The Virtual Terrace • Toronto Head to Canada in Top Spot
wrencat1873 wrote:
You do remember why the game switched from being a winter sport into being a summer sport dont you ?
RL was brought to it's knees by free spending clubs at the top of the old first division, when high transfer fees were the norm, especially when enticing players from Union and free spending Widnes and particularly Wigan brought the professional side of RL to within a whisker of going bust and Uncle Mo brokered a deal with sky which only became known halfway the season in 1994 ??
Wigan consequently moved in with their footballing namesakes and we all started to get used to summer rugby.
As part of the rules of the summer sport, a salary cap was introduced to prevent those very same clubs overspending and to bring some stability to a sport which was financially out of control.
So, why shouldn't clubs be able to spend whatever they want, why indeed.
If our sport was awash with the crazy money that exists in football, things could be different.
However, apart from 5/6 premier league sides, most of the cash in football is from TV revenue.
Although the salary cap hasn't worked 100% and there have still been casualties along the way and there should have been year on year increases, it has brought a level of stability to the game and it has also allowed for a more "even" competition, something which should be seen as a plus but, despite having a competition where almost any side can beat any other, "we" still cant sell the game as one of the most even, exciting and unpredictable professional sports on the planet.
I agree entirely on the salary cap front. Though think there may be a better version of it that can be used.
It’s certainly spread the talent across the competition. This is no disrespect to Wakefield but the fact they’ve kept hold of Fifita and Johnstone are evidence of that and it gives them an opportunity to progress as a club if they can now keep hold of players such as them.
I think we’re getting to a stage, or will be soon, whereby the salary cap will have to be increased but that should be done steadily and with plenty of notice. There should be a 10 year plan showing the progression of the salary cap so that clubs can budget and plan accordingly.
We’ll also get to the stage where the salary cap and relegation don’t work together. If we’re at a stage where the cap has effectively spread playing talent across the league then you’ve got a league clubs who are all pretty close in terms of on-field ability. At that point relegation becomes even more of a negative to the league as you’re not relegating a club that clearly can’t hack it, you’re relegating a club that’s probably been a bit unlucky in it’s signings or it’s injuries. I don’t think that should be a basis for relegating a club.
I still don’t like the “[insert club name] is just buying success”. Every club is doing or attempting to do that. With a salary cap it doesn’t overly distort the competition so it’s not an issue. The only thing that overly distorts the competition is clubs spending money they can’t afford to lose. Which is why the penalties for going into administration are there even though I still think they should be harsher especially with regard to the individuals involved in running clubs who end up in significant debt.
Statistics: Posted by Him — Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:00 pm — Replies 29 — Views 996