Rugby League Internationals have been boycotted for years.

(I have my Wembley ticket ordered BTW).

Bloody hell Mathers!

Thank you - You have just summed up the ENTIRE problem with RL's Salary Cap in one sentence.

Just because the likes of Cas, Wakey, etc. can't afford to spend the same as Wigan, Wire, Leeds, Hull FC can, WHY THE HELL SHOULD WE BE PENALISED ???????

If a team can SAFELY afford to spend more, but still break even (averaged over a rolling 3-year period), then why should the small-minded, penny-piinching teams, who can't be ársed to improve their own finances be given the right to hold the rest of us back.

As I posted in another thread, Cas/Wakey and the like never have and most likely never will reach the Grand Final, so if the SC were to be reset to either 50% of turnover or a rolling 3-year break-even, you would STILL wind up with roughly the same 8 teams in the pay-offs based on finances.

Wigan, Wire, Leeds, Hull FC, Saints, Huddersfield, Catalans, Hull KR & Bradford would still be the 9 most likely candidates to be fighting for the 8 places.

Strangely, the financial positions of MOST clubs is roughly the same now as their (usual/expected) finishing positions in the league, with the exception of Saints who seem to be able to compete despite being seemingly permanently broke.

In conclusion - Scrap the cap in its current form (it doesn't protect clubs anyway - Crusaders, Broncos?) and base it on some form of turnover/profit.

If the little teams don't like this - TOUGH SH|TE - Work on improving your finances like the rest of us already have.

Like I said in another thread, the tail wags the dog in Rugby League.

Just go and read Wood's statement on the RFL site. If an executive at a private company spouted that content-free sh**e and tried to call it 'vision', he'd be fired on the spot. ( Unless he worked for a bank ).

The sc should be changed to allow clubs to spend 50% of their income and home grown players should only have half or even none of their wage counted. This would force the likes of Cas and Wakefield to market their clubs better and also it would encourage more clubs to bring young players through their ranks instead of relying on the likes of Wigan Leeds and Saints to supply them.

you can't be serious?

League almost ruined welsh RU. My team were probably the worst.

League was merciless and now it appear to be payback.

I've got a better idea: Why not insist that Wakefield have a cap of £100k per year imposed until Wath Brow's gate receipts have caught up with them? Makes perfect sense. Wakefield fans think 'equalizing competition' raises standards - so with my idea we'll get improved standards right down through the leagues! It's brilliant - loads of clubs' standards will rise!

What's that I hear from Wakefield fans? "It's not fair, then here at Wakefield we wouldn't be able to field the best team we could afford, and that would ruin attempts to expand our fan base, so we'd all be dragged backward in a vicious circle"

Funny you should say that, I've heard the same thing mentioned elsewhere.

What a ridiculous idea. More than ever we need to support the International game. Just think half empty stadia and the RU propaganda machine in full flow "Come and have a look at the six nations"

Engage brain before typing.

I find it unbelievable and small minded that anyone could even suggest boycotting the Four Nations. One on hand we have people shouting that the RFL need to help clubs retain their best players, and on the other hand we have the same people shouting that supporters should boycott the Four Nations. The only chance the RFL has of making money to support clubs retain the best players is for us all to support the various competitions it runs. Seems like common sense to me.

Yet you watch, there will be a 20 page thread on the Virtual Terrace forum (as the game is still being played) on how awful Wembley looks with only 45k on.

Maybe there will, but 45k would be a good start.

Indeed it would.

And what's the betting that the thread will start during the first game by the usual lot sat on their backsides at home?

Yep. That was my point.

Looking forward to Wembley, just to see the Aussies & Kiwis in person.

No real interest in supporting England with the squad McBanana has picked and the way the game is run, but I'll want Sam to do well, just to silence the inevitable boos.

boycott the 4nations ?,think about it for a minute.the reasons our top stars are going is the fact the ru internationals get 80,000 plus crowds,there on tv in countrys around the world(not just nw england aus and nz) and they are classed as world class athletes by not just rugby fans but by anybody who reads the press.boycotting the 4nation would just confirm to any rl player that they would be better off in ru.playing in packed grounds all around the world,being made to feel like a superstar and earning loads of cash to set them up for life or playing in a 1/4 full stadium because the fans are boycotting a game that most of the country doesn't even know exists,sometimes rl fans are their own worst enemy,support the game,locally,internationally it doesn't matter the ru fans do,thats why their game is thriving

Don't be ridiculous.

I can't understand how the RFL thought it was a good idea to play the doubleheader at Wembley it's gonna be just like the Magic weekends with a stadium about half full (but practically empty for the Wales/NZ game) if there lucky looking absolutely ridiculous on the telly. I've not really bothered with international RL since they got rid of the GB team so now I only go to the 4Nation finals at Elland Rd but thats only because it's just down the road from me, I really hope it's an Aus/NZ final this year.

Love this statement on the RFL website



If the salary cap needs to stay so be it, but any extra earnings from sponsorship etc should not be counted a player is being punished for being succesful, as long as the sponsorship deals are trasnparent then who cares let the players earn what they deserve, you cant ask any person to damage there bodies over a 12 year period and be paid pittance for that.

Aside from the money, the biggest appeal RU has is a strong international game. No surer way to drive ambitious young men to the other code than an empty Wembley in November.

People also need to rmember that there is no mass exodus of talent to RU. It's a few players and RL lives on. People wailed and gnashed teeth over Eastmond leaving. Is Super League a poorer product for it? No, Lomax and Gaskell to the fore for Saints, people will have forgotten Kyle Eastmond was ever a League player in a few year's time. If the Tomkins brothers go, it'll be a shame, but the conveyor belt will produce another.

Not every player is actually well suited to both codes anyway. There are few RL forwards who are likely candidates for RU, unless they play both from a young age. For every successful convert there are a string of failures. Harris failed to live up to the billing, Henry Paul and Andy Farrell never justified their central contracts. That's why you won't be seeing the RFU splash out a lot of cash on RL players, it'll be left to the clubs to finance, and they aren't as rich as you would think.

I'd rather be the sport with the conveyor belt than the one with the chequebook. RU's finances are not as rosey as they once were. When they run out of cheques they might have to start producing their own players, then they'll quickly realise that the public school network is no deeper a talent pool than the M62 corridor is.

This sport is bigger than a few star players.

The RFL simply does not have the money to subsidise contracts to the extent that they would need to in order to stop Union from taking our players.

Boycotting an RFL event such as the 4 nations will leave them with even less money, whereas getting extra people to go will get them more giving them the option of giving money to clubs (and increasing the SC) or subsidising key English players wages.

The suggestion of boycotting the 4 nations is a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face - not clever.

Ok firstly. wow thats the worst solution to keeping players in the game. BOYCOTT games. lol

Secondly this is no major exodus. Eastmond well we replaced him in erm three weeks thatwas a toughy. Not to be cruel but Joel is a second rower acting as a centre Wigan will replace him without a blink.

As for the salary cap I have no problem letting this go. It was a fix to even up the comp. encourage youth development and steady club finances. For me it did one of those three to a limited level. The federation ruling has meant clubs have to develop youth players more than the salary cap did. Neither does anything to stop clubs overspending.

For me a new profit ruling would be a better way to go. Break even over the licence period or risk anything from a heft points deduction to an automatic loss of a licence to SL. This would not stop money men putting cash into club but it would stop them loading debts onto clubs that the club cannot afford the repayments on.


If players breaking contracts are an issue maybe we need to look at the way we write contracts. Currently we pay players I assume on a PAYE employee basis. Maybe we need to start thinking about treating players as self employeed sole traders offering RL services to a club. The clubs could offer to buy said services for a period of time with penalties built into the contract for not providing those services for the full period.

I have a mortgage and if I change providers early I have to pay a percentage fee to get out. This way you build in set parameters at the start when people sign up. Any outside party wishing to retain the players services would have to offer enough to the player to cover their early exit fee.

As a final word. How much do players get paid playing for England. If the RFL dont want clubs to break the cap there is nothing to stop the top talent getting paid alot more for turning out for England ver and above the cap.

today just shows how far league is behind,our fans are talking about boycotting the 4 nations,played in our own country in our own national stadium,in contrast wales ru play on the other side of the world,take a good following and put on sale 60k tickets to watch it on a big screen,at club level ru is suffering at international level its world wide,rl at club level is fntastic but at international level even rl fans are not interested, why the differance and what do the rfl need to do,is it just the rfl's fault or do we as fans take some of the blame ?

The Rfl have a massive job on their hands trying to grow the game in this country. I agree with most people that we need a strong international scene before we can hope to do this. The problem with that is it would have to be at the expense of some rounds of SL or maybe a shorter play off series. At the moment we play most international matches at the end of the season when players are exhausted, supporters wallets are exhausted and the weather is poor. I know the NRL wouldn't agree to international games being played during the regular season, but I'm sure there'd be more support for a series of international games in spring than autumn/winter. Don't know if a mini series between England, Wales and France (only 3 games needed) would maybe whet the appetite of supporters enough to bring a few more out for the end of seaon 4 Nations, which for me would be Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, with France and PNG sharing the other spot.