Temper self-interest for big picture

IF EVIDENCE were needed of the self-interest that tends to drive attitudes in rugby, two pieces in last week’s TRP on the subject of salary caps provide it.

Starting on the front page, we read of three of the wealthier clubs blocking suggestions from other PRL members for a cut in player payments.

On page two, there are echoes of a similar “we’re alright, Jack” attitude at Blackheath, in National 1, whose spokesman states that his club “fights for every last penny it can raise and this dictates how close we can get to the salary cap and in turn how we fare on the playing side – simple”.

No wonder, “playing in National 1 is expensive”, if the primary objective is to raise and spend as much money as possible within the cap. Surely a strong argument in itself for cutting the limit! It is entirely reasonable players in such a highly competitive league are compensated for the extra time they have to give up for training, to raise the standards of rugby on show and for travelling long distances for away matches, but what benefit to the game comes from funding a bidding war to encourage part-time players to switch from club to club?

The views of rugby supporters with club affiliations will inevitably be coloured by the perceived, short term best interests of their own club, but all need to bear in mind that the smaller the proportion of rugby’s limited revenues that leak out of the game via player payments the better.

At this time of crisis above all, we surely need to be tempering immediate self-interest with a broader, longer term view of what will best serve the game as a whole. This must ultimately be in the interests of all clubs.

JOHN ALLANSON