The message to the Guinness PRO12 and the provinces is clear – get creative, get generating cash and start treading water.
At the launch of its annual report, Irish Rugby Football Union chief executive Peter Browne sounded the warning symbol – French and English teams are flinging money around and they’re only getting started. The union, Browne announced, does not have ‘the capacity to absorb ever increasing player wage inflation’.
This season, the union is doling out an extra €1m – spread across the four provinces – to cover salary increases. That, frankly speaking, is a drop in a deep, dark ocean.
The Aviva Premiership and Orange Top 14 have cut massive TV deals that dwarf the decent agreement the PRO12 has with the likes of Sky Sports, BBC, TG4 and more. Irish provinces have struggled to compete with wage offers from France and England before and that will only continue. Browne laments:
“The size and quality of the playing squads that these clubs can assemble from around the world has changed the balance of power in Europe to the detriment of our Provinces and the IRFU who simply cannot match the playing budgets of these teams.”
Browne believes there is scope for the provinces to increase gate receipts and matchday takings but has called on the PRO12 to increase revenue streams. What that entails, he has not disclosed but one can be sure he has personally delivered that message to the league, which contains Scottish, Welsh and Italian sides too.
There has been talk of the Irish provinces using the Aviva Stadium for inter-pros, on the same day. This would follow the ‘Judgement Day’ model that has proved successful for Welsh outfits at the Millennium [now Principality] Stadium. Other mooted ideas include staging games outside of the country [America, for example] to appeal to a new audience, bringing in a London club [Irish or Welsh] and staging a condensed season outside of Test match windows.
Browne notes that the union is already investing ‘in our pathway to develop better quality players more quickly’. Simply put, you may be seeing more rapid rises – ala Ultan Dillane and Josh van der Flier – through the ranks in the coming years. There is no time for hanging about any more. The chief executive added:
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the professional game in Ireland can no longer rely on the IRFU being the ‘lender of last resort’ as the IRFU no longer has the capacity to absorb the increasing cost of the professional game as Irish Rugby struggles to respond to the inflating player market in England and France.
“The risks to the Irish professional game are potentially profound.”
21 years after rugby turned professional in Ireland, the union is declaring its can-carrying days are coming to a close.
Every union for itself.
