Cash won’t always be king in European rugby
Kudos if you could rattle off all three answers without resorting to google because — hands up — this column had to reboot the brain after the first of them.
For the record, Saracens saw off Racing 92 — 21-9 — at Grand Stade de Lyon.
Ten penalties, an injured Dan Carter and, oh yeah, it rained a lot. It’s hardly a surprise if there is a general state of amnesia among Irish rugby fans when it comes to the knockout stages of last year’s tournament given local interest ended a full four months before the final as the provinces failed to make it out of the pool stages.
If Christy Ring once said that hurling was only half-dressed without Tipperary, then rugby’s European Cup, regardless of the name attached to it, appeared next to naked this time last year without the Irish. Though, to be honest, the tournament had been divesting itself of its allure long before it shed the beer company’s moniker.
Twickenham in 2012, when Leinster won their third title, stands as proof of that. The RFU’s cathedral holds 82,000.
It was filled to capacity that day. This despite the fact it was a strictly Irish affair between Leinster and Ulster.
There have been better finals, and more meaningful victories for Leinster, Munster, and Ulster in other deciders, but this was the height of the romantic age. What have we had since?
Superpower champions every year, a dilution of the Celtic contingent beyond January, a competition run off with undue haste to prioritise the Anglo-French league deciders and all of it falling further through the cracks of a carved up satellite TV deal between Sky and BT Sports that bugs practically everyone.
TV’s money and the knowledge English and French clubs could squeeze more out of it prompted the demise of the old Heineken Cup but there are other figures that demonstrate how a tournament once cherished lost its USP. Clermont and Toulon fit snugly into the Aviva with a capacity 30,000 smaller than Twickers in 2013.
The Millennium Stadium had 7,000 seats spare when Toulon and Racing contested the ultimate game a year later and there were 26,000 spaces free when Toulon and Clermont met at Twickenham in 2015.
Lyon’s Grand Stade wasn’t far off full 10 months ago but the presence of two sides bankrolled to such a degree, from the two leagues which pushed so hard for the new and so-far-not-improved competition, was interpreted as confirmation the days were gone when a Munster or Leinster could return to those heights.
The reality was always more nuanced. If money was everything then Toulouse, with a €31.5m operating budget for this season that is the highest in France and not much different to those of the four Irish provinces combined, wouldn’t be languishing 10th in the Top 14. La Rochelle, with the third lowest in the top French tier at just over €18m, would not be 10 points clear.
The fear is that these figures will just continue to multiply — the fact the current Canal+ deal for Top 14 rights is double the previous one and due to rise sharply again in 2019 would back that up — but there is no guarantee TV will be able to continue shovelling cash at rugby. beIN Sports has tried to muscle into the French sports market but reportedly amassed losses of €1bn for its Qatari owners.
Saracens confirmed a debt of over £45m in January of 2016 that was a record for rugby. Other warning signs have been sounded besides.
Stade Francais president Thomas Savare delivered a grim warning when the proposed marriage between his club and Racing 92 was shelved this month.
“French rugby is living beyond its means. Everyone has to realise it. We’re on an intravenous drip.”
If the provinces can hang in there — and maybe even add another title or two — at a time when they are living so far beyond their means then what could they achieve if a day comes when our English and French cousins begin to adopt some fiscal responsibility?
Email: brendan.obrien@examiner.ie Twitter: @Rackob
