Wales slide further down slippery slope.

[Bill W (2)]

Wuth Warburton signing Central Contract.

Oh dear, oh dear where will it all end?

[nasher]

It will end with four centrally contracted teams and Italy and France.

[Bill W (2)]

It will end with four centrally contracted teams and Italy and France.

Four? Ah four Irish and Italy and France. No Welsh! No Scots!!

[arickett]

This will have a bigger long term effect on who controls rugby in wales and if the regions can be anything other than WRU puppets. Than the European cup issue.

Time to anti up or fold if Cardiff let him play the regions will die and the WRU get what they want full control.

What can the regions do ? If there can get the english teams to agree not to let him play with out signing a contract with the club or region The flights to Scotland France or Ireland. Would make this type of contract less appealing to others.

That said my money's on a short term view from Cardiff.

[Mat]

I for one wish England would do this. A country winning should come first it also keeps the best players in their country. The French league may be dominating but the open market means teams like Toulon have very few French players meaning France will not be as strong in the future. Hayman and Castro as tight heads means no French player developing! Etc

I have no problem with thirty something's going to earn some money but half penny is only 25 our own flood only 28 it's wrong.

[kingneptuneii]

The day the RFU implement central contracts in England is the day I hand in my season ticket. I wont pay to see a team who aren't in charge of when they can play their players. whilst I will support England, my money and dedication goes to Leicester every time. if I had a choice between England winning the RWC again, or Tigers winning the HEC, i'd take the HEC every day of the year.

[arickett]

Matt its club/clubs or county if you are just intrested in the england team then central contract may be a option but if you care about a club its a non starter.

[jgriffin]

The day the RFU implement central contracts in England is the day I hand in my season ticket. I wont pay to see a team who aren't in charge of when they can play their players. whilst I will support England, my money and dedication goes to Leicester every time. if I had a choice between England winning the RWC again, or Tigers winning the HEC, i'd take the HEC every day of the year.

Me too.
May I point out that for every Toulon in France there is an Oyonnax or indeed a Stade - because Stade have been under the cosh for a few years they have given the young players a chance and now have a clutch of young potential internationals. That's what clubs do and central contracts don't. Central contracts ossify the structure.

[TigerLad]

I think it would be interesting to see how many people would actually pick country over club. I am firmly in the club before country club personally. My support of England extends to simply hoping that our players play well and don't get injured, if there wee to be no Leicester players in the team I wouldn't care about the result at all. If the RFU were to implement central contracts I would be furious. At the end of the day they're our players, we produced them, scouted them and gave them their big chance. England are simply an invitational side who play in invitational tournaments. No more and no less important than the Barbarians in my eyes. You'd also have to wonder the effect central contracts would have on the clubs. Will they continue to try and produce the young English talent if they won't have any say in their futures when they become internationals? No, I don't think so. Personally I think that central contracts are just the first step towards the cricket model of players spending the whole season with their international sides and only playing for their county's once or twice every few years. It just seems incredible to me that someone other than a club could have a say when and where a player plays, although I suppose we already have that with EPS rest weeks.

[Cardiff Tig]

This will have a bigger long term effect on who controls rugby in wales and if the regions can be anything other than WRU puppets. Than the European cup issue.

Time to anti up or fold if Cardiff let him play the regions will die and the WRU get what they want full control.

What can the regions do ? If there can get the english teams to agree not to let him play with out signing a contract with the club or region The flights to Scotland France or Ireland. Would make this type of contract less appealing to others.

That said my money's on a short term view from Cardiff.

Cardiff fully support this, its the first ever central contract, it would never have happened if Cardiff were not happy for the Union to pay his salary and loan him back to the club.

They may not be happy with the WRU for commercial issues (despite the fact that the population in Wales is too small for any TV company/sponsorship to pay that much for any rights) but they've been asking for help to keep players for a couple of seasons now. Seems a sensible way to go in my view.

[tig1]

I think it would be interesting to see how many people would actually pick country over club. I am firmly in the club before country club personally. My support of England extends to simply hoping that our players play well and don't get injured, if there wee to be no Leicester players in the team I wouldn't care about the result at all. If the RFU were to implement central contracts I would be furious. At the end of the day they're our players, we produced them, scouted them and gave them their big chance. England are simply an invitational side who play in invitational tournaments. No more and no less important than the Barbarians in my eyes. You'd also have to wonder the effect central contracts would have on the clubs. Will they continue to try and produce the young English talent if they won't have any say in their futures when they become internationals? No, I don't think so. Personally I think that central contracts are just the first step towards the cricket model of players spending the whole season with their international sides and only playing for their county's once or twice every few years. It just seems incredible to me that someone other than a club could have a say when and where a player plays, although I suppose we already have that with EPS rest weeks.

Assuming money wasn't an issue, virtually ever player would choose playing for their countries, and teams like The British lions, rather than playing club rugby. Of course they will talk about clubs being their bread and butter blah blah, but that is simply because they currently pay their salary.

As you see from the Welsh and Irish systems, the players choose International rugby rather than club rugby. The English and French players would be no different if that option were available.

[TigerLad]

I think it would be interesting to see how many people would actually pick country over club. I am firmly in the club before country club personally. My support of England extends to simply hoping that our players play well and don't get injured, if there wee to be no Leicester players in the team I wouldn't care about the result at all. If the RFU were to implement central contracts I would be furious. At the end of the day they're our players, we produced them, scouted them and gave them their big chance. England are simply an invitational side who play in invitational tournaments. No more and no less important than the Barbarians in my eyes. You'd also have to wonder the effect central contracts would have on the clubs. Will they continue to try and produce the young English talent if they won't have any say in their futures when they become internationals? No, I don't think so. Personally I think that central contracts are just the first step towards the cricket model of players spending the whole season with their international sides and only playing for their county's once or twice every few years. It just seems incredible to me that someone other than a club could have a say when and where a player plays, although I suppose we already have that with EPS rest weeks.

Assuming money wasn't an issue, virtually ever player would choose playing for their countries, and teams like The British lions, rather than playing club rugby. Of course they will talk about clubs being their bread and butter blah blah, but that is simply because they currently pay their salary.

As you see from the Welsh and Irish systems, the players choose International rugby rather than club rugby. The English and French players would be no different if that option were available.

Exactly and that's the problem. Clearly players will want to test themselves at the highest level and international rugby can offer them that but club rugby is what attracts the fans and produces the players. Central contracts diminish the clubs importance and that in my eyes is wrong. The RFU need to understand that without the clubs support the national team will fail and I think they know that. It's interesting reading the Cardiff forum. A lot of them think it is a good thing as Warbuton only plays for them 10 times a year anyway, so they view it as an extra 200k for them to spend. On the other hand about half of them are furious and don't want Warburton to play for them again. It is going to be fascinating how they work this issue out.

[tig1]

I have to disagree with you tiger lad. It's international rugby that attracts the big crowds and the big money. Followed by competitions such as the HC and Super 15. Tigers are a bit of an anomaly when it comes to support.

Central contracting in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland has not stopped the development of players.

Indeed the problem is the other way around in England and France. The lack of central contracting negatively impacts the national teams and prevents the players achieving their best in the game by being overplayed at club level.

As a Tigers fan I too greatly dislike the impact that central contracting would have on our club. But intellectually I can see its in the best interest of the players and the national team for central contracting to exist.

[Hot_Charlie]

Warburton signs central contract: Good.

When the Welsh regions join the "English and Welsh Premiership" he can come and play for us!

[northerntiger]

I have to disagree with you tiger lad. It's international rugby that attracts the big crowds and the big money. Followed by competitions such as the HC and Super 15. Tigers are a bit of an anomaly when it comes to support.

Central contracting in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland has not stopped the development of players.

Indeed the problem is the other way around in England and France. The lack of central contracting negatively impacts the national teams and prevents the players achieving their best in the game by being overplayed at club level.

As a Tigers fan I too greatly dislike the impact that central contracting would have on our club. But intellectually I can see its in the best interest of the players and the national team for central contracting to exist.

True, but I would hate to go down the cricket route. It works in NZ and Oz because the whole system is set up around central contracts. Do we want the premiership to be reduced to the level of the LV?