Jeff Probyn column: Silence is not golden when it involves a PRL cover-up
Whether it’s the World Cup review or the PRL probe into salary cap breaches, neither organisation seem willing to honour their promise of a full, open and honest inquiry with published results.
PRL have done all they can to keep a wrap on what their enquires have dug up on some of our best known clubs and hope that the private deals done will be the end of the matter.
Unfortunately for our clubs, the tax laws in England do not allow them to bend the salary cap rules in the same or similar way as the clubs in the Top14 – but some have tried.
The cautious way in which PRL took to announcing their findings and the ‘agreements’ that were reached so no club was ‘outed’, shows an organisation that appear unwilling or unable to sanction some of their member clubs. If true, PRL, as a collective organisation, should no longer be considered fit for purpose.
PRL was set up by the Premiership clubs to give a united voice and representation in negotiations with the RFU and sponsors; it is also there to enforce agreed Premiership policies like the salary cap and sponsorship distribution.
As far as honesty and integrity goes, PRL have failed on all counts as they have blatantly denied that any salary caps breaches have taken place, despite admitting that some financial agreements have been reached to bring the matter to a close.
Naturally, not all clubs would be in breach of the salary cap with those closer to the bottom of the Premiership more likely to be under the cap than those at the top, (unless their directors of rugby are completely incompetent) but even those that can’t afford the big name stars stand to benefit, should the rich and powerful clubs force an end to relegation.
Some think that pressure from fans will make a difference but I doubt it. At the end of the day fans are fickle, they want their team to win and they don’t care if they ‘bend the rules’ or not, as long as their team achieve the right result.
Who can forget the early days of the leagues when a number of clubs wasted money in efforts to gain promotion, status and fans, only to suffer near bankruptcy when the money ran out. Fortunately, the leagues settled pretty quickly but there were some big name casualties.
As it has evolved, the whole league structure has been bound by rules which, among other things, try to ensure the financial stability of all clubs within it and that includes those at the top in the Premiership.
However, if the Premiership is to be a fair competition, there must be a certain level of parity for all the clubs and that is why the salary cap was introduced. PRL, despite the vested interests within, should enforce their own rules without fear or favour and not hide behind a wall of silence.
Meanwhile, the RFU have hidden behind the fanfare that has surrounded the appointment of new head coach, Eddie Jones, to keep details of the review into the disaster that was England’s World Cup campaign under wraps. Full credit to Ian Ritche, who has manged to do something that has failed all before him and keep a lid on the outcome of what was a thorough review of all aspects of preparation and execution of England’s World Cup bid.
Part of the reason could be that, having investigated, the review panel found little or nothing badly wrong with the approach chosen by Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team in terms of squad preparation in either the long term, or immediate build up to the Cup.
Yes, there would be a couple of whinges from disgruntled players about this or that, but overall it could be that preparation was felt to be about right.
What would have been noted, is the number of injuries that affected the squad over the years during the build-up, particularly in the midfield where Lancaster was barely able to pick a consistent pairing.
It would also have been noted that despite a good relationship with the Premiership clubs, players were ill prepared (in terms of rest breaks) during the long seasons and the necessary increase in fitness level for the international game.
Then of course, there is the Sam Burgess fiasco as what can only be seen as an unfortunate and unnecessary act of desperation by Lancaster and the management team in a bid to replace Manu Tuilagi. This and the subsequent return of Burgess to League were probably more responsible for Lancaster’s eventual downfall than the failure of the team to get out of the pool stages of the Cup.
My hope for this year is that we don’t repeat the mistakes of previous years and that both reviews are made public by the organisations that commissioned them, rather than both bodies having to ‘fire-fight’ a series of unwanted leaks, although I’m not anticipating it.
