at the forefront of the players union in Ireland. He believes it will be a slow rebuild everywhere for the sport.
“I started this business bang in the middle of a recession in 2011, so sport to a degree escaped it in that player salaries still crept up. People were still going to the games. There may not have been as many going to games as previously, the sponsorship numbers had come down for clubs, jersey sponsorships, team sponsorships at the time. It was still not business as usual but still business and money was coming in whereas now it hasn’t escaped it whatsoever and you have seen there is job losses, salary cuts, salary deferrals. It is really unique.
“Like any business, how do you plan for just a complete stop in income coming in other than a catastrophic event, which is in effect what this is. And then the uncertainty that comes with it as to when the season can conclude in some shape or form. If it drags on and drags on will they then have to abandon it, what effect will that have and then will next season start on time or not? For me, that is the biggest thing.
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“I have already reduced salary by 25 per cent just to protect the business from a cash flow point of view. When you go outside of agencies, your sponsorships, personal appearances and events, that has just been wiped so any predicted revenues from that for the foreseeable future are gone.
“Then you look forward to November when you would traditionally be busy with players speaking and doing things around games. The November series, depending on how the world economy reacts or comes back, will there be a spend for corporate hospitality like there was in previous Novembers?
“Come November 2020 there mightn’t be a lot of spending money available for companies, so from that side of things it’s heavily reduced. I have people working for me on that side of things so their hours have been cut way back.
“It’s a matter of everyone knuckling down and trying to preserve cash flow situation, availing of supports from the government and just a bit of an element of hope that from a health perspective it gets under control in various countries, sport comes back and then business comes back towards some normality of what it was before.
“If you were an agency heavily reliant on sponsorship, appearances and events I would be very nervous, but thankfully I’m not. I do have all those elements but the primary business is the agency, but if there is no sport then it does become a concern for the business.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Sorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
1 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
2 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
2 Go to commentsIt’s the massive value he brings with regard team culture/values, preparation, etc. Can’t buy that. I’m hoping to see the young locks get their chance in the big games though.
10 Go to commentsAll good, Gregor, except that you neglected to mention Sam Darry amongst that talented pool of locks. In fact, given Hannah’s inexperience and the fact that Holland won’t be eligible until next year, Lord and Darry might be the frontrunners this year, to join Barrett, Tuipoluto, Va’ii and possibly Whitelock. In fact there might be room for all of them if Barrett played 6 (like Ollie Chessum).
10 Go to commentsHis value is stabilizing the ship 20 - 40 minutes out from the final whistle plus his valuable experience to the underlings coming through.
10 Go to commentsWhat is criminal is she acts like it's no problem her actions have have cause the Italian player to lose her playing career, lose salary, if she did this in day to day life she would be in jail, she is a complete thug!!!
3 Go to commentsCorrect me if i’m wrong but the sadas have to win all games running into the finals yeh nah?
1 Go to commentsDon’t like Diamond but the maul is a joke, the sight of a choke tackle creating a maul then players in offside positions flopping on it killing the ball but then getting the put in? Banal.
3 Go to commentsHopefully Tabai Matson returns to Crusaders as head coach next season.
1 Go to commentsstorm in a teacup really. Penalty only so play on as the try was scored. Now the real question is: why was Maitland allowed to pass the ball off the floor? That is illegal but refs never pick it up.
1 Go to commentsWhen Beauden Barrett signed his contract before the 2023 RWC to play in Japan in 2024, it was NOT part of a sabbatical agreed to with NZRU prior to his signing, as was Ardie Savea and Sam Cane. Barrett changed his mind after the fact and negotiated his return to NZ Rugby and he was given permission to be eligible for All Black selection straight away once he signed a new contract to return to the Blues in 2025. Therefore, why would anyone argue against Whitelock returning to the All Blacks straight away after his season is France is finished if he signs a new contract with NZRU which includes a Super Rugby contract in 2025? If Barrett can, Whitelock should be allowed too.
10 Go to commentsThe All Blacks will select 5 locks this season. Scott Robertson will most likely want to select 2 veteran locks who can start right away in 2024 and 3 young promising locks who he would like to be pushing hard for selection in the starting XV in two years time- 2026. Scott Barrett is a world class lock. Who would you rather start beside him this season against England, South Africa, Ireland, and France- Sam Whitelock or Patrick Tuipulotu? I would choose Whitelock over Tuipulotu all day, every day.
10 Go to comments