Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

It's war: RPA go legal over permanent Premiership wage cut threat

(Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

Players’ union chief Damian Hopley has blasted English rugby’s Premiership clubs, claiming they are showing an “abject disregard for the players” over attempts to impose permanent 25 per cent pay cuts which are set to trigger legal action.

ADVERTISEMENT

Strike action has not currently been mentioned given the unprecedented financial problems facing the Gallagher Premiership clubs. However, players are reserving their right to take whatever action is necessary to protect their legal rights.

Hopley, the long-serving CEO of the Rugby Players’ Association, believes the decision by PRL earlier this week to cut next season’s salary cap has triggered moves to force some Premiership players to accept new extended contracts with a 25 per cent cut in wages which must be signed by June 18.

Video Spacer

YouTube rugby sensation Squidge guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Video Spacer

YouTube rugby sensation Squidge guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

Hopley told RugbyPass: “We are back to square one in terms of dealing with the clubs. We are having to get legal because our hand has been forced having sought independent mediation which hasn’t been forthcoming. There comes a point when you have to take a stand on behalf of the membership. We cannot just sit back and we are up for this, but it is all totally avoidable. It’s a no-brainer.

“It’s no surprise that the salary cap was addressed by the clubs but we feel throughout this process there has been an abject disregard for the players. The players are reserving their rights against the legal framework of the contracts they are on. Some clubs are trying to entice or crowbar players into signing longer contracts with 25 per cent of their salary not counting in next season’s cap,” explained Hopley about what is now set to become a messy Premiership row.

“The lack of transparency means we are now in a position where we have lost faith in the process. We are hearing all sorts of things about a June 18 deadline for contracts being amended without any official comment from PRL or consultation with the RPA.

“We understand the immense contribution the owners make to English rugby but there has to be a better way of operating and the significant issue is that the players are the lifeblood of the game.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We are being backed into a corner with offers to players flooding in, saying things like you will be on less money but have a job for an extra season. On one hand, we are told we are going to be involved in a consultation and then the clubs go off and do their own things.

“Temporary pay cuts are in place and we feel totally let down by this scenario. We are grown-ups and respect is a key part of rugby. We don’t believe much respect has been shown to the playing group. The deadline of June 18 is manufactured and all we have is rumour and counter-rumour. We need clarity, dialogue and consultation, not Chinese whispers.

“PRL have been looking to reduce wages by 25 per cent permanently and it was rejected unanimously by our board. We have been working hard to move this forward to address the financial landscape not a quick fix pay cut. This is an opportunity to address root and branch the finances of the 13 clubs.”

Harlequins prop Mark Lambert, chairman of the RPA, added: “Most of the players have already had temporary 25 per cent pay cuts since March and April as a result of the unprecedented financial challenges exposed by Covid-19. “The RPA have been working diligently over the last twelve weeks to seek to avoid a repeat of the damaging situation the game found itself in when the clubs imposed temporary wage cuts on a unilateral basis in mid-March.

ADVERTISEMENT

“This latest situation could have been entirely avoided with a collaborative and transparent approach and we now find ourselves heading towards a significant legal dispute unless meaningful and genuine dialogue takes place urgently.

“In the meantime, the RPA position remains unequivocal: the RPA is opposed to permanent cuts for our members. From the outset of this crisis, there has been an absolute disregard for the players and the values of the game. Players at some clubs are now being served with ultimatums and being put under undue pressure to sign amended contracts through the manufactured deadline of June 18.

“To be clear, this is a totally unacceptable way to operate. Players are the lifeblood of the game and should be treated with respect. Players should not engage with this approach. The RPA will continue to fight for our members throughout this crisis.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat Despite defeat in Paris, the real reason the All Blacks are feeling upbeat
Search