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Family tragedies behind Diamond quitting Sale Sharks

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Former Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Steve Diamond has opened up about a string of family tragedies that led to him making the decision to step down from the club.

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Diamond shocked English rugby when he left the Manchester-based side in December, citing ‘personal reasons’ for his decision. He had led them to the play-offs last year before Covid had forced the team to forfeit a shot at the title. Diamond, who also led Sale to Premiership Cup success last season, was cleared of any wrongdoing in his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak at the club.

The 52-year-old revealed to BT Sport that the death of his mother last year, just 12 months after the death of his brother had all taken a toll, and now a diagnosis of a life-limiting disease for his sister has seen him make the decision to step back from rugby.

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Brian Moore talks to RugbyPass:

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Brian Moore talks to RugbyPass:

“It’s the first time I’ve said anything about it but my mother died at the beginning of December, my brother died 12 months to the day beforehand, my sister has terminal cancer.”

“I built with Simon (Orange) and Ged (Mason) a fantastic management team, a great club, really solid foundations and I thought if there was a time for me to step aside and let the other people come through that was the best time,” he told BT Sport. “The last four weeks have rejuvenated me and at the right time I’ll get back in the horse, but it was the right thing for me to do at the time.”

Diamond is one of six children, his father having passed away when he was 15. The former hooker played for Sale Sharks in a career that straddled the amateur and professional era and he was at one stage into drafted into an England touring squad in 1997, but was never capped.

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NB 48 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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