Pacific Islands seek profit-sharing deal with European unions

PACIFIC RUGBY campaigners are pushing Europe’s top unions to agree a profit-sharing deal that could help transform the Test fortunes of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

Pacific Rugby Players Welfare (PRPW) hopes to organise a meeting with World Rugby and the decisionmakers at the English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and French unions to thrash out a new deal for the Pacific Island nations.

Chief executive Dan Leo confirmed PRPW had proposed that tier one nations agree a 10 per cent profit share when hosting the Pacific Island nations in November Test matches in Europe.

“We’ve been highlighting problems in Pacific Islands rugby for some time and also lobbying for change, but this really feels like the start of something hugely positive,” Leo said. “We’ve been in contact with the unions in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France, and all have been positive about this idea, and about meeting with us.

“We’re in discussions with World Rugby too, and we hope the next steps are to formalise these talks in sit-down meetings.

“A profit-share like this would be huge. Say for the sake of argument the RFU could make a £10m profit on a sell-out match at Twickenham. Well, £1m could fund Samoa’s programmes for three years.”

“A deal like this would mean the union could pay the players more than £300 or £400 for the match, they might be able to afford £2,000 or £3,000 per player. It could also generate a stronger game in the islands.

“We hope a profit share like this could be the catalyst to help the Pacific Islands set up semi-professional leagues on the islands. And that would help keep players at home rather than heading overseas to play their rugby.”