A Sports Law Rugby Blog
Last week, the news broke that rugby union may be the next sport to experience the disruption of a breakaway league. Reports suggest that plans are afoot for a new global franchise competition akin to the Indian Premier League, Formula…
1. Introduction Since 2012, the Rugby Football Union (“RFU”) has operated a policy under which players playing for clubs outside of England cannot be selected to play for the England national team, save in exceptional circumstances (the “Policy”). It is…
On 1 March 2022, the RFU announced that no Championship club had met the Minimum Standards Criteria for entry to the Premiership ahead of the 2022/23 season. As such, the winner of the Championship this year will not be promoted…
Premiership clubs (the “Clubs”) are reportedly in a dispute with agents over the payment of agents’ fees. Traditionally, these have always been paid by the Clubs on behalf of players but, in June this year, the Clubs agreed to end…
On Friday 12 February, the RFU Council approved a moratorium on relegation from rugby’s Premiership for the 2020-21 season. Citing the impact of COVID-19, the decision has been taken with the financial stability of the Premiership clubs in mind, with…
On 11 September, The Times reported that the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (“LNR”) had “filed a legal case” with the European Commission challenging World Rugby’s Regulation 9 on player release. According to the report, the LNR is “seeking to strip…
This week, it has been announced that Premiership clubs have voted unanimously in favour of lowering the level of the Premiership Rugby salary cap from the start of the 2021/2022 season. It has also been reported that Premiership Rugby (“PRL”)…
This is Part 2 of my review of the Myners Review. On 14 May 2020, Premiership Rugby published the report of the independent review of the Premiership Rugby Salary Cap Regulations (the “Regulations”), conducted by Lord Myners. Publication of the…
The judgment is public – at last. Almost three months after Saracens Rugby Club (“Saracens”) were punished for breaching the Premiership Rugby Salary Cap Regulations (the “Regulations”), Premiership Rugby (“PRL”) has released the full written decision (the “Decision”) of the…
This season has not been particularly kind to Wasps, so far. Christian Wade left for the NFL (discussed here) in October, significant financial losses were reported in November, transfer rumours are circulating about many of their key players, they have…
