Corona and Sports
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But a few days later:
Row over 25% Premiership wage cut intensifies but Eddie Jones accepts drop
Premiership players have been given legal advice on how to challenge the blanket 25% pay cuts imposed by the clubs as domestic rugby’s row over wage reductions intensified on Thursday.
In the Championship, Newcastle Falcons have been plunged into turmoil with their players expected to reject their proposed swingeing pay cuts. In the Premiership the Guardian also understands the entire Leicester Tigers squad is strongly considering rejecting the 25% reduction after the Rugby Players’ Association provided legal guidance to its 700+ members.
Newcastle, currently top of the Championship but still unsure if they will be promoted next season, on Thursday asked all their players and staff to agree to be put on furlough – unpaid leave save for the £2,500 a month available as part of the government’s bailout – and a deadline of midday on Friday to respond.
It is understood the squad was then offered wage top-ups meaning those earning over £75,000 a year would receive 50% of their wages while those on £37,500 to £75,000 would get the equivalent of £37,500. It is believed that without further improvements it will be rejected however, potentially leaving the Falcons in considerable financial strife after the RFU announced last week that all of this season’s competitions below the Premiership would be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter sent by the Newcastle director of rugby, Dean Richards, and seen by the Guardian, staff are told they are expected to agree to the measures and warned that redundancies may be necessary if they do not.
In the Premiership meanwhile, an increasing number of players are set to challenge the 25% cuts imposed across the league. As reported by the Guardian, there is growing unrest, particularly among players whose contracts expire over the summer, and a sense of dismay that individual circumstances and varying salaries were not being taken into account.
Meanwhile, Eddie Jones has agreed a pay cut in excess of 25% to his £750,000 salary, after the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, revealed he and the rest of the union’s five-strong executive team would be doing so.
Jones, who is currently in Japan, immediately agreed to the cut – which amounts to more than £187,500 a year – with the RFU estimating it will lose up to £50m in the next 18 months
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This is a great idea!
Love that the will to dominate is still there for DC.
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Just quietly I would watch the fuck out of DC doing a lot of things
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How fucking shithouse are Sunday mornings without sports news?
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Now all i have is the hangover
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@mariner4life said in Corona and Sports:
How fucking shithouse are Sunday mornings without sports news?
I didn't even realise it was Sunday
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@voodoo said in Corona and Sports:
@mariner4life said in Corona and Sports:
How fucking shithouse are Sunday mornings without sports news?
I didn't even realise it was Sunday
Every day is Sunday.
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Premiership clubs seek state help to bail them out as coronavirus casts dark financial shadow over rugby
Headline sounds more sensational than it is. By "state help to bail them out" I think that just means some clubs are opting to furlough players -
Players and staff will be paid 75 per cent of their full wages, as indicated last week, but via the furlough scheme clubs will be able to claim back £2,500 per month per individual from the state.
I was ready to be outraged when I clicked on the link - thinking how dare the unsustainable major price setters should be going cap in hand.
Interesting unintended consequence:
Being furloughed, though, means players cannot work — a grey area for professionals who are trying to keep fit.
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More info
Premiership rugby clubs are to receive a multi-million pound coronavirus bailout from the Government after opting to put their players on sabbatical during the crisis, The Telegraph can reveal.
County cricket clubs are also discussing following suit after being told doing so would also allow them to access funds made available under the coronavirus job retention scheme announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak just over a week ago.
Some lower league football clubs have already placed their players on what is being called ‘furlough’ – which will see the Government pay 80 per cent of their wages up to a maximum of £2,500 a month – with others expected to follow after the Treasury confirmed salaried athletes were eligible under the scheme....
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CVC seeing an opportunity for getting its sticky fingers into the NRL now.
British private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is believed to be one of the firms to have had informal discussions about a $100 million loan facility to help NRL clubs stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources told The Australian Financial Review a deal was being brokered by the Melbourne Storm's largest shareholder and departing chairman Bart Campbell, who has a range of connections in capital markets and sport having taken on several executive roles out of London in the early 2000s.
CVC is believed to be one of the firms looking at extending credit. News Corp's The Sunday Telegraph reported on the weekend that an English buyout firm was looking at providing finance for the NRL.
Sources said the Australian Rugby League Commission were going through a range of loan facility options, which would likely be secured against broadcast rights fees when the sport returns.
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@Rapido said in Corona and Sports:
CVC seeing an opportunity for getting its sticky fingers into the NRL now.
I hate private equity firms in principle.
NRL: don't do it. For god's sake, don't do it. You'd be better of failing, forgiving debts and obligations and restarting from the ground up than having filthy financiers in contorl of your operation
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@nzzp said in Corona and Sports:
@Rapido said in Corona and Sports:
CVC seeing an opportunity for getting its sticky fingers into the NRL now.
I hate private equity firms in principle.
NRL: don't do it. For god's sake, don't do it. You'd be better of failing, forgiving debts and obligations and restarting from the ground up than having filthy financiers in contorl of your operation
The sport would yes. They are almost an island to themselves without competition.
But human nature says the vested interests (players and administrators) will want to take an option that keeps the pumped-up unsustainable juggernaut going for as long as possible.
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@Rapido said in Corona and Sports:
CVC seeing an opportunity for getting its sticky fingers into the NRL now.
Nothing good would come out of that. It's already a game fashioned for TV spectacle.
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my life feels devoid of meaning...
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It appears Australia is planning to live with the disease rather than eradicate it. And if New Zealand does achieve eradication, that is likely to be a major impediment to normal relations between the two countries for a very long time.
^ that section in turn used this as its refernce: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-07/coronavirus-government-covid19-modelling-experts-on-repsonse/12128950
If this were to come to pass. It would have huge impacts on Super Rugby, and the Warriors, until/if a vaccine is discovered or the virus were to peter out a-la SARS.