European Rugby Union champion team Toulon’s owner, Mourad Boudjellal, is no stranger to controversy. Some of his comments have landed him in hot water and his latest outburst has re-ignited the old club versus country conundrum.
For those that missed it, he demanded that Springbok players Bakkies Botha and Bryan Habana and Los Pumas loose forward Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe turn their backs on their national sides competing in The Rugby Championship and report for duty in the French Top 14 tournament. Ignoring his instructions would result in them not being paid for the time they were away from their club. The players have not returned to their club and that will make for an interesting reunion at the club at the completion of The Rugby Championship.
There are many views on this subject and three of Last Word on Sports writers put together their thoughts.
Gillian Stevens
As I was driving to work I noticed a headline calling out: “Habana and Bakkies ordered back to France”. The first thing that came to mind was maybe the ‘Roman Abramovich of rugby’ – Mourad Boudjellal – was getting tired of having to fork out big salaries on players that were not able to play for him.
Admittedly, I was irritated with him when I found this to be true, however, I realised I couldn’t fault him entirely. After all, wouldn’t I expect to be first in line for the services I was forking out so much money for? However, diluting the rugby championship of its premier players to appease the likes of Boudjellal and co isn’t the answer – do we want our sport to go the way of football where club takes precedence over country? I don’t.
What about a global season? The IRB has been mulling it over, but we still haven’t seen a plan of action to address it. The more money that comes into the sport through clubs like Toulon, who want the best and brightest kitted out for them, the more the players are going to be caught in the crossfire between their pay checks and the honour of wearing their national jersey. I would assume that the players would like an agreement that appeases both parties? A global season – as they have in football – will fix this and the calendar will make allowances for domestic rugby as well as international matches.
Another very good reason to have a global season is the increasing workload the players are faced with. Super Rugby, Heineken Cup, Currie Cup, ITM Cup, Top 14 … and we haven’t even mentioned the international competitions. All of these are gruelling competitions and rugby is a gruelling sport that takes a punishing toll on the athlete’s body. We all want exciting competitions with the best players pitted against each other, but unless the season calendar is addressed, what we will get instead are players turning down their countries to follow the money not to mention increasing burnout rates that will end many careers prematurely.
I am not underestimating the complexities of formulating a global season, but the IRB needs to start somewhere. A statement of intent will go a long way to avoiding the ugly headlines we saw over the last week.
For any player, one of the proudest moments of their career will be pulling on that shirt and representing their country for the first time. Only a handful of people get to experience this elation, knowing that they have been given this honour over many others who can only dream of this opportunity. So no wonder it’s often the case that players give up time playing for their club to represent their country. In fact, it’s a common act that players are excused when on national duty.
Understandably, the clubs pay the wages and in certain circumstances the players have to put their club commitments first. For example, at the end of last season, many players who would have featured in England’s first test in New Zealand remained at home so that they could take part in the crucial Aviva Premiership final. Highly-rated figures such as Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell could have made a difference in England’s first defeat to the All Blacks, however, on this occasion, club duties came first and their respective club’s required them to stay home in pursuit of the championship title. These players then flew out to join the national squad for the remainder of the tour with the sole focus of playing for their country.
In relation to Boudjella’s comments, it is odd to see a prolific team such as Toulon struggling, even more so with it being so early on in the season. But this is rugby and unfortunately the nature of the sport means players get injured. Toulon are not the only club with the headache of injuries and who would benefit from having more players training, however Boudjellal seems to be the only one stamping his feet and making threats about it. Leicester Tigers are overshadowed by the fact that three matches into the season they have 23 players out already with injuries. A profound defeat by Bath highlighted this problem, but do you see Richard Cockerill demanding Marcos Ayerza to come back from playing for Argentina?
Relating this problem to football, it was revealed earlier this year by Harry Redknapp that certain people in the England squad asked not to be played for international matches, as they did not get any financial gain from doing so and knew that they would avoid scrutiny if they got out of playing in these high profile games. Undoubtedly, this caused an uproar within the sporting world, shocking those who understand what an honour it is to be invited to play for your country. Thankfully, the ethics that run throughout the sport mean nothing like this has been reported within rugby.
Players take part in international matches purely for pride; the incentive for them to play is knowing that they have been deemed good enough to represent their country on behalf of thousands of supporters and patriots. So why belittle those talented enough with the threat of financial handicap? This early on in the season, players should not have to worry about their professional future due to injuries that should be accommodated for by the club. The bottom line is that if Boudjellal is happy enough to have such high-profile and accomplished players sign for his team, then he must understand that they will be picked for their country. Common sense will prevail and unless the success of the club relies on a player to take part in a play-off match or final, country should always come before club.
Ryan Jordan
The Toulon changing room is going to be a very interesting place when the players that Monseur Boudjellal demanded abdicate their national responsibilities eventually make their way back, having ignored their employer’s demands. This after he originally agreed to release them in the first place. One can only feel sorry for the players in this situation. The IRB are notoriously slow in reacting to any form of crisis in the game and I believe rugby is facing one right now. As much as the IRB would like to believe it, rugby is not an international game of the same standing as soccer, tennis and athletics.
If international rugby has to become subservient to club rugby, the quality of international rugby will definitely be effected, to the detriment of the sport. The nations most affected would be the smaller, developing rugby nations and even the bigger rugby nations with weak currencies. The likes of Argentina would simply not be able to field a competitive team in The Rugby Championship as they don’t have a true professional structure established yet and most of their players are contracted in England and France. The likes of of South Africa simply can’t retain their players from a financial point of view. Fourteen South African Rands will buy you one Euro. It becomes a simple decision for a player if they compare their own personal financial value and the sentimental value of their national jersey. My opinion is simple. Making a club jersey more valuable than an international one would mean disaster for smaller nations and halt the quest to make rugby a global game.
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