Pay us or else, clubs warn Lions
Exeter chief hits out at ‘farcical’ remuneration There is risk of conflict, says Leicester’s Cohen
Those in charge of the British and Irish Lions were last night warned by top clubs that there was no prospect of the concept continuing in its present form.
Ahead of the Lions’ first Test against New Zealand today, two of the most senior figures in the domestic game spoke out against rugby’s biggest institution being made a special case in a new global calendar after tour chiefs branded moves to reduce the number of fixtures and length of trips as “insane” and claimed the entire structure could be “killed off ”.
The chairman of Premiership champions Exeter, Tony Rowe, said that if the Lions wanted to retain – or even extend – the six-week period in which they were granted access to players for this summer’s tour, they should pay privilege.
The chief executive of Leicester, Simon Cohen, went even further, calling for the curtailing of future trips come what may amid a battle by tour chiefs to prevent them being cut from 10 to eight games and six to five weeks.
The club supremos broke their silence on the controversy amid negotiations between stakeholders to determine the details of the trips from 2021, following the agreement in principle in March that the next three-tour cycle of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand would feature a minimum of eight games under a new global calendar that begins in 2019.
Lions chiefs are adamant that the squad require a minimum twoweek preparation for each tour, but clubs were last night preparing to dig in their heels.
Rowe, whose Exeter players Jack Nowell and Tomas Francis are currently in New Zealand with the Lions, told The Daily Telegraph: “We are in a professional game and it’s about money. No matter which way you cut it, it’s about money.
“And the reality is, the amount of money we get from the Lions is farcical, if you compare that to the for the product or assets they’re actually borrowing. It could well come down to the fact that the English clubs say, ‘Well, no. Unless you’re prepared to pay this amount of money, you can’t have our asset’.”
Revealing he had just spent £1million on a new Desso hybrid training pitch, Rowe said the Lions should be generating commercial revenue “commensurate with the asset” and passing on a fair proportion of that to clubs.
Describing the entire concept as “a throwback from the amateur days”, he added: “Commercially, it does nothing for our club. It does a lot for the player.”
Cohen claimed no amount of hard cash would convince him to support the status quo.
He said: “For me, it’s not about the money. It’s about player welfare. In the current structure, what’s the longest tour that the game can accommodate? I think it’s considerably shorter than we’re currently playing. It’s unfair on the players to ask what we’re currently asking from them.”
Acknowledging the Lions was “a fantastic concept”, Cohen warned: “The professional game is only 30 years old. Whether the Lions concept will survive 50 or 60 years into the professional game, who knows?
“The Lions would have to look at it differently and, if they’re not prepared to, then, of course, they run the risk of a conflict and it would be difficult to know who the winners would be in that case.”
Amid what appears to be a lack of unanimity about precisely what its clubs want out of the talks, Premiership Rugby last night declined to comment on its negotiating position. The Rugby Football Union, which is represented on the Lions board, also refused to state where it stood.