Comments on: A Solution to the Perennial Salary Cap Dilemma?

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 07:33:16 +0000

I don’t see any problem with employment legislation. I believe that this already happens to a degree. I don’t know the details but I recall reading somewhere that last year players earned a match fee of £15,000 per game for the six nations so potential earnings up to £150,000 on top of their club salary in a ten test year, so a star player can earn say £250,000 from his club plus up to £150,000 England match fees and whatever they can earn from their image rights.

The French clubs may offer a higher salary but it’s the players performance in an England shirt that builds their value and earning power in the first place. More potent attractions across the channel might be the advantageous tax position of professional rugby players and the Southern lifestyle. All in all I dont think we should worry about this too much.

By: Staggy

Staggy — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 14:55:14 +0000

I like the principle, but maybe it ought to be applied to English qualified players only or those in the England/Saxons squad. Not sure about the legalities of this proposal, but if it was a salary top up from RFU, would it get around European employment legislation?

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 18:00:12 +0000

Maybe it’s me but I really cannot see why the salary cap is such a dilemma. It’s main purpose is I believe to try and ensure a level playing field within the premiership and thus to ensure that the league is as competitive as possible. As such surely the only relevance of a salary cap is within the league concerned. Why do we care if the top 14 salary cap is much higher than the Premiership’s? If the french hoover up all of the top southern hemisphere and celtic players that is no detriment to either England or the Premiership. It’s only a problem if many top English players move across the channel and that could be countered if need be by RFU match fees etc. Might one result also be to encourage premiership clubs to sign more England qualified players if they cant afford to compete for the SH stars. Apologies to our celtic neighbors who may lose their players but I lack the bandwidth to deal with all of Europes problems

I accept that this may make it more difficult for English clubs to compete in Europe but thats a problem that can only be addressed by a Europe wide salary cap or foreign player quotas. Eventually I suspect the French Federation will have to step in to save the national team.