Super League suggests salary cap exemption for 'marquee' players

[josie andrews]

• New sponsorship and TV deal enable clubs to spend
• RFL chief executive encourages clubs to 'cut loose'

Salford coach Brian Noble has advocated a new amended salary cap for marquee players in Super League.

Super League clubs have been urged to capitalise on a new mood of cautious optimism after recent cash injections by introducing a salary cap exemption for marquee players from 2015.

Nigel Wood, the chief executive of the Rugby Football League, was able to welcome a new title sponsor for the elite competition – First Utility, who have stepped into the void left by Stobart's withdrawal midway through 2012 – and an extended television deal with Sky worth around £200m when the 19th Super League season was officially launched at Manchester's Event City on Monday.

Wood talked of Super League's "world-class clubs", and said: "Our elite teams need to be cut loose to be internationally competitive." When asked whether that meant a relaxation of the salary cap, which has remained at around £1.7m per club for several seasons, he said: "That is entirely a matter for the clubs. But the centre [the RFL] has been promoting the introduction of a marquee player allowance for a couple of years now.

"One of the central advantages of the [Sky] contract extension is that we can move the funding for clubs to salary cap level pretty quickly. That has been a long-term aspiration for the sport, and it should be a terrific boost for the standard of the competition."

Each of the 14 Super League clubs will receive a £300,000 top-up on their £1.2m allocation from the existing Sky deal this season, and from next year the 12 that survive – with the bottom two being demoted this September, the first time there has been automatic relegation from the Super League in seven years – will receive more than £1.8m each.

Dr Marwan Koukash, the racehorse owner who has funded a major spending spree that he hopes will make Salford genuine challengers this season under the former Great Britain coach Brian Noble, has been the loudest advocate for the salary cap to be amended or even scrapped.

At the launch he received support from the Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington, and the Warrington coach, Tony Smith, who have been two of the more respected and influential voices on the Super League scene for more than a decade.

"I'm keen on anything that's going to raise the quality of our competition, and maybe also give us a bit of a wow factor," said Smith. "If a marquee player at each club is the best way to do that, great."

Hetherington said: "We proposed this a few years ago and didn't get the support of enough clubs. But it's been brought up again by Marwan, and there are people at other clubs like Simon Moran at Warrington and Ken Davy at Huddersfield who have the private income to spend more than they are currently allowed without jeopardising the stability of their clubs.

"That's the important thing, and that's why this TV deal is such a significant development for the clubs. What it does first and foremost is make the clubs sustainable."

The need for that sustainability was again highlighted over the weekend when Bradford Bulls entered administration for the second time in as many years. They have re-emerged as a new company, subject to the approval of the RFL, but may yet face a points deduction – although that is unlikely to be determined before they play their first game of the season at home to Castleford on February 16.

Wigan, the 2013 champions, kick off the campaign on Friday night with a home game against Huddersfield Giants, who finished top of the table in 2013, before flying out for the World Club Challenge against the Sydney Roosters the following week. The Wigan coach, Shaun Wane, hopes that the England internationals Josh Charnley and Michael McIlorum will both pass late fitness tests.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/f ... e-players?

[BriH]

• New sponsorship and TV deal enable clubs to spend
• RFL chief executive encourages clubs to 'cut loose'

Salford coach Brian Noble has advocated a new amended salary cap for marquee players in Super League.

Super League clubs have been urged to capitalise on a new mood of cautious optimism after recent cash injections by introducing a salary cap exemption for marquee players from 2015.

Nigel Wood, the chief executive of the Rugby Football League, was able to welcome a new title sponsor for the elite competition – First Utility, who have stepped into the void left by Stobart's withdrawal midway through 2012 – and an extended television deal with Sky worth around £200m when the 19th Super League season was officially launched at Manchester's Event City on Monday.

Wood talked of Super League's "world-class clubs", and said: "Our elite teams need to be cut loose to be internationally competitive." When asked whether that meant a relaxation of the salary cap, which has remained at around £1.7m per club for several seasons, he said: "That is entirely a matter for the clubs. But the centre [the RFL] has been promoting the introduction of a marquee player allowance for a couple of years now.

"One of the central advantages of the [Sky] contract extension is that we can move the funding for clubs to salary cap level pretty quickly. That has been a long-term aspiration for the sport, and it should be a terrific boost for the standard of the competition."

Each of the 14 Super League clubs will receive a £300,000 top-up on their £1.2m allocation from the existing Sky deal this season, and from next year the 12 that survive – with the bottom two being demoted this September, the first time there has been automatic relegation from the Super League in seven years – will receive more than £1.8m each.

Dr Marwan Koukash, the racehorse owner who has funded a major spending spree that he hopes will make Salford genuine challengers this season under the former Great Britain coach Brian Noble, has been the loudest advocate for the salary cap to be amended or even scrapped.

At the launch he received support from the Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington, and the Warrington coach, Tony Smith, who have been two of the more respected and influential voices on the Super League scene for more than a decade.

"I'm keen on anything that's going to raise the quality of our competition, and maybe also give us a bit of a wow factor," said Smith. "If a marquee player at each club is the best way to do that, great."

Hetherington said: "We proposed this a few years ago and didn't get the support of enough clubs. But it's been brought up again by Marwan, and there are people at other clubs like Simon Moran at Warrington and Ken Davy at Huddersfield who have the private income to spend more than they are currently allowed without jeopardising the stability of their clubs.

"That's the important thing, and that's why this TV deal is such a significant development for the clubs. What it does first and foremost is make the clubs sustainable."

The need for that sustainability was again highlighted over the weekend when Bradford Bulls entered administration for the second time in as many years. They have re-emerged as a new company, subject to the approval of the RFL, but may yet face a points deduction – although that is unlikely to be determined before they play their first game of the season at home to Castleford on February 16.

Wigan, the 2013 champions, kick off the campaign on Friday night with a home game against Huddersfield Giants, who finished top of the table in 2013, before flying out for the World Club Challenge against the Sydney Roosters the following week. The Wigan coach, Shaun Wane, hopes that the England internationals Josh Charnley and Michael McIlorum will both pass late fitness tests.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/f ... e-players?

I don't think so

[Alreetas]

Tony Smith respected ?? hmmmm

[cpwigan]

If it helps keep / attract the highest quality players to SL then I am all for it. Big ? Several SL clubs cannot even afford the static paltry SC we have now so what happens?

12 teams in SL is at least 2 too many!!

[DaveO]

""That's the important thing, and that's why this TV deal is such a significant development for the clubs. What it does first and foremost is make the clubs sustainable."

No it doesn't. We are bring back a form of P&R so what do you think clubs are going to do if they are in danger of dropping into the middle 8 where they have to fight to avoid relegation?

Spend the extra £300K of paying off the overdraft? Spend it on their junior set up with a view to the future?

I cannot believe how anyone has the gall to suggest handing over an extra £300K to badly run clubs is going to turn them into well run clubs.

[markill]

I cannot believe how anyone has the gall to suggest handing over an extra £300K to badly run clubs is going to turn them into well run clubs.

Exactly, it's encouraging poor management if anything. And the new TV money is being used to prop clubs up now.

[Owd Codger]

If it helps keep / attract the highest quality players to SL then I am all for it. Big ? Several SL clubs cannot even afford the static paltry SC we have now so what happens?

12 teams in SL is at least 2 too many!!

Thirty odd clubs in the whole of the Professional and Semi Professional game is too many.

Two in London being a example when we are struggling to get one firmly established.

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

""That's the important thing, and that's why this TV deal is such a significant development for the clubs. What it does first and foremost is make the clubs sustainable."

No it doesn't. We are bring back a form of P&R so what do you think clubs are going to do if they are in danger of dropping into the middle 8 where they have to fight to avoid relegation?

Spend the extra £300K of paying off the overdraft? Spend it on their junior set up with a view to the future?

I cannot believe how anyone has the gall to suggest handing over an extra £300K to badly run clubs is going to turn them into well run clubs.

A prerequisite of being a Super League club should be that each club has U19 and U16 teams. Everyone can see that there is not enough quality players in the competition (CPW's point about 10 teams). Marquee players are fine but if we cannot produce enough good players to put backsides on seats then the £300k will be of no value whatsoever.

[josie andrews]

A prerequisite of being a Super League club should be that each club has U19 and U16 teams. Everyone can see that there is not enough quality players in the competition (CPW's point about 10 teams). Marquee players are fine but if we cannot produce enough good players to put backsides on seats then the £300k will be of no value whatsoever.

We need more than two academy teams IMO