IRFU blows whistle on pay-for-play in clubs

Payments to players in Irish club rugby will be outlawed from September 2014 as the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) effectively seeks to return the domestic game to its amateur roots.

The national body yesterday published a “club sustainability report” following almost two years of consultation with clubs, aiming to address concerns that an unwanted pay-to-play culture has developed in Irish club rugby.

The report by an IRFU working party recommends that payments for playing, transfer payments and inducements should all be discontinued, while clubs will have to seek formal approval before fielding transferred players.

Direct payments to players from third parties or sponsors will also be forbidden under the new guidelines, while player expenses will need to be detailed in annual club accounts with a ceiling of €10,000 per annum. Academic scholarships were deemed to be outside the IRFU’s remit in terms of payments to players.

Clubs can currently pay a player up to €4,500 per season — and no more than €250 for a single game — within an overall maximum of €64,000 per season on player payments.

However, recent IRFU analysis of annual club accounts show there has been, on average, a 40/50% decrease in club sponsorship as well as a 30/40% reduction in bar revenue. The cumulative debt across 121 clubs totalled €20.5 million in the 2011/12 season, with 12 clubs saddled with loans exceeding €500,000.

The report acknowledged the contrasting views of clubs who wish to see all payments abolished, and those who have created sufficient revenue streams to pursue a pay-for-play policy.

However, Scott Walker, the IRFU’s director of rugby development and club game, said the move to end player payments across the board was crucial to secure the future of the domestic game.

“Clubs and individuals have voiced their concerns and it is accepted that steps need to be taken to ensure that two fundamentals, volunteerism and loyalty, are protected and encouraged,” said Walker.

“Payments to players became commonplace during our ‘boom’ years and this practice has put significant financial pressure on many clubs with resources being diverted from crucial areas.”

Ian McIlrath, chairman of the working party, said the IRFU had reviewed the report in February and had “accepted that change is necessary and that implementation of the proposals in the report will be in the best interests of Irish rugby”.

In addition, clubs wishing to participate in the All-Ireland League from 2014/15 onwards will have to meet all of up to 46 possible criteria, with junior clubs also needing to adhere to the majority of these. The report states this is “to ensure that a club has the required players, infrastructure, governance and financial checks in place to compete within a senior league”.

The report also claims that many clubs are putting too much resources towards making the first team competitive to the detriment of their youth and social sections.

It was estimated that less than 20% of schools players continue to play the game after leaving school with a similar drop-off from youths to adult rugby, citing a “failure to encourage the ‘average’ player” as a reason why players of varying abilities are lost to the game.

The report states: “We are led to believe that, in many instances, the first question asked of clubs by school leavers is ‘What is the package?’

Anecdotally, one only needs to monitor Facebook at the end of the schools’ cup season to view the exchanges between players who are detailing the inducements on offer.”