Martin Offiah delivers damning verdict on current state of Super League with major warning

[josie andrews]

Exclusive: Offiah, one of the best to ever grace a rugby league field, believes the sport is falling behind.

Martin Offiah has delivered a damning assessment of the state of British rugby league and fears the restrictions of the salary cap will leave the sport lagging further than ever behind the NRL and rugby union.

The greatest English try-scorer in the history of the 13-a-side code was part of the all-conquering Wigan side after they bought him from Widnes for a then world-record fee of £440,000 in 1992.

Offiah had moved to Widnes from rugby union and enjoyed a brilliant rugby league career which led to his feats being immortalised in a statue at Wembley alongside Eric Ashton, Billy Boston, Alex Murphy and Gus Risman.

Yet the legendary former winger has grave fears about what he calls the “salary gap” - the disparity in spending power of Super League clubs, who can spend £2.1million with numerous dispensations, and the competition’s rivals.

The Super League salary cap is less than half the figure permitted in the Gallagher Premiership (£5million) and the NRL ($9.9million).

The next broadcasting deal with Sky Sports will also be vastly reduced and ex-Great Britain international Offiah admits he sees “very few” household names in Super League nowadays.

The man affectionately nicknamed ‘Chariots Offiah’, who scored an incredible 501 tries in his career, told Rugby League Live: “Super League is simply not keeping up with the times in terms of salaries.

“If the players on the pitch are earning less than those watching in the stands then they’re not going to become icons.


“If I’m earning from my job more than the players I’m watching then I don’t care how well they are playing, it’s not going to impress me.

“But if I think to myself ‘this is a sport where a lot of money’ then a lot of money means credibility and that everyone there is the best.

“However, if I’m watching guys who are only earning £30,000, then the best athletes in the world should not be earning £30,000.

“I don’t want to watch a sport of athletes who are earning £30,000 because I’m not watching the best – I’m just watching what’s there.

“And on those kind of wages, the top players are not going to stay there.

“Not many England players are household names because if a player does become a superstar in rugby league, what happens?

“He goes to the NRL or rugby union because they can earn far more money there.

“It’s hard for rugby league to have that kind of credibility when its players are not earning millions of pounds a year. That’s just a fact of life.”

Offiah believes scrapping the salary cap – introduced to ensure a fairer competition following the dominance of his all-conquering Wigan side – is the only way forward.

He explained: “They wanted a salary cap to create an even competition but I’d say it’s better to have one rugby league team dominating if it means them signing all the best rugby talent.

“Look at the hype Sonny Bill Williams created when he came to Super League, albeit briefly, with Toronto Wolfpack.

“If you take all the big stars out of a blockbuster movie, would you go to the cinema and pay to watch that film?

“In rugby league now all you’re watching is a competition with players who you’re not that emotionally invested in because you don’t think they’re the best.

“Will rugby league continue to slip even further behind rugby union and the NRL? Yes, without a doubt.

“Nowadays, which players who weren’t born in Wigan or Castleford want to go and play rugby league?

“Obviously it’s down to finance and if there is not enough money in the game then okay, just be happy being what you are then.

“But it wasn’t like that in the Nineties, when Wigan paid £440,000 for me.

“Where did they get that money from? Something has gone wrong.”

Offiah believes Super League’s most ambitious clubs should be allowed to spend as much as they wish on players.

He reasoned: “For me, the salary cap killed the sport. They had to let somebody die because by trying to save everybody they simply killed the ambitions of a lot of big clubs.

“People said about Wigan winning everything but that was better than what we’ve got now.

“I’d bet you’d love to have a team like Wigan now, who were inspiring the sport and winning Team of the Year while playing cross-code challenges against the likes of Bath.

“They packed out stadia because of the big names in the team, whereas now you might as well just get a man off the street and put a Wigan jersey on him – as long as he can play half decent.

“They talk about a salary cap but what is effecting rugby league now is the salary gap.

“You look at UFC, which was literally a spit and sawdust sport a few years ago and now you've got UFC fighters who are multi-millionaires.

“Super League players have mates who they grew up with sat in the stands earning more than them. And that’s simply not right.”

Offiah grew up in Hackney in inner-city London and admits he still pinches himself at what he achieved as a rugby league player.

Wigan and the game itself still has a special place in his heart but he concedes that, if he was a young aspiring rugby player today, playing league would not be his preferred choice.

The 55-year-old said: “We’re living in a different age now where rugby union is professional.

“People leave our game to play rugby union now, but in the old days you had top players coming over to play rugby league.

“You look at the statue that I’m on, all greats of the game, and how many of them came from rugby union?

“Myself, Billy Boston and even Alex Murphy had all played rugby union.

“Imagine I’m a young boy from Hackney who would go on to become the greatest English try-scorer of all time – am I going to go and play rugby league now?

“Jonathan Davies was another great player who came from rugby union.

“Would he go and play rugby league now in today’s game?

“Would the great Billy Boston, if he was playing in an era where black people can actually play for Wales, play rugby league now?

And what about Brian Bevan? Is he coming over from Australia to score 700 tries?

“The money is just not there now because of the salary cap.

“You’re just cutting off a whole raft of talent – the players from Australia in their prime and many rugby union players. Like I say, something has to change.”

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... y-21977425

[Wigan_forever1985]

Agree with pretty much everything he said

[josie andrews]

Good assessment of how the governing body has systematically run down our great sport! (Apart from a few grammatical errors)

I can remember when our sport would be on the back pages of national newspapers daily! We are lucky to have a titbit now unless it’s some sort of scandal!

All other sports have splashed out cash to improve & what do the RFL do? Put bloody shackles on the big clubs so the little small minded ones who are penny pinchers, can play & so called compete!

The GB/England used to be full of household names, how many would the ordinary man in the street know these days?

I’m at a loss as to what will happen to what was the greatest sport!

[Wigan_forever1985]

I think unless ownership changes hands to someone like Eddie Hearn or similar Rugby League in this country id say has around 5 years at best as a professional sport

[Caboosegg]

I agree with most apart from that it matters if the player on the pitch earns more than the fan watching... it doesn't and to think it does risks the football route of over inflated wages

[Wigan_forever1985]

I agree with most apart from that it matters if the player on the pitch earns more than the fan watching... it doesn't and to think it does risks the football route of over inflated wages

I couldnt make up my mind on that point at first...but i think i agree

Im not sure this is the point he is making but wages are a big part of getting people to aspire to the sport. Its a career that lasts 10 years or so, if you can earn more at Tesco then its hardly an appealing route to go down.

I think Offiah is alluding to instilling a sense of grandeur in the sport and it comes back to that point he makes that you arent watching the best youre watching whats left i.e players who arent good enough to earn more elsewhere and he is correct

[Ipinwigan]

The comments are as I feel at the present time about the game, I have become very disillusioned with the sport in general.
I don't know if it's a result of the way Wigan have played, but I have found myself watching games and not really being bothered who wins, this never used to happen.
I have cancelled Sky Sports, because the football pantomime winds me up too much, but I am not too sure if I will re-subscribe to it when the Super League season starts.
The RFL and Super League need to take a serious look at the sport and try to give it the kick up the arse it needs, the main problem is that it appears to be run by Yorkshire men, who won't spend any money to improve the game.

[nathan_rugby]

I agree with most apart from that it matters if the player on the pitch earns more than the fan watching... it doesn't and to think it does risks the football route of over inflated wages

What is the risk of over inflated wages?

Clubs can either afford to pay the wages or they cannot.

If players demand too much they will price themselves out of moves.

[nathan_rugby]

The comments are as I feel at the present time about the game, I have become very disillusioned with the sport in general.
I don't know if it's a result of the way Wigan have played, but I have found myself watching games and not really being bothered who wins, this never used to happen.
I have cancelled Sky Sports, because the football pantomime winds me up too much, but I am not too sure if I will re-subscribe to it when the Super League season starts.
The RFL and Super League need to take a serious look at the sport and try to give it the kick up the arse it needs, the main problem is that it appears to be run by Yorkshire men, who won't spend any money to improve the game.

Are you being serious? That's the main problem? Men from Yorkshire who won't spend money.

[morley pie eater]

For comparison with the cap and players' wages, it would be useful to know how much people like Ralph Rimmer and others at RFL/SL earn (individually and collectively).

Have we gone the way of Amazon and Ocado, where the executives earn massive amounts while the troops are paid peanuts?