In recent days, the rugby world has been dominated by the unfolding events of Saracens salary cap scandal. Whilst many have been trying to highlight this issue for years, it has now erupted with an initial 35 point deduction for Saracens dramatically escalated to forced relegation. This is the biggest rugby scandal in English history, dwarfing the Bloodgate events in 2009. That was a singular instance of deception, this has been a prolonged period of what some describe as ‘financial doping’.
For their rivals it finally provides an answer as to why they have been unable to keep up with the dominant English and European champions. As they fought desperately to stay within the £7m salary cap, Saracens were somehow able to put together a ferocious squad with a huge depth of talent. Taking the 15 position as an example, their current squad includes starting Wales and England full backs Liam Williams, and Elliot Daly, and European Player of the Year Alex Goode. Add this to the presence of other huge names like the Vunipola brothers, Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell who many believe could be on contracts over £500 000, and you can understand why questions have been asked for some time. Consequently, when the story broke that property magnate owner Nigel Wray had been making undisclosed co-investments with players that breached the cap, there was little surprise.
The party line for Saracens has been initial denial, followed by a disgruntled apology and slow acceptance of their wrongdoing. For the club it is merely an unfortunate accident of accounting, that overshadows their success on the pitch. Furthermore, it diminishes the legacy of their Wolfpack mentality and focus on player welfare, that has been so lauded by players and pundits alike. Ex players and coaches like Chris Ashton and Brendan Venter have come out in support, arguing that this was not done intentionally and it was Nigel Wray’s kind character that meant he couldn’t say not to helping players when they asked. However it seems unlikely that a succesful businessman would have such a casual attitude towards financial transactions.
It is easy to frame this story as another episode of a sports club caught cheating their way to success, conjuring up images of the 2006 Juventus match fixing scandal in Italian football. But this has also been hugely embarrassing for Pemiership Rugby. The story has broke at the wrong time, just CVC Capital Partners have invested £200million in to the English league.
Saracens behaviour has been talked about for years, a running joke amongst rugby circles. Yet, these cap breaches have constantly been covered up by Premiership rugby. Back in 2015, they negotiated confidential agreements with clubs that were breaching the £4.5 million cap, cheating the masses to a full disclosure of what was really unfolding. In the aftermath, they have been supposedly conducting regular checks on players and clubs financial relationships. However this story has only broke due to the work of Sportsmails investigation team, and in particular reporter Laura Lambert, who uncovered the investment relationships between Nigel Wray and players like Mako and Billy Vunipola. As a result, Premierships rugby launched a seven month investigation. Why did this require external discovery? It suggests that Premiership Rugby were negligent, as either they did not have the resources to uncover the rule breaking or they were choosing to ignore it.
Added to this, their behaviour towards Saracens has also to be poor. Many called for punishment and a clear message needed to be sent to deter this from occuring in the future. The decision to dock them 35 points and £5m was supposed to achieve this, but in reality Saracens would survive the drop and simply carry on next year as if nothing has happened. Many see the escalation to relegation just two months later as a way of increasing the punishment to something that will actually deter, whilst Premiership Rugby argue it is for continued breaching of the cap. This is what coaches like Venter have taken exception too. It is understandably very hard for a professional club that cares deeply about player welfare, to slash it’s wage bill in such a short period of time. If they were prepared to relegate, this should have been the punishment from the outset.
This leaves a strange aura over the rest of the season. For now, we have the chance to examine what a potentially ring-fenced premiership might look like. Meanwhile, there is every reason to suggest that Saracens may win the European Cup again. Certainly we are in a situation where the reputation of English rugby is heavily tarnished. As Saracens focus on rebuilding the reputation of their club, Premiership rugby must place emphasis on winning back the support from its loyal fans, on whose shoulders the future of the game rests.
The Rugby Fanatic 