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Could be painful viewing.John Ferguson wrote: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.
Nothing new there then, Ian!ian.birchall wrote:Could be painful viewing.John Ferguson wrote: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.
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.cherry.pie wrote: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.Wintergreen wrote: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:
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.
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.cherry.pie wrote: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.Wintergreen wrote: 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.
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.cherry.pie wrote: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.Wintergreen wrote: 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.
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.