Rugby breakaway league coming. (R360)

[Kiwiwomble]

"The R360 model, as outlined publicly, rather appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite". The Six Nations Teams just described their own cartel in that statement.

you know returning profits too a small number of organisations.....that then for better or worse administer rugby for 6 of the top rugby countries in the world....is different to giving those profits to private companies.......dont you

 

[SéniorHuevo]

you know returning profits too a small number of organisations.....that then for better or worse administer rugby for 6 of the top rugby countries in the world....is different to giving those profits to private companies.......dont you

And if that is what the quote from their own words had said you might have a point,but it doesn't, so you don't. This is never going to happen tbh but I am not going to shed tears for one cartel seeking to complain about another.

 

[Which Tyler]

Does reality depend on what is mentioned in a short statement, or not?

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

The sheer fact the unions have come together in this way does say that they perceived a genuine threat to some degree.

 

[Ddanno]

The sheer fact the unions have come together in this way does say that they perceived a genuine threat to some degree.

Yeah, good point. Definitely a whiff of a pre-emptive strike in it too. Good on them for setting their stall out though.

 

[mdaclarke]

Yeah, good point. Definitely a whiff of a pre-emptive strike in it too. Good on them for setting their stall out though.

Makes me believe that few New Zealand and South African players have signed up for R360 as I don't think Rassie or Razor would have picked them whilst building for the 2027 World Cup, that's even before the official announcement.

Not so sure about Australia as they have less of a player pool.

Argentina don't have a pro league so I can understand why they haven't signed.

I actually think this is the least of R360's problems. It just fundamentally doesn't work. Paying £100,000,000 to players to globe trot around the world to play in rented stadiums in countries where Rugby isn't a major sport, against the opposition of the fans of the sport, is just a completely bonkers idea for a business that wants to return profits to its investors,

 

[SéniorHuevo]

Some people comparing it to a league split but as someone who knows league this is well wide of the mark. 1895 was so working class lads could get broken time payments and not lose money whilst playing. This is just targeting the already rich to make more money.

 

[Which Tyler]

Some people comparing it to a league split but as someone who knows league this is well wide of the mark. 1895 was so working class lads could get broken time payments and not lose money whilst playing. This is just targeting the already rich to make more money.

More to the point, it was based on existing players in existing clubs with existing fan bases, existing rivalries and opponents, existing referees, and involved investing back into the new code from the grassroots up.

This is about pillaging the sport, attempting to kill the golden goose, and putting nothing at all back into the foundations it needs if it wants to continue.

 

[SéniorHuevo]

More to the point, it was based on existing players in existing clubs with existing fan bases, and involved investing back into the new code.

This is about pillaging the sport, attempting to kill the golden goose, and put nothing at all back into the foundations it needs to continue.

I would say that is pretty typical now, an extraordinary amount of 'disruptors' are basically social dumping. Extract the benefits for yourself and dump the costs on everyone else. It's why when people in UK RL were asking for Eddie Hearn they weren't thinking. He is really good at sports where he doesn't have to pay for academies youth development feeder leagues, he can leave all the unprofitable bits to others and cream the pros for himself. Can't do that in either code.

 

[Ddanno]

It annoys me to even post about it. It's such a dead idea that giving it any oxygen is infuriating. Yet here I am being a ***

 

[Wasps92]

I hate franchises in sport tbh. Cricket is absolutely overrun with them and it makes everything so hard to follow.

 

[Becca]

I hate franchises in sport tbh. Cricket is absolutely overrun with them and it makes everything so hard to follow.

I just hate all the gimmicks. So many have crept through to Rugby now, I hate it.

 

[mdaclarke]

Reading Cobus Reinach's quote, none of the Springboks appear to have have signed, and the threat of not being eligible for your nation will be a big turn off.

Springboks star's honest R360 admission as unions unite against breakaway competition

🗣️ "What we play for here is unreal and is every boy's dream."

www.planetrugby.com

"Why speculate about something that's not even on the table," said the 35-year-old. "They haven't done anything yet and there's no real concrete plan.

"What we play for here is unreal and is every boy's dream. I don't know what their plans are, I don't know how they're going to do it; it doesn't look like they are.

"The boys know where we want to go. Every one of us."

 

[Rugbyfan564]

The contract being used to poach NRL stars has leaked.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Times profile on F Smith today in which he says he had a degree of interest and that (although not a direct quote from him) it was understood he signed a pre contract - worthless maybe, but just signing says something.

Ultimately he guessed, correctly, that it would take him away from the international game. But he’s very much cemented in as part of England’s future - whether more peripheral or older players would take the same view is another matter.

 

[Rugbyfan564]

Have a feeling Henry Slade might be the first English player announced for it.

 

[Saintjay]

Finn and Freeman interviewed on the Ruck podcast.

Crowds, being with mates, draw of England and RWC 27. All big factors in the decision making process.

R360 starting to sound like a retirement fund. If they can't get any of England's top 10's it's dead in the water.

 

[BPM]

According to one of the investors 'the players will decide' and we're all idiots for failing to 'embrace the positives of R360': https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4g9nz0v6lzo

So far they are decoding and it appears to be no.

 

[mdaclarke]

Have a feeling Henry Slade might be the first English player announced for it.

Henry Slade going would fit with the idea of R360 being a retirement league, I am sure that he can still play for England, but he is closer to the end than than the beginning of his career.

 

[Rugbyfan564]

According to one of the investors 'the players will decide' and we're all idiots for failing to 'embrace the positives of R360': https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4g9nz0v6lzo

So far they are decoding and it appears to be no.

The later part of that article talks about it all ending up in court.