Australian players reportedly set to lose majority of income or face stand-downs
Australian players are set to take some of the biggest coronavirus induced pay cuts in the game according to The Australian.
With competitions across the world suspended or cancelled due to the pandemic, national unions have found their income quickly drying up - income that is needed in order to pay their players their dues.
Rugby Australia (RA) are ostensibly in one of the toughest situations of any union with the game already struggling thanks to falling interest in the sport across the country.
The Australian has reported that while Australia's Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) initially suggested that players take three-month, 42 percent wage cuts, RA has countered, saying that players will need to cope with losing a considerably larger proportion of their income.
RA have asked the 192 players contracted to the country to take a mammoth 65 percent pay cut extending until September 30.
Illustrating just how dire the straits are for Australia, RA recently announced at its AGM a provisional loss for the financial year of AU$9.4m. In a worst-case scenario, where rugby is effectively cancelled for 2020, RA could be set to lose AU$120m revenue.
Waratahs chairman Roger Davis told The Australian that the club may have to stand players down if an agreement isn't reached in the near future.
"The Super clubs have been remarkably consistent," Davis said. "We tend to move together, we have a shared problem and that is the combined solvency of our clubs.
"We are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. At NSW, we simply can’t wait for this to be resolved - if necessary, we will move independently.
“We are considering standing down the players if there is no agreement between the parties next week, but we’re hopeful it will not come to that.
"Unfortunately, we are not party to the negotiations and have no influence over them.
"We've stood down 75 percent of our staff already, we can't be fiddling while Rome burns."
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lol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
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