Ireland’s best players won’t be slow to hit the road if their working conditions and chance of success deteriorate
JUST AFTER the Irish squad for the summer tour was announced I bumped into a rugby mate who was losing patience with our top players and the perceived mollycoddling. Why were the press talking up fatigue and questioning the summer tour? As a pharmacist and former player he “understands” the plight of the modern pro but was not willing to cut them any slack.
He concluded that, like him, they get four weeks’ holidays. And like him, they work six days per week.
But unlike them, he doesn’t fill his prescription bottles out in the muck and rain with Martin Johnson, Laurence Dallaglio, Imanol Harinordoquy, Jamie Heaslip and Davit Zirakashvili running at him.
But my pharmacist friend had a point. This season Brian O’Driscoll will play about 25 matches, Heaslip the same and John Hayes about 22. Not bad considering Shay Given can hit over 50 matches per season.
Closer to our rugby home are the England and France-based players. Lewis Moody is heading towards 40 and William Servat is over 40. Tommy Bowe is our leading light in matches played with 32 by season’s end.
As players are five to nine times more likely to be injured playing a match than at training, the IRFU have managed to keep our best alive and well by restricting games. Allied to this, the Magners League (with top-four format) is manageable for our best provinces while resting key players. The Guinness Premiership and Top 14 are a tad less forgiving.
It is only looking back at the accumulative effect of pro rugby on our elite players over a decade that a true picture of the stress and strain can be analysed. Malcolm O’Kelly will retire this season after 12 international seasons, with touring each summer, world cups and Lions tours. His body is in reasonable shape. John Hayes, our record-holder, has almost never been injured and is still going at 36. Over his career Hayes will have played half the number of games compared to his equivalent in France. How has this been achieved?
There’s no doubt that IRFU medical director Dr Conor McCarthy has got his ducks in a row, with provincial doctors attending regular meetings and forums concerning players and their welfare. Each province has two physios – well, Connacht have one – several masseurs, fitness gurus and ever improving fitness and recovery facilities. Player welfare is based on games played, capped at 30 per season. A tailored, web-based injury monitoring and tracking software system (Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance, Iris) has been developed in consultation with the medical teams. The medical system is far from perfect, but it is a sight better than 10 years ago and certainly light years from the amateur days. All this costs money.
One wonders how much of this is down to the dependable TV money. Clearly this purported €12 million is crucial to supporting players, but it’s hard to know to what extent as no exact annual medical costs appear to exist. Most player welfare is covered by Aviva Healthcare, and external medical costs appear to be covered by Aon. Suffice to say, if 18 per cent is cut from the budget it will have an effect on player welfare, but to what extent is not clear.
All this got me thinking about Minister Eamon Ryan. Forget the possible repercussions on winning trophies and titles: what of player welfare, fatigue and future?
For the players, clearly the Irish jersey is the biggest draw, a point totally understood and at times exploited by the IRFU.
Success is next. Life balance is third and coming very much last is finances, although the tax rebate is ever present in players’ calculations.
According to the IRFU “briefing notes on proposal” to list as free-to-air the Heineken Cup and Six Nations matches, top of the ultimate consequences list is the loss of Irish rugby’s key income generators: its best players. I wonder has Minister Ryan anticipated this and approached Irupa to sound them out? Probably not.
The older elite have come through the amateur days into the professional era. Initially were drawn by far-away hills. Soon they came back. Being at home, fewer matches, more mollycoddling, better access to Irish squads opposed to the bottom line of a sugar daddy wanting his pound of flesh, hail, rain or snow. The package on offer for our leading players is built on the draw of Irish caps, success in the green and the provincial shirts. They have now tasted enormous success in both jerseys, so the IRFU is vulnerable. It is highly unlikely the old stock will move, but the younger breed may be sorely tempted. The IRFU, if eroded, would lose their bargaining chips.
Take Rob Kearney. At 24, he has 23 caps, a Lions tour, a Grand Slam and Heineken Cup under his belt. He is single, footloose and fancy-free. Why would he stay in Ireland? He would be crazy not to use his God-given brilliance to taste the world, learn languages and come back before he’s 30. Success breeds success, but it also ticks boxes and Kearney has ticked them all in his first four professional seasons.
It took Brian O’Driscoll 10 seasons.
Apart from enjoying Dublin and his team-mates, Kearney stays in Ireland because he likes winning. So if Leinster become less competitive with tighter resources, he is a potential for travel. The IRFU recognise the massive threat travel will have to the domestic game and €12 million will have a huge effect.
Irish elite player overheads (salaries) are already being reduced. No such cull exists in Toulon or Toulouse. A loss of €12 million will not just erode playing staff but also the mollycoddling from medics, masseurs and management, and could encourage The Flight of the Wild Geese. Minister Ryan, where will the cracks appear?
By the way, there’s a Heineken Cup final on this weekend. Toulouse Abu!
liamtoland@yahoo.com
