TIME TO COME CLEAN ON PAY
THE DAYS Abendanon wants wages made public to guarantee clubs stick to salary cap
ON THIS DATE IN SPORTING HISTORY
1930: Just 462 spectators turned out to see Thames play Luton in a Division Three South clash. This was the lowest attendance for a Football League match until 1974, when Rochdale v Cambridge attracted 12 fewer people.
1999: The Football Association fined Nottingham Forest £25,000 for admitting making unauthorised payments to management and playing staff between 1984 and 1993.
2008: Carl Froch, below, won the vacant WBC super-middleweight title with a points victory over Canadian Jean Pascal in Nottingham. 2012: Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel was suspended for three games and fined £60,000 by the FA after admitting a charge of misconduct for his behaviour upon entering the officials’ room at the end of a game against Manchester United. 2015: Neil Robertson plundered a maximum break on his way to a second UK Championship title in three years in York.
NICK ABENDANON has called for players’ wages to be published to ensure salary caps bite.
Clubs on both sides of the Channel have fallen foul of salary ceilings – Montpellier were fined £90,000 for ‘breaches of transparency obligations’ two days after the roof fell in on Saracens last month.
But with continued suspicion over whether clubs are operating under the caps, the former England full-back wants rugby union in Europe to follow the model of American sport and go public with what every player earns.
Abendanon, who returns to former club Bath with Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup tonight, said: “Although Sarries were the first ones to be caught I’m sure there’s other teams doing things that aren’t legal.
“I’m an advocate of making it all transparent and knowing exactly what players are on.That way you can’t beat the cap.
“Clubs are always trying to beat the salary cap to entice the big players over and there is a lot of secrecy involved when the cap is mentioned.
“I wouldn’t mind if people knew what I was getting paid.
“Being open would make it easier for agents to compare players of the same sort of level and then say they should be paid the same amount of money. It’s information that should be free to see.”
Saracens’ 35-point deduction for cheating over the past three seasons, which has anchored them to the foot of the Premiership, has left many to conclude the European champions will prioritise their domestic plight this season.
Abendanon, whose Clermont side lost to Sarries in the 2017 final, is not so sure. He said: “Sarries have a fantastic team and there aren’t many players or coaches out there who think they are going to get relegated.
“They will easily do enough to stay up.They are definitely still a massive threat in Europe.”
After two defeats in their opening two matches, Bath’s future in the tournament looks more short-term, especially as they face Clermont twice over the next 10 days.
The French club have lost three finals in seven seasons, and Abendanon said: “Clermont have been chasing that etoile (star). It’s at the top of our list and we know how vital it is to get the win at Bath.
“It is going to be a strange but great experience going back. I still see Bath as my home. It’s where I was brought up, it’s the first club I played for and it is where my family and I envision being based post-rugby.”
After three years in France, Abendanon, 33, will move on at the end of the season.