As Wales players grapple with devastating financial news, former England star Matt Dawson has urged rugby bosses to emulate the controversial LIV Golf series with ‘fractious and innovative’ ideas to grow the game.
Dawson has highlighted the Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the Indian Premier League in cricket – which have divided but also developed both sports – as potentially lucrative business models for rugby bosses to follow.
This, as WalesOnline reports that a dozen Welsh rugby players currently earning up to £250,000 (R5.5 million) a year have been told the most they can be offered next season is £30,000 (R662 250).
It comes after a week of turmoil in Welsh rugby when players threatened to strike and cancel their Six Nations match against England on Saturday.
The latest news leaves their futures in jeopardy and highlights the dire financial situation facing rugby in Wales, even after strike action was averted.
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WalesOnline understands that as many as 12 international and experienced players at Cardiff were told last Thursday there wasn’t enough money to pay them what they are currently earning.
In his column for BBC Sport, Dawson says that the mayhem surrounding Wales shows that rugby union hasn’t moved on since turning professional in 1995 and a new approach is now needed.
“I think we can compare it with the Premier League, which started in 1992. With the Premier League, football looked to the future,” he writes.
“Then you look at cricket. Things are not perfect in cricket and there have been some massive sacrifices. Everyone hated the Indian Premier League initially but now it is an integral part of the calendar. The players want to play in it and the fans want to see it.
“It will be the same with LIV Golf. There is so much furore around that breakaway competition at the moment, but at some stage it is all going to come together and move golf to a completely different level. You need that fractious and innovative thinking. It will upset people along the way but it is for the good of the sport.
“Rugby has needed that for many years and it has some big calls to make now.”
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