Premiership Rugby publishes Saracens salary cap report in full... but with one condition attached

Following Wednesday night’s leak of the full report into the Saracens salary cap decision, Premiership Rugby have opted to publicly publish the report on Thursday following the withdrawal of Saracens’ formal opposition to its publication (click here). 

The document that Premiership Rugby have published is reportedly the same version of the decision that was shared in confidence with the other member clubs in recent weeks. 

However, in order to respect the privacy of personal information, this published document omits the names of players and other information that could be used to identify individuals. It insists that no other information has since been redacted from the report.

Despite Saracens last weekend deciding to take an automatic relegation from the Gallagher Premiership at the end of this season for failure to comply with the 2019/20 salary cap, Premiership Rugby remained hugely criticised for not being able to reveal the full findings of the investigation that resulted in the London club being fined £5.4million and deducted 35 Premiership points last November. 

However, on foot of Saracens’ decision to lift a confidential clause that lost its value with Sky Sports leaking the report, Premiership Rugby have now circulated the findings in relation to salary caps breaches for seasons 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

(Continue reading below…)

How the salary cap report was leaked

The report sets out in detail how, after considering all of the evidence, the panel upheld all of the charges against Saracens and imposed a record fine and points deduction.

Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs said: “We are pleased to be able to finally publish the full judgment on Saracens’ breaches of the salary cap in the last three seasons. 

“Now that everyone can see the details, the decision will show that Premiership Rugby has taken firm action to enforce the regulations and our management of the salary cap has been endorsed by the panel.

Could a season (or two) in the Championship actually benefit @Saracens internationals, or is Mark McCall just trying to convince his own men to stay put?https://t.co/MsKfvrCnq1 #PremiershipRugby

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 22, 2020

“Looking ahead, Lord Myners’ review of the salary cap regulations allows us to consider the right approach to transparency for the future. We understand the public interest in access to the decisions of disciplinary panels and are equally mindful of the need to protect personal information when there is a legitimate expectation of confidentiality.

“Our intention is to develop a more open approach and we will work with Lord Myners to develop recommendations for consideration by our clubs. In the coming days, we will announce a public consultation on the salary cap regulations to ensure that they provide a world-leading system with extensive investigatory powers and robust sanctions.”

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