Global salary cap way forward says URC chief
UNITED Rugby Championship chief executive Martin Anayi has called for a global salary cap.
There is no salary cap currently in place in the URC, unlike the Premiership who have a spending limit of £5m per club with two marquee players exempt. France’s salary cap in the TOP 14 is €9.94m per team.
Anayi said: “I think a salary cap that would be applied universally might be good for the sport in time because you can then bring investment in, you can keep your costs relatively stable and as revenues go up, it becomes sustainable.
“Overall, it could be a good thing because you don’t want clubs going bust.”
Many critics have argued a salary cap within the URC would make the tournament more competitive but Anayi is aware it could also be detrimental for national teams in terms of player retention.
“Any salary cap system needs to be applied univer“It’s sally,” he says. “Say you do something in Wales only for example, it might actually be to the detriment of Welsh rugby if you get it wrong because players will then go to France or England.
Its's got to be universally applied, certainly across the top leagues in the world like France, England, the URC and the Japanese league.”
Leinster have won the last four titles in what was previously the PRO14.
But Anayi insists the lack of a salary cap in the URC is not the reason why the Irish province have dominated the league.
“It is not the reason why Leinster have won, not at all,” he says. “Leinster have won it four times in a row, but actually in my first four years in this role, I had four different winners. It is a relatively recent phenomenon that Leinster have been so strong. They are a powerhouse and they have the best schooling system for rugby in the world.
“They have eight private schools developing rugby to the same tune; they are all coached the same way, and they are all feeding players into the academy and then the first team.
“The fastest route from playing academy rugby to international rugby is in Ireland. A very close second is New Zealand. It’s that system that means they can win.”