A message for Wigan too?

[FWarrior]

Had we reached the final we would have got 3 'tests'

[ian.birchall]

The commentators made a good point during the game in that whilst the 4 Nations is a good concept, it only gives England 2 real games. I think they got more out the NZ series last year and would really benefit from a 3 test series against Austrailia.

Could be painful viewing.

[morley pie eater]

The commentators made a good point during the game in that whilst the 4 Nations is a good concept, it only gives England 2 real games. I think they got more out the NZ series last year and would really benefit from a 3 test series against Austrailia.

Could be painful viewing.

Nothing new there then, Ian!

I watched every home test v Australia from 1972 to recently. A huge accumulation of pain with very little relief. Still have a tiny burning ember of optimism though.

I remember thinking we'd never beat the West Indies at cricket, then the Aussies, or that Labour would never win another election . . . mmmmm, delete the last one . . .

[Wintergreen]

The Salary cap has absolutely murdered the game in this country, propped up by narrow minded Yorkshiremen and Chairmen who are happy to see their wage bill depressed.

Still at least it's keeping clubs out of administration eh? :doz:

How has it 'murdered the game' given that even at it's current level there are still so many Super League teams making losses? Where exactly is the money going to come from to pay more for the players? Even Koukash has realised that big spending from his own pocket that Salford can't cover is unsustainable.

Wire are probably the only team that could really spend big right now, and expecting any team to be able to cough up the sums of money that RU premiership clubs can spend on their players is unrealistic.

If we scrapped the cap we still couldn't prevent top players from leaving, both to the NRL and rugby union. The problem isn't the cap, it's the lack of money the game makes. While rugby union has done very well in selling itself to sponsors and increasing its value, allowing more money to filter down to it's clubs, rugby league is seriously lagging behind.

You'd have to be living in a fantasy world to think that Super League clubs could seriously fight off competition for players even without a salary cap. RU Premiership clubs not only have a much bigger TV rights deal (having jumped ship from Sky, yet the RFL wouldn't even entertain the idea of interesting another party and sold our game short), but they also receive £200million funding from the RFU. They have the money in their game to afford huge wages. Our game doesn't.

The international games makes a massive difference for rugby union. It's undoubtedly helped the domestic competitions become more lucrative and brought in increased sponsorship. As I wrote above, rugby league is more interested in playing meaningless Super League games between small northern towns 3 or 4 times per season. Yet some people are still scratching their heads as to why union has a better profile.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you are saying. I don't for one minute think the Salary Cap is the sole problem. It is a big part of the problem though.

[DaveO]

I don't disagree with a lot of what you are saying. I don't for one minute think the Salary Cap is the sole problem. It is a big part of the problem though.

In what way is it a big part of the problem though? I don't see how the cap is such a big issue when even the games top clubs are making losses with the cap at its current level. There are dispensations for various reasons that provide advantages for clubs but in general clubs can't afford to pay much already.
I'm not saying the cap is great. It favours the 'big 4/5' teams but those are the teams that are likely to flourish anyway.

It's catch-22. There is not enough money in the game for a high salary cap and so we don't have the ability to recruit and retain the best players but without top class players we don't get enough money in the game as it is not top of the list for sponsorship or TV money anymore.

As to the salary cap ruining the game, I think the past tense is applicable i.e. it (or rather the administration of it) ruined it.

By this I mean when it came in we did not have the same level of competition from RU or the NRL. When it first arrived the game still had top players and was able to attract top players from down under. Wigan had to have a dispensation as we were, all the way back then, paying around £2.2m in wages.

The rot set in then. The cap was supposed to keep pace with inflation. It never did. The poorer clubs voted it down. So back then when a club like Wigan could have afforded an increase it was prevented from doing so.

This went on year after year and once RU and the NRL became cash rich RL found itself miles behind.

So I think it is fair to say a combination of poor clubs having too much power and the RFL ignoring what was happening elsewhere thinking the be all and end all was an even competition (when this has not really happened anyway) have been the problem with the cap over the years. It is now compounded by the idiotic "whole game approach" where what small money we get from Sky is divided up across the entire game when it is SL that brings that money in.

[OAMJSONA]

Rugby League in this country was dying a slow death now it as been accelerated

RIP my beloved game

[Peter252]

Getting rid of the cap will remove the hand brake and result in a headlong downhill rush to a financial wipe out of the game. Union invested just short of £90m last year back into the game.Over £34m Oregon went into game development and the rest to the professional game,over £55m. You now have the Autumn international's, with the 6 Nations to follow. Another huge amount of money, most of which will go back into the game.
Anyone wanting to play a code of rugby at a professional level, whose main motivation is money will almost certainly find more reward in Union than league, even without the cap in place.
I just don't see the solution ever being a financial one.

[FWarrior]

The salary cap cannot be the answer though with clubs going bust in a salary cap era. Bradford the latest. Do we wave a white flag? Unless you pay a decent salary then you will attract fewer stars and then less investment fron sponsor or fans. Wigan TV showed a Jimmy Fairhurst led Wigan. Are we returning to those times?

[Wiganer Ted]

Bradford have gone into admin 3 times in 5 or so years.
They have complied with the SC throughout but have still knowingly and willingly spent more than they could afford. That is the problem.

[Caboosegg]

I don't disagree with a lot of what you are saying. I don't for one minute think the Salary Cap is the sole problem. It is a big part of the problem though.

In what way is it a big part of the problem though? I don't see how the cap is such a big issue when even the games top clubs are making losses with the cap at its current level. There are dispensations for various reasons that provide advantages for clubs but in general clubs can't afford to pay much already.
I'm not saying the cap is great. It favours the 'big 4/5' teams but those are the teams that are likely to flourish anyway.

Salary cap means lower quality rugby, lower quality rugby leads to game tactics that lower the amount of errors in a game due to lower quality players (wigans style last year) boring rugby puts of potential fans, lack of new fans reduces club income.

the salary cap is the issue at the bottom of the pyramid as in its the route issue.

i would like to see the Cap scrapped and a rule in place like the championship now has (aka not allowed to spend more than 50% of their income on the squad). it wouldn't be perfect but it would be a start.