Peel saga demands an apology to the fans
At face value, The Dwayne Peel Affair appears to be an openand-shut case, just another glaring example of a contract not being worth the paper it was written on. fanfare of trumpets at the Arms Park last December heralded news that the former Wales and Lions scrum-half had signed the piece of paper in question. No ifs or buts, he would definitely be joining Cardiff as ‘senior coach’ for three years from this summer.
The opportunity, in his own words, was ‘impossible to turn down’. For the sceptics who had seen other proposed big-name signings vanish into thin air, that amounted to proof positive. This time they really had got their man.
Within a matter of weeks, the first rumblings could be heard suggesting that the impossible had suddenly become ominously possible. Scarlets were offering Peel an alternative to Cardiff which proved so hard to resist that the done deal with the Blues was rapidly being un-done.
Suddenly, it seemed as if the same player had been made successive offers of the ‘impossible-to-turn-down’ variety except one was proving more impossible to turn down than the other. It wasn’t Cardiff ’s although they gave the impression of sticking manfully to their guns.
“He signed a three-year contract with us in November and is due to arrive this summer,’’ chief executive Richard Holland said. “That hasn’t changed. Dwayne will remain under contract with Cardiff Blues from July 2021 to June 2024.”
All too soon it dissolved into wishful thinking. Peel was in the process of being poached, the position had changed and his contract, far from being started let alone fulfilled, would become the subject of compensation. Whether his prospective employers have a legal leg to stand on is open to question.
The Blues went looking for another senior coach and found one they knew well. Matt Sheratt, highly regarded since his time at the Arms Park with Danny Wilson when Cardiff famously won Europe’s secondary competition, is due to return this summer from Worcester.
The Peel saga will have left fans bewildered but there was always more to it than met the eye. Cardiff Blues refused to discuss the matter. Questions prompted by subsequent changes in the Blues’ management structure remain unanswered
Had Peel been led to believe that John Mulvihill’s contract as head coach was not going to be renewed at the end of the season? If so, that would have put Peel in line to succeed him as the main man.
How much did Dai Young’s New Year appointment as director of rugby, albeit initially on a temporary basis, change the picture? Did Peel want to work in tandem with Young and vice versa?
“There was a time when rugby looked down its nose at the shenanigans of sports like football”
If so, would that mean waiting at least another three years, maybe longer for the opportunity to take overall charge? Put another way, did Mulvihill’s abrupt exit prompted by the home loss to Ospreys on New Year’s Day give Peel reason to believe that the goalposts at the Arms Park had moved? The Scarlets have not needed an invitation to start spinning that one for all it’s worth.
Why has Peel made no attempt to offer a public explanation for being seen as walking away from a contract signed barely a month before the Blues parted company with Mulvihill?
Sport is littered with broken contracts, often because those who signed in good faith suddenly found a more appealing offer from elsewhere. A mea culpa outlining his dilemma and apoloeffect gising would have been given a fair hearing by all reasonable people who know what it’s like to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Maybe Peel will get round to it in his own good time. It doesn’t alter the fact that he signed a contract and chose not to honour it. There used to be a time, believe it or not, when Rugby Union looked down its snooty nose at the shenanigans of professional sports like football and say: “We have nothing like that in our game.”
Well they have now. The moral ground disappeared from under their feet long ago and yet that hardly explains the lack of public outrage in this particular case.
It’s almost as if the paying customers have acquired a cynical attitude towards professionalism, that somehow it’s now as much a part of the game as putting the ball straight into the second row of the scrum and wasting time assembling for a lineout. How the Peel signing unravelled: December 8: Cardiff announce Peel’s signing on a three-year contract with from July. Their statement quoted Peel as being ‘really excited’ and head coach John Mulvihill defining the newcomer’s role of senior coach as ‘primarily on our attacking framework and strategy’.
January 7: Cardiff sack Mulvihill after losing six out of eight matches in the PRO14. A statement says he has left with immediate effect.
January 7: Cardiff appoint Dai Young as interim director of rugby.
March 3: Blues admit that their man has had an alternative offer. Their statement says they are ‘aware of speculation that another Welsh region has made an approach to Dwayne Peel about a potential coaching position’.
March 10: Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney describes the move for Peel as ‘speculation’, adamant that he doesn’t ‘anticipate any change’ to his position.
March 26: Tom Smith, forwards’ coach under Mulvihill, leaves the Arms Park with the obligatory thanks for his services.
April 7: Young is appointment director of rugby on a long-term basis.