Premiership clubs have all voted to approve 52 recommendations suggested by the Lord Myners report into the salary cap.
A three-month review into Premiership Rugby regulations was concluded in May by Myners and published by PRL.
Prompted by Saracens cap breach over the past three seasons, Myners proposed more serious sanctions and more transparency from clubs, players and player intermediaries. This included:
- More flexibility for disciplinary panels, given capacity to strip clubs of titles as well as suspensions
- Greater transparency
- Greater accountability of the boards of Premiership clubs
- Greater accountability for the players and their agents
- Increased reporting obligations on clubs
- Stronger investigatory powers vested in the salary cap manager function and increased resource to perform this function
- Making the regulations easier for clubs to understand
“I am immensely grateful to Lord Myners for his thorough, diligent and robust approach to conducting this review,” said Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs.
“It’s a credit to our clubs that they have acted so quickly to support these recommendations and take the Premiership Rugby salary cap into a new era. We want to create the gold standard for delivering sporting integrity, financial viability and competitive balance.
“The next stage is for us to consult with our clubs, the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Players’ Association and to enshrine these new regulations for the start of the 2020-21 season, which will be created for the long-term benefit of our sport.”
Myners did not propose changes to the salary cap limit of £7m nor to the marquee player allowance, which affords clubs to sign two players whose salaries will not be included in the cap.
Conversation around the salary cap limit and marquee player allowance has stirred following the Myners report, with Bristol Bears owner Steve Lansdown strongly against lowering the current margins the Premiership operate by.
In an open letter, Lansdown wrote: “The club believe strongly in protecting the marquee rule. Not only do we have long-term contractual obligations that we have planned and budgeted for, it’s difficult to compete at the highest level domestically and in Europe without the ability to recruit the best players.
“The Premiership is the best rugby competition on the planet. Removing the best talent would dilute the appeal and impact on its ability to compete in the global market. High quality rugby in front of large crowds breeds healthy competition and is only a good thing for the sport and its long-term sustainability.”
As the lines of the salary cap become clearer following the approval by the 13 Premiership clubs, attention will now turn back to whether the league will be ring-fenced and relegation to the Championship scrapped.
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