A STRICTER salary cap is linked to income is coming to the Championship in 2027 after the second-tier’s 20 clubs unanimously agreed to proposed changes.
The basics are clubs will be place in one of four tiers, with those having revenues of up to £600,000 able to spend up to £250,000 on their player wage bill, and further limits set at £300,000 (revenues of £601,000-750,000), £400,000 (revenues of £751,000-999,000) and £500,000 (revenues of £1million-plus).
After a season which has seen Halifax Panthers and North Wales Crusaders both suffer near-catastrophic financial implosions, not to mention Featherstone Rovers omitted from the Championship all together due to issues over the winter, it is small wonder such limits were readily agreed.
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It will also go down as the RFL ticking off another aspect of its Club-led Strategic Review wish list – specifically, point 48, which called for a cap linked to turnover in Tier Two of the professional game.
But while this is all very well and good for the clubs and rugby league’s administrators, it does beg the question of how much have those who are going to be most affected by this be consulted? Namely, the players.
Very little seems to be the answer, at least judging by the quotes from RFL chair Nigel Wood included with Wednesday’s announcement which were focused entirely on the clubs themselves.
“It is surely beyond dispute that spending by some poorly-run clubs has been unsustainable for a number of years and, in many cases, the inevitable then happens,” Wood said.
“We want the rule book to protect and support the well-run clubs as far as possible.
“Linking spend to income does not hamper progressive clubs looking to build, but it should act as something of a hand brake on spending that is unsustainable.”
Well, fine. No one is going to argue with that.
And that’s the thing with putting these regulations in the Operational Rules – it’s pretty much impossible to be against anything designed to ensure clubs don’t leave HMRC or other creditors in the lurch, or fail to fulfil basic functions like being able to pay their staff or keep pension payments up to date.
That doesn’t mean the players don’t deserve some sort of voice in all of this though, particularly as a more stringent cap is inevitably going to mean some end up earning less from their part-time rugby activities than they are now.
The salary cap does not, in itself, place restrictions how much an individual can earn in the same way as the maximum wage which was in operation in English football from 1901 to 1961.
But such a cap in any sport has the effect of suppressing player wages across the board, given how those in charge of recruitment and retention at clubs have to balance being able to attract and retain the best players while at the same time ensuring there is enough depth in their squad to cope with the rigours of the season.
That can be seen in Super League, where the current cap of £2.1million – excluding exemptions – is around £1.3million below what it would have been had it simply risen in line with inflation from when it was first set at £1.8million or half a club’s relevant income in 2002.
If anything, this serves to further underline how exposed players in both Super League and the Championship, along with the women’s game, are to all of the changes taking place in rugby league following the collapse of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) last year.
Unlike Australia, where their RLPA has a collective bargaining agreement with the NRL and NRLW which covers everything from wages to education and training, professionals on these shores have no independent collective voice consistently advocating on their behalf.
There are, of course, those who will argue the players should be grateful they’re getting paid to do something plenty of others do for no remuneration, especially those in the second tier who do it on top of their day-jobs.
And if it came down to a battle between the players and clubs over wages, most fans are going to root for the shirt over those wearing it.
But ultimately, the job of full-time or part-time players is to earn as much money as they can in the relatively small window of their careers they have – which, let’s not forget, can be ended at any time by injury or being released. It’s the clubs’ job to figure out how to pay them.
This is not just about the here and now either, it’s about ensuring those who follow them are paid and treated fairly by the clubs and those who run the sport as well.
Of course, this relies on the players getting together and forming an organisation which can represent their interests effectively – something that, for whatever reason, rugby league has been unable to sustain in contrast to football, cricket, and even rugby union.
For a sport which prides itself on being founded on the principle that anyone taking time off work to play should be fairly compensated in return, that seems like the only fair thing to do.
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