Ben Mercer’s thought-provoking new book offers an insight into the life of an itinerant rugby union player, a lifestyle likely to become a thing of the past
If the penny is not already dropping for the majority of English rugby’s professional rugby players it soon will. When the sport does finally resume there will be tighter budgets, fewer alternative boltholes for those out of contract and, in the worst-case scenario, a rise in insolvent clubs. Aside from a lucky few, rugby’s age of austerity is about to kick off in earnest.
The repercussions are starting to lap at the feet of Premiership players during the current lockdown and things will become significantly worse should the next Premiership TV deal involve less money and the RFU’s central funding decrease. What will that mean for squad sizes, reserve teams and academies? And if that is not enough to make all involved feel queasy, where does that leave those already struggling to scrape a living at Championship clubs?
There is already a broader trend emerging. Squeezed between the top-end players and the legions of young hopefuls on tiny wages are hundreds of middle-ranking pros, once the bedrock of every club. Suddenly, if it boils down to a choice between a Premiership club renewing the contract of a 29-year-old on, say, £120,000 or signing an academy graduate on £12,000, harsh economic truths are coming into play.
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