Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game!

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JackFlashJonny
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Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game!

Post by JackFlashJonny »

I have been a lifelong Tigers fan. But more importantly I have loved Rugby and its whole ethos and looking back at my favourite tournament the Heineken cup with all winners from Brive to Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon I have loved every minute.

However it seems my love of Jonny and my desire to see him reap the European glory I felt he deserved has masked what appears to be a huge issue with our game..It is being BOUGHT by rich men who aim to buy titles and players at will..

Whilst we have often bemoaned the French salary cap looking back at the way Toulouse dominated the Heineken cup it was so much more easy to stomach as the great Toulouse teams were generally full of French stars playing French rugby.

Toulon and more importantly sly Mourad are ruining everything about this great game and whilst Racing, Bath and Saracens would like to follow them and make it a who spends most wins affair I am looking for things we can do to stop this happening.

Would anyone like to start a petition with me or at least do something to try and make the rule makers, IRB (or World Rugby as now known) see that the majority of good rugby loving folk do not want this.

Whilst you may not agree with some of the sentiments in this post surely you would agree the way the game is going looks bleak unless you have a big chequebook and this is not sustainable.

Saracens are the epitome of this unsustainable rugby with Nigel Wray calling for the cap to be scrapped when the amount of fans they have is genuinely laughable.

Any ideas are welcome all I know is I need to do something before I grow to hate the game I love!
ourla
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by ourla »

JackFlashJonny wrote:Any ideas are welcome all I know is I need to do something before I grow to hate the game I love!
Drink Remy.

Maintain some perspective.
TigerCam
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by TigerCam »

JackFlashJonny wrote:I have been a lifelong Tigers fan. But more importantly I have loved Rugby and its whole ethos and looking back at my favourite tournament the Heineken cup with all winners from Brive to Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon I have loved every minute.

However it seems my love of Jonny and my desire to see him reap the European glory I felt he deserved has masked what appears to be a huge issue with our game..It is being BOUGHT by rich men who aim to buy titles and players at will..

Whilst we have often bemoaned the French salary cap looking back at the way Toulouse dominated the Heineken cup it was so much more easy to stomach as the great Toulouse teams were generally full of French stars playing French rugby.

Toulon and more importantly sly Mourad are ruining everything about this great game and whilst Racing, Bath and Saracens would like to follow them and make it a who spends most wins affair I am looking for things we can do to stop this happening.

Would anyone like to start a petition with me or at least do something to try and make the rule makers, IRB (or World Rugby as now known) see that the majority of good rugby loving folk do not want this.

Whilst you may not agree with some of the sentiments in this post surely you would agree the way the game is going looks bleak unless you have a big chequebook and this is not sustainable.

Saracens are the epitome of this unsustainable rugby with Nigel Wray calling for the cap to be scrapped when the amount of fans they have is genuinely laughable.

Any ideas are welcome all I know is I need to do something before I grow to hate the game I love!
As the game is now professional (there's money (or egos) to be made folks - for some), not helped by the disparity in salary caps between the ERC competing nations, there is and aways will be a need (or even greed?) by those that can, to be the best because it will attract those with sheds loads more money than the majority on this forum can probably club together, thereby continuing to 'feed the beast'? Wasps moved because it could not survive professionally in a small 'rugby' environment. Passionate fans, just not enough dosh going through the turnstiles. Its a business after all?

I have been a Tigers fan (family being Leicester born and bred) for longer than I care to/or can remember. An ex-ST holder but still as passionate to see the Tigers win everything, every year. I stopped being an ST holder because of the changes that happened when TV put their hand in their pockets and controlled the game dates and KO times. The final straw being one year where I only made 1/2 the games, not a good return on a £400+ investment!

I do go to the occasional game at WR, always the last home game of the season - a sort of pilgrimage for us outlanders that live a good distance from WR. I substitute my ST dosh with BT Sports and wiziwig streaming of Tigers games.

I do still get my dose of 'real club rugby' (the stuff I used to enjoy when playing, beer, banter more beer etc) by going to either of my local clubs - Cambridge or Shelford. Even these clubs have aspirations to go further but as we know 'deep pockets' are required and sometimes as in the case of Cambridge when Mr 'deep pockets' does come along the pockets do need to be throughly checked for holes! All very well pumping money in, bring in players on private salaries and insurance, supposedly working for some local building firm but then departing unannounced and leaving the club with a huge tax bill and uninsured players that can't play. It nearly broke the club and the recovery has been a protracted one with Ron Winters and Craig Newby trying to deliver the goods on the pitch.

For a while, I was part of a committee to help resurrect Cambridge RUFC and when lobbying local corporates for sponsorship and trying to fill the pre-game lunch room, one response from a very rich, electronics company was that they saw Cambridge RUFC club as being too low a profile for them to hang there logo on - great eh! It is not just the money but the profile that counts - apparently? Had the Tigers been local, I'm sure they would have had more than one box etc?

So, let the AP do their thing. Plenty of great local rugby to enjoy. I don't believe any petition to any rugby authority will make a diddly-squat of difference? Money will still talk and egos will still need to massaged.

It is the Cambridge/Shelford derby Jan 10, I'll be there with one eye (cos I will probably have to close the other one to focus correctly) on the scoreline coming out of the Stoop.
Whoever said "one person cannot change the world' never ate undercooked bat
JackFlashJonny
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by JackFlashJonny »

Whilst it would obviously not really do that much I am sure if enough people signed it we could get some media coverage from it and then it would create the debate if nothing else as I am sure all rugby fans across Britain and Ireland would agree.
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by jgriffin »

My post seems to have not arrived/been censored.
Perhaps because I was suggesting that Saffacens are doing this deliberately to break the AP and used a disguised 'urinate'-off for the intention of Griffiths?
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by Tigerbeat »

jgriffin wrote:My post seems to have not arrived/been censored.
Perhaps because I was suggesting that Saffacens are doing this deliberately to break the AP and used a disguised 'urinate'-off for the intention of Griffiths?
Jgriffin, your post has not been censored or deleted. I have just come in the forum since this morning and have not deleted or edited any posts today.
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by jgriffin »

Am an idiot. Posted on a different thread:
"Saffacens are calling PRL's bluff AKA taking the mickey - either they are stuck with a big points shafting or they'll get away with it and destroy the league. This is a serious threat to rugby in this country as we know it and IMO needs dealing with seriously.
I also think Bath are follwoing suit.
If Saffacens do get away with it, those two clubs will become superclubs like Toulon within a few months."
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A game played on grass in the open air by teams of XV.
Big Dai
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by Big Dai »

ourla wrote:
JackFlashJonny wrote:Any ideas are welcome all I know is I need to do something before I grow to hate the game I love!
Drink Remy.

Maintain some perspective.
Yup! :smt030
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Bar stool philosopher in the "Wilted Daffodil"
TigerCam
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by TigerCam »

JackFlashJonny wrote:Whilst it would obviously not really do that much I am sure if enough people signed it we could get some media coverage from it and then it would create the debate if nothing else as I am sure all rugby fans across Britain and Ireland would agree.
Irrespective of my view above, raise the petition and I will gladly sign.
Whoever said "one person cannot change the world' never ate undercooked bat
TigerCam
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by TigerCam »

Big Dai wrote:
ourla wrote:
JackFlashJonny wrote:Any ideas are welcome all I know is I need to do something before I grow to hate the game I love!
Drink Remy.

Maintain some perspective.
Yup! :smt030
Ah! SWMBO has given you back the key to the Remy store then? :smt043
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Hinckley Bob
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by Hinckley Bob »

I agree completely with the Johnny's sentiments and would certainly join a petition but also England Rugby will suffer. Much was made of Quins fielding 10 academy players last week and I applaud them but would anyone care to count how many are making the Bath or Saracens teams these days?
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by rockhound »

But as has already been stated "Super clubs" can only exist if they have opposition- could not the rest of the AP clubs refuse to play against any clubs breaking the agreement of a salary cap
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by Big Dai »

TigerCam wrote:
Ah! SWMBO has given you back the key to the Remy store then? :smt043
Yup! :smt001 :smt035 :smt030

Swmbo could actually become the Welsh word for wife!
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Poet laureate of the "One Eyed Turk".
Bar stool philosopher in the "Wilted Daffodil"
Big Dai
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by Big Dai »

Seriously folks, as I posted elsewhere, the slippery slope has already been half descended. We are all responsible. A petition will not stop the slip into the slough of despond! Only voting with your feet and pockets will.

None seem brave enough to do that!
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Bar stool philosopher in the "Wilted Daffodil"
fentiger
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Re: Rugby glory being bought by the Rich- Help save the game

Post by fentiger »

The problem is that the lilly-livered French have no spine to enforce their supposed cap. Even with them 'allowed' to spend, say, £8m there is always some genuine hope for the English clubs to compete. But with no policing that hope evaporates. The rich mans toy is a massive problem in many sports. I will gladly sign up, more in hope than anger.
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