- Joined
- Jul 15, 2011
- Messages
- 7,993
- Country Flag
- Club or Nation
You mean like the salary cap? that could be restraint of trade.
If PRL shoehorn their clubs into having clauses in their contacts that prevent the clubs from releasing their own employees (the players) as they see fit, than that smells like a "restraint of trade" to me, which would make the contracts illegal!
Just saying ... North had a release agreement in his contract. So despite the WRU being inept at times they made sure George had a release clause in his contract to allow him to be released. Northampton to their credit respected the clause and released him.
Yeah lets go back to the days when players had to balance a full time job with playing for club and country.....
This will turn the way of football. Club before country mentality should be cut down before it is allowed to gain any more momentum. This is another coffin in the nail and why I slowly grow disgusted with how this game is going. Professionalism has ruined this beautiful game.
I truly believe the only countries doing it right are Ireland and New Zealand and I have a huge amount of respect for both.
Yeah lets go back to the days when players had to balance a full time job with playing for club and country.....
Our players are professionals, and don't have to balance anything against full time jobs. Why do NZ and Aussie players in general, stay in NZ for less money than they could get by going to Europe? Some of them could name their own salaries in Europe, and they'd get it too.
The answer is mostly the whole package when it comes to playing professional rugby here. I can't speak for Australia, but I can tell you that players here stay because the NZRU has set up a great place to play rugby and for players to advance the quality and skill levels of their game. Super Rugby professionals only have to play at most 16 regular season games and two or three post season. The Super Rugby season only lasts for 18-20 weeks, then while the All Blacks play another six matches in nine weeks in the RC, the non-All Black Super Rugby players play another 10 weeks of regular season (plus potentially two weeks of post season) in the lower level, semi-professional ITM Cup. This is in sharp contrast to the NH where the season drags on and on, and on, for 40+ weeks.
Part of the package here is that the local authorities have spent millions and millions of dollars upgrading the grounds so that the surfaces are top notch. The elite game here is generally played on hard and fast grounds that are brilliant to play on. Some of the grounds I see in the AP and Top 14 are appalling. The grounds are heavy and sodden and cut up really badly. Two of the grounds that will be used in the 2014 6N (Millennium Stadium and Stade de France) wouldn't even be fit to run livestock on in this country, and I am hearing that Murrayfield is infested with a disease that is destroying that surface too.
But the worst aspect of NH rugby, especially in England and France is that allowing rich millionaires to use Rugby Union club ownership for personal street cred has led to directly to all the *****ing, in-fighting, backstabbing and legal challenges that have been taking place for the last 18 years, as well as the current fiasco with European rugby.
This borderline obsessive worshipping of "the bottom line" has also led to the high injury toll and to professional players being treated like disposable commodities; mercilessly flogged for endless domestic season after endless domestic season. Its no coincidence that the AP and Top 14 have the highest injury toll of any professional domestic rugby competition in the world - players not given sufficient recovery time when injured, made to play with injuries not fully healed, and having to turn out for their clubs, week after week for 30+ matches.
Some returning players have said that it is sometimes a very unpleasant place to play, both physically and emotionally.
Mallinder has revealed though that rather than Northampton being fined every time they release North to play in similar matches for Wales, the punishment received will instead cover his whole contract - which has two-and-a-half years remaining.
Our players are professionals, and don't have to balance anything against full time jobs. Why do NZ and Aussie players in general, stay in NZ for less money than they could get by going to Europe? Some of them could name their own salaries in Europe, and they'd get it too.
The answer is mostly the whole package when it comes to playing professional rugby here. I can't speak for Australia, but I can tell you that players here stay because the NZRU has set up a great place to play rugby and for players to advance the quality and skill levels of their game. Super Rugby professionals only have to play at most 16 regular season games and two or three post season. The Super Rugby season only lasts for 18-20 weeks, then while the All Blacks play another six matches in nine weeks in the RC, the non-All Black Super Rugby players play another 10 weeks of regular season (plus potentially two weeks of post season) in the lower level, semi-professional ITM Cup. This is in sharp contrast to the NH where the season drags on and on, and on, for 40+ weeks.
Part of the package here is that the local authorities have spent millions and millions of dollars upgrading the grounds so that the surfaces are top notch. The elite game here is generally played on hard and fast grounds that are brilliant to play on. Some of the grounds I see in the AP and Top 14 are appalling. The grounds are heavy and sodden and cut up really badly. Two of the grounds that will be used in the 2014 6N (Millennium Stadium and Stade de France) wouldn't even be fit to run livestock on in this country, and I am hearing that Murrayfield is infested with a disease that is destroying that surface too.
But the worst aspect of NH rugby, especially in England and France is that allowing rich millionaires to use Rugby Union club ownership for personal street cred has led to directly to all the *****ing, in-fighting, backstabbing and legal challenges that have been taking place for the last 18 years, as well as the current fiasco with European rugby.
This borderline obsessive worshipping of "the bottom line" has also led to the high injury toll and to professional players being treated like disposable commodities; mercilessly flogged for endless domestic season after endless domestic season. Its no coincidence that the AP and Top 14 have the highest injury toll of any professional domestic rugby competition in the world - players not given sufficient recovery time when injured, made to play with injuries not fully healed, and having to turn out for their clubs, week after week for 30+ matches.
Some returning players have said that it is sometimes a very unpleasant place to play, both physically and emotionally.