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Salary cap scandal: Which Premiership club is next in the firing line?

The launch of the Gallagher Premiership earlier this year

Reigning Champions Cup and Gallagher Premiership winners Saracens released a statement confirming they will not contest the fine and points deduction handed to them by Premiership Rugby.

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The three-time European champions were given a £5.36m fine and deducted 35 points for failing to disclose player payments over the past three seasons, which related to co-investments between chairman Nigel Wray and various players in the squad.

After initially saying Saracens would appeal the decision, Wray released a statement on behalf of the club, saying:

“Saracens today confirms that it is not going to appeal the recent ruling of the independent panel in relation to salary cap breaches.

“I recognise that the arrangements between myself and players, made in good faith, which comprise the material element of the charges, should have been brought to the attention of the salary cap manager for consultation prior to entering into them.

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“It is significant that following extensive investigations the independent panel stated that we have ‘not deliberately sought to circumvent the regulations’ albeit we recognise that some of our actions were considered to be ‘reckless’.”

Since this announcement, there have been some pressing questions, namely how Saracens will seek to operate within the salary cap this season. Wray has stated that they “are complying strictly with the salary cap regulations in the current season,” while the club have always insisted that the players’ salaries are within the cap. However, as the squad is largely to remain the same as last season, and includes high-profile signings such as Elliot Daly, many are curious as to what will happen this season.

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However, another question that is being raised relates to the other eleven clubs in the Premiership, and whether there will be a similar investigation into them.

Given Saracens’ success over the past few years, and considerable depth compared to their English rivals, and investigation was unsurprisingly launched by The Daily Mail. But allegations have been thrown at other Premiership clubs in the past, and Saracens are far from the only side that have freely spent in recent years.

https://twitter.com/chefrich1980/status/1196401847667449864?s=20

There will be accusations at other clubs that are unfounded, but equally there have been substantiated claims in the past. Former Gloucester chairman Ryan Walkinshaw has previously mentioned how other chairmen have explained how they skirt round the salary cap, which gives an indication.

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https://twitter.com/benp_norton/status/1196121572806942720?s=20

There are undoubtedly clubs in England that are doing everything above board, but it is worth remembering that Saracens thought they were doing the same as well. While they have been caught and punished, they have made it clear that they were not accused of deliberately flouting the cap, and this raises the possibility that some other clubs may be in a similar position.

https://twitter.com/SetonSteele/status/1196411944988807171?s=20

Although fellow Premiership clubs may not have used the same methods as Saracens, there is a chance that different approaches have been adopted which could be equally as controversial.

This is a landmark punishment, not only for rugby but for all sport, and there may be ramifications not just for Saracens.

Training ramps up a gear as the team hits the gym to complete their final phase of strength work, while the leadership group provides critical analysis of the recent victory against Auckland Grammar.

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J
JW 23 minutes ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I had a look at the wiki article again, it's all terribly old data (not that I'd see reason for much change in the case of SA).

Number Of Clubs:

1526

Registered+Unregistered Players:

651146

Number of Referees:

3460

Pre-teen Male Players:

320842

Pre-teen Female Player:

4522

Teen Male Player:

199213

Teen Female Player:

4906

Senior Male Player:

113174

Senior Female Player:

8489

Total Male Player:

633229

Total Female Player:

17917


So looking for something new as were more concerned with adults specifically, so I had a look at their EOY Financial Review.

The total number of clubs remains consistent, with a marginal increase of 1% from 1,161 to 1,167. 8.1.

A comparative analysis of verified data for 2022 and 2023 highlights a marginal decline of 1% in the number of female players, declining from 6,801 to 6,723. Additionally, the total number of players demonstrates an 8% decrease, dropping from 96,172 to 88,828.

So 80k+ adult males (down from 113k), but I'm not really sure when youth are involved with SAn clubs, or if that data is for some reason not being referenced/included. 300k male students however (200k in old wiki data).


https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2020/07/28/212ed9cf-cd61-4fa3-b9d4-9f0d5fb61116/P56-57-Participation-Map_v3.pdf has France at 250k registered but https://presse-europe1-fr.translate.goog/exclu-europe-1-le-top-10-des-sports-les-plus-pratiques-en-france-en-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp has them back up at 300k registered.


The French number likely Students + Club, but everyone collects data different I reckon. In that WR pdf for instance a lot of the major nations have a heavily registered setup, were as a nation like England can penetrate into a lot more schools to run camps and include them in the reach of rugby. For instance the SARU release says only 29% of schools are reached by proper rugby programs, where as the 2million English number would be through a much much higer penetration I'd imagine. Which is thanks to schools having the ability to involve themselves in programs more than anything.


In any case, I don't think you need to be concerned with the numbers, whether they are 300 or 88k, there is obviously a big enough following for their pro scenes already to have enough quality players for a 10/12 team competition. They appear ibgger than France but I don't really by the lower English numbers going around.

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