The Professional Rugby Players' Association will consider strike action unless the RFU and Premier Rugby can't settle their differences once and for all. Ladies and Gentlemen, the launch button is about to be pressed, we are about to go nuclear.
Dangerous brinkmanship but ultimately I applaud this. It's the equivelant of your Dad warning you that if you and your brother don't stop fighting then neither of you will get any Christmas presents.
Exactly. Damian Hopley (head of the PRA) has been the most mature, patient and logical guy in Rugby for the last few years and now, even his patience is exhausted. If they players refuse to play, what choice do the Clubs and RFU have other than to settle, surely they can't afford an NHL style lock out?!
Well let's face it the RFU & PRL stand-off is effecting the players livelihoods directly. If they need shaking out of their reverie by this threat then so-be-it. I'm sure this strike thing is just sabre-rattling but it's a good time for the PRA to pipe up and remind the powers that be not to be so self focused.
Is it me or are thr RFU coming off like a bunch of power hungry ***** who dont really give a f**k about the game
PRL are no better in my opinion. They're only interested in securing their own position and the rest of the English rugby world be damned. They'd ringfence their own little ball-game in a second if they could. That's all they are interested in...a rich kids only club jealously guarding their tv revenues.
The thing is this situation is a result of the RFU having the Head Shoved up their Arse I Back the players, as The English Game will be dying if we are not careful...
Both the RFU AND the Clubs are power hungry *****. Both want to control every aspect of the game and profit from it, neither wants to relinquish the control that they have. Both want to make as much cash as possible but neither wants to make a financial concession in order to ensure the security of the future of the game. In short, they are as bad as each other, the threat of court cases hasn't swayed Club or Country, the threat of European meltdown hasn't swayed Club or Country (Shtove take notice). I doubt that even the threat of the players coming out on strike would force the Baron and the Rugby oligarchs to an agreement! The only way that this could be resolved was if say, the European Union or the British government imposed a solution on them. And even then, the RFU or the Clubs would fight every step of the way all the way to the European Courts of Justice! Dittos GOML, I'm backing the players on this. Neither the RFU or the clubs get any sympathy from me.
Shouldn't this thread better located in the HEC section since the current dispute between the RFU and the PRL is related to the HEC and not to the Guiness Premiership as far as I know although if there's no HEC the strike would apply to GP and EDF cup.
this escapade is getting damn annoying! all these petty squabbling and all is ruining the image of rugby
This has been going on way before anyone even thought about the 2007/8 HEC. This has been going on since the end of the last world cup. There are multiple arguments on who should own the elite players to how much the clubs should get in cash. This thread, therefore, belongs in the GP section.
