Pay cuts row could see some players refusing to turn out
FOOTBALL’S FINANCIAL MUSCLE HIGHLIGHTS RUGBY’S WOES STANDPOINT
Tigers centre Jaco Taute celebrates after Greg Bateman scores a try against Wasps in a Premiership clash at Welford Road in February
SO, football has returned to the pitches and our screens, albeit without the vital element of fans in the ground, this week, while rugby still waits on a firm resumption date.
There are, of course, many factors in this. First is the nature of the game.
Virtually every element of rugby works against a quick resumption and continuation after a pandemic lay-off.
The close quarters nature of players would make transmission a near certainty amongst the forwards at least (although some might argue that the Tigers defence was ahead of the curve in terms of social distancing!)
The physical collisions and specialised fitness also means that starting up and playing safely at a high level is not something that can happen quickly – contact training as preparation is vital to avoid a plethora of injuries.
The collisions also mean that accelerated completion of the fixtures programme by using midweek games is nigh on impossible. In the early days of professionalism this was tried, and the injury toll was extreme.
Attempts to regularly play midweek fixtures would quickly result in teams potentially running out of players and serious injuries.
The foreknowledge of this likelihood would leave the clubs and governing body open to litigation on the basis of negligence in looking after the health and safety of their employees.
The question of money cannot be avoided.
While ongoing, regular and rapid result testing would be a matter of dipping into the petty cash for a Premier League football club, the parlous state of rugby’s finances means that such a regime would be a significant expense for a similarly placed Premiership rugby club.
Equally, TV money for rugby may have increased in recent years, but would be laughed at in football terms, so the driver to play games for the TV, while strong, is not at the same level as football.
This money issue provides another hidden problem for the resumption.
It is widely reported the club owners are, at least in some places, attempting to force the players to accept that the 25 per cent voluntary reduction in wages will become permanent.
Rumours suggest, unsurprisingly, that this is not being welcomed by the players.
Legally, such a move, if unresolved, would mean that clubs are in breach of contract and it would be possible players could refuse to turn out in any restarted season.
It is likely that owners are taking the view that players will have nowhere else to go, but that is a gamble.