A Salary Cap reform project makes the players’ union jump. Provale brandished the threat of a strike upon resumption of the championship.
French rugby on the verge of tension. This Wednesday, July 9, the General Assembly of the National Rugby League (LNR) and the presidents of the Top 14 clubs and Pro D2 must confirm a key reform: a new scale of sanctions in the event of exceeding the Salary Cap, the maximum wage bill authorized by club.
The objective is clear: to avoid new slippages as in the Jaminet case, which rocked the Toulouse stadium this season. Carried by the new management of the League, led by Yann Roubert, the measure is generally consensus among the leaders, but already arouses strong tensions elsewhere.
The main point of friction? The Union of Professional Players, Proval. According to
Olympic MidiIts president, Malik Hamadache, even plans a call to strike when the championship resumes if the reform is adopted as it is. A showdown seems to be looming.
A privacy damage
In question, the obligation for players to transmit all the supporting documents for their income related to rugby. The Salary Cap Manager could thus control not only their contractual salary, but also any peripheral remuneration, deemed suspicious or bypassing the authorized ceiling.
Provale sees it as an attack on the privacy of the players, denouncing an intrusive device. For the union, these new obligations may weaken confidence between players and bodies, in the name of transparency deemed excessive.
This reform project goes even further: clubs taken on fault could now lose up to 15 points in the standings. It could well trigger a crisis at the dawn of a new season.
