Leading players campaigning for fewer matches and shorter seasons have been warned by a top Premiership coach to wake up to the economic realities of their profession. Exeter’s Rob Baxter, believes the club game is not yet financially stable enough to justify a reduction in players’ workloads and says jobs could be lost if the sport does not adjust its mind-set.
“We need to be careful in rugby not to become turkeys voting for Christmas,” said Baxter, whose Chiefs squad are vying to reach the Premiership final for the second successive year. “Premiership rugby is not some business that is making millions. The players aren’t being exploited because no one’s making any money out of it.
“If there were loads of club owners walking away with millions of pounds at the end of each season, you’d be saying: ‘Why are we trying to put in more fixtures?’ The truth is that most Premiership rugby clubs are haemorrhaging money. Player welfare is important but you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. There’s no point talking about the welfare of players who might not be professional players in two years because they’re at a club that goes bankrupt.”
Premiership Rugby has recently announced plans to extend the domestic season until the end of June from 2020, prompting criticism from members of the Rugby Players’ Association and some coaches. Baxter, though, believes players should pay more heed to the world around them: “It’s very easy to say we shouldn’t play more than 25 games a season and we need a minimum eight-week off season to get players fit and strong. That’s great, but what are we getting them fit and strong for if Premiership clubs start going bust? Some of the comments made by players about player welfare need to be more thought through.
“Rugby clubs are businesses and you need to try and find a way to make a profit. At the moment we’re not doing that. What seems to be attracting TV and people through the gate is games of rugby.
No one wants to play every week of the year but if the season extends you’ll find players migrating to clubs where they are well-looked after. The clubs who don’t look after their players will get a bad reputation which will hurt them in all kinds of ways. I think that’s the only grown-up way of looking at it.”
Second-placed Exeter, meanwhile, are preparing for Saturday’s penultimate league game with Northampton at Sandy Park convinced they can go on to win the Premiership title. “When you lose a Premiership final by eight points there’s only one real target you can set yourself and that’s to win the thing,” Baxter added. “It’s something we now actively talk about wanting to achieve and we probably haven’t talked like that before.”
