Nick Cain column: Self-policing the salary cap wrong from the off

The salary cap “investigation” surrounding Saracens and Bath last season, and the stampede by almost every other club in the Premiership to identify them by declaring that they were not being questioned, struck me at the time as self-righteous indignation. The mealy-mouthed denigration of Saracens prompted in some quarters by their double-winning achievement this season mirrors it.
Those who’ve taken against Saracens, and also Bath, over unproven allegations that they exceeded the 2015 salary cap have short memories. However, for arguments sake, if both clubs had exceeded the cap, would they have been the first Premiership clubs to have done so? Or, is virtually every other successful club – and some not so successful – guilty of the same charge since the salary cap was first introduced in the 1999-2000 season?
The reality is that PRL’s salary cap has been one that has never fitted all its member clubs. Ever since it was introduced there have been virtually incessant rumours and accusations that the cap has been breached. These accusations are typically directed at the most successful clubs by their less illustrious rivals.
The Leicester side of the early 2000s that won the first European and domestic double was a case in point. For the record, the Leicester side that beat Stade Francais to win the Heineken Cup in 2001 featured 10 England internationals, including Martin Johnson, and two big overseas stars with the Wallaby, Pat Howard, at centre, and the New Zealand flanker, Josh Kronfeld, on the bench.
The Tigers have consistently denied breaking the cap, holding to the line that many players join the club at less than the going rate to be part of a successful side with a strong culture. It is a line which has always smacked more of spin than substance – but it has been met with a collective shrug since it was discovered that PRL had no stomach for appointing an independent salary watchdog.
Similar rumours swirled around Gloucester when they signed the All Black lock Ian Jones (1999-2001). At the time they also had his fellow countryman, Simon Mannix, at fly-half, England props Phil Vickery and Trevor Woodman, and a host of French signings made by Philippe Saint Andre as he made the transition from player to coach. These included French internationals like scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili and hooker Olivier Azam.
The Harlequins side that won the 2001 European Challenge Cup final also featured a cohort of international stars with Ireland and Lions hooker Keith Wood, England’s Jason Leonard and Will Greenwood, and Wallaby forwards David Wilson and Garrick Morgan in their starting line-up.
Talk of offshore shell companies being used to by-pass the salary cap were rife, and there was barely a Premiership club that did not have a handful of marquee overseas signings pushing the salary cap beyond the bounds of credibility.
The Lawrence Dallaglio-led Wasps side that emulated Leicester’s European and domestic double-winning feat in 2004 was widely perceived to be homegrown enough to be within the cap, despite the presence of New Zealand loosehead Craig Dowd, Wales scrum-half Rob Howley, and five England World Cup winners.
However, by the time Wasps won the Heineken Cup for a second time in 2007, having acquired the likes of French captain Raphael Ibanez and his England counterpart Vickery, the idea that their wage bill was regulation was met with a large degree of scepticism.
Another spending spree by Saint Andre at Sale Sharks had seen him assemble a multinational side by 2006, including French cult hero Sebastien ‘Caveman’ Chabal and his countrymen Sebastien Bruno and Lionel Faure. With Jason Robinson and fellow England stars Mark Cueto and Charlie Hodgson in the squad alongside Scotland captain Jason White and Wales centre Mark Taylor, questions were again asked. However, they subsided with many sharing the euphoria of Sale winning their first title while denying Leicester their umpteenth.
At the other end of the spectrum, despite the ups and downs of relegation, from 2008-2010 Worcester managed to have one of Australia‘s greats, full-back Chris Latham, on their books at the same time as three All Blacks – Rico Gear, Sam Tuitupou and Greg Rawlinson.
So, while Saracens have a list of England Grand Slammers as long as your arm, and still retain a smattering of South African talent, spare me the sanctimonious “Anyone But Saracens” mantra.
The charge that Saracens, or Bath, are any less ethical when it comes to the salary cap than most of their Premiership rivals does not stand scrutiny. This is mainly because there is no independent salary cap investigating body to uncover transgressions, and nor has there ever been. PRL undertakes the policing of the cap itself, and if it stands accused of sweeping the Saracens/Bath enquiry under the carpet, it is simply adhering to its own long-established principle of non-intervention.
That is not the right way to administer a salary cap. However, if it is wrong now, it has been wrong for the last 16 years.
What highlights the continued elasticity of salary cap ethics in the Premiership is that while the current cap stands at £5.5m, the exemption of two marquee overseas signings from next season’s new £6.5m cap makes its real value closer to £10m for the wealthier clubs.
Will the cap now fit all sizes in the Premiership? History suggests it’s unlikely, especially as there is little chance of it being enforced.