Provincial rugby facing darkest hour
New Zealand’s provincial rugby showcase could be missing as many as seven teams unless players agree to dramatic pay cuts.
The Mitre 10 Cup competition could be ripped in half by provinces struggling to stump up the cash for player payments due to Covid-19 induced financial struggles, according to reports.
Taranaki, Northland, Southland and North Harbour are all in immediate danger of pulling out with Wellington and Otago also weighing up their options, according to the NZ Herald.
Manawatu is also being reported as being at risk by One News.
The Heartland Championship and all levels of representative rugby below the Mitre 10 Cup and Farah Palmer Cup have already been cancelled for 2020 in a move that New Zealand Rugby says will save it $20 million.
North Harbour Rugby chairman Gerard van Tilborg told the NZ Herald the situation is dire.
He said their predicament can only be saved by the players taking drastic pay cuts.
According to One News, players could need to take a pay cut of 30 per cent.
Eight teams have reportedly committed to the competition.
‘‘Harbour is absolutely committed to playing in a provincial union competition provided it can be adequately funded. The situation in negotiations between New Zealand Rugby and the Players’ Association are making that marginal.
‘‘The cuts aren’t big enough. We’ve had staff take cuts between 45 and 30 per cent salary. We’ve spoken to most of our players who have been very supportive but we obviously can’t go outside the collective and we need to provide a similar bottom-end ratio of roughly a 30 per cent cut to make [fielding a team]
Tilborg said.
‘‘If we can’t, we’ll consider what our options are when and if we see what the competition looks like. With teams potentially pulling out what is it going to look like?’’
Provincial unions have been in negotiations with the Players’ Association for some time and players’ boss Rob Nichol told the NZ Herald his organisation would meet with New Zealand Rugby tomorrow.
According to One News, negotiations between New Zealand Rugby, the Players’ Association and the provincial unions are at ‘‘a very sensitive stage’’.
‘‘We’re doing everything we can to take the pressure off the provincial unions’ wage bill. But at the same time, we’re looking at how much the players can be cut. NZR has to look at the way it distributes its revenue and the provincial unions have to look at what they’re doing,’’ Nichol said.
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