English Premiership
Players voice salary cap fears
Scrum.com
December 23, 2008
Bath prop David Barnes during a Guinness Premiership match against Northampton Saints, September 16 2006
PRA chairman and Bath prop David Barnes has called for rugby chiefs to listen to players' concerns over the salary cap © Getty Images
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As rugby continues to evaluate its financial position, the Professional Rugby Players Association (PRA) has voiced fears that England's professional players may be unduly persecuted by Premier Rugby's (PRL) proposed salary cap cut.

David Barnes, Bath prop and chairman of the PRA, has called for the game's administrators to remember their responsibility to all stakeholders in the game. The proposed cut will see the cap reduced from the current £4m to £3.5m as of next season.

With renewed Premiership and Heineken Cup television deals set to provide a cash injection in 2010, the next 18 months will be vital in shaping the financial landscape of the game in the future.

"Things will be tough for everyone in the short term," Barnes told The Times. "It is vital that PRL engage in dialogue with the PRA. We have been speaking but things move very quickly and it is important for us as a union to understand what proposals are on the table and how they might affect players' livelihoods.

"Some clubs will already have projections and commitments to players over £3.5million. We need to understand the implications of what the clubs are thinking and how they think they can, if needs be, reduce to that level. We need to understand whether one solution fits all. Players' wages are a cost, but not the only cost. You have 12 clubs operating in different circumstances."

The cut to the salary cap is intended to ease the burden on struggling clubs, but with debt-stricken Bristol already operating at £1m below the cap, the impact may be minimal and not the most effective manner of dealing with financial trouble. Should the players feel the pinch from a wage cut, Barnes believes that a policy of communication will be beneficial to all parties.

"Players have commitments to mortgages and living and they want to understand what is going on before they can make an informed decision. The uplift in the television deals suggests that in the medium to long term, rugby is in reasonably good shape. But we need to understand the timescales, whether a salary cut would be a short-term proposition, when it might be introduced.

"Over the next 18 months we as a sport have to make sure all clubs are viable. To do that we have to have negotiations which are acceptable to players and clubs alike."

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