The 2014/15 Aviva Premiership was arguably the most exciting season of Premiership Rugby in the professional era.
The final pitched together Bath, who had impressed throughout the season with some scintillating play from an exciting back line; and Saracens, who were sweating in the closing weeks of the regular season before their unquestionable quality shone through.
Ultimately, Saracens’ Final experience and stronger nerve saw them put Bath to the sword by 28-11 at Twickenham, becoming the first side to win the title following the inconvenience of an away semi-final.
The regular season was all the stronger for the unpredictable nature of who might make up the play off spots. At the season’s start, there would have been a good case for arguing that any four of ten clubs could quite feasibly have been semi finalists come May. As it turned out, Exeter Chiefs could feel bitterly disappointed that their fifth place finish was a mathematical whisker away from Leicester Tigers’ third place finish. The margin between the Sandy Park outfit and the eventual champions: a mere twenty points deficit in points difference.
When the play offs became the means of crowning Premiership champions back in the 2002/03 season there was much dissent amongst fans. None more so than from Leicester, who at this time had been reigning champions since 1999 and had seen attempts to announce mid-season that the champions of the 2000/01 season would be decided by play offs. Surely the team that finishes top is the true champion after a long season?
After thirteen seasons of play offs however, you would have to conclude that the play offs have proved to be a success. 83,000 people now regularly fill Twickenham for the showpiece event of the domestic season, teams have developed methods of squad management that play to the play off system and teams unduly affected by international call ups can look at the end of season play offs as a good leveller.
The system works. Fair play Premiership Rugby – you were right.
One of the key reasons why last season’s race for the play offs was exciting, however, was the level and even nature of the participating teams. A big driving factor in the equality is the salary cap, designed to ensure that the financial doping seen in football’s Premier League that has resulted in titles won by those that can afford big transfer fees and big wages.
From the forthcoming 2015-16 season, the base salary cap will be £5.1 million with a further £400,000 for home growth player credits and the ability to sign two players outside the salary cap.
The second non-salary cap player must be a new player to the Premiership, which leads to some questions. Firstly, what happens next season when this highly paid player is no longer a new player to the Premiership and non-discountable? On the face of it, this doesn’t appear clear.
Secondly, is it right that in a system designed for equality there are exceptions in place that give advantages to those sides who are bankrolled by wealthy individuals? Certainly the likes of Saracens and Bath will have seen the changes to the salary cap and licked their lips in anticipation of gaining an advantage over their rivals.
The elephant in the room with any change to the salary cap however is the policing of it. And on this second point where Premiership Rugby aims to promote equality – they have got this one wrong.
In layman’s terms, what is the point in there being a salary cap if there is no desire to expose or indeed sanction those clubs who may have exceeded the cap in some way? We don’t know that there is no desire for action to be taken of course, but it is mightily easy to draw that conclusion.
It was reported during last season that two clubs had broken the salary cap, with the identity of at least one openly speculated against. This isn’t the place to add to that speculation: The important part is that if there are rules they must be adhered to by all to maintain the competitiveness of the competition. And yet, despite an announcement in October 2013 that severe punishments up to a maximum of a 40 point deduction would be levied against sides who broke the cap, teams who may or may not have exceeded the cap last season will face no punishment in the same season of the offence.
The delay in the investigations has come about because clubs voted to suspend investigations until later in the year. Ahead of the 2015/16 season, there is still no indication that any conclusion will be forthcoming soon if at all. And if there was, we may not find out about it.
Premiership Rugby’s stance on salary cap breaches is one of secrecy and silence whilst investigations are occurring. Any breach of this would lead to points deductions, which can only frustrate fans who would like to see a little honesty and openness in the proceedings.
Why was there a delay at all? Could it be that any punishment would lead to a challenge on the legitimacy of any salary cap? Could it be the knowledge that one exposure would open a mucky can of worms that no clubs would like to open? Could it be that at a point when the stock of Premiership Rugby has never been higher and with a World Cup coming to these shores, nobody wants to rock the boat and attract negative publicity? Could it be that the timing would be awkward ahead of negotiations with the RFU over the elite player agreement?
Whatever the reasons, this does not reflect well on Premiership Rugby or the clubs who voted for the delay in the investigations. The silence allows onlookers to draw their own depressing conclusions as to what is going on, with the suspicion that the issue is swept under the carpet. If it were the case that actually nobody broke the cap then great, tell everyone and draw a line under the confusion. But why would you delay announcing that…?
One can understand the frustration of people like Saracens’ chairman Nigel Wray who has called for the abolition of the cap, feeling that his club has the money to pay big for the world stars of the game so why shouldn’t they? That point of view is easy of course when your large losses and debts are offset by wealthy ownership who need to be kept interested by success. But the salary cap is important in order to ensure that the deciding factor in building a Premiership winning side is simple – get your team playing the best rugby.
By maintaining the silence and the inability to reach a conclusion, Premiership Rugby must be very careful to avoid losing credibility over this issue. If they do, and the salary cap ceases to be policed stringently, it is hard to imagine a season quite so tight and exciting as the one just passed.
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