The French Clubs, Money bags!!

The French clubs have ruled the money in the game for the past 15 years or so. It started with Toulouse and their partnership with Peugeot and has gone from strength to strength with the advent of the professional game. Clermont Auvergne are backed by the Michelin family and Michelin tyre company. Clermont of course have been rebranded from Clermonferrand to  Clermont Auvergne, this has been done to make the most out of the commercial side of the game.While this is not a bad thing it does nothing for a game that has done well to stay true to it amateur values for as long as it has.

How long more will the IRFU have control of the Provinces if something isn’t done to at least control the spending power of the French clubs in France by the French Rugby Federation. They have said that their hands are tied and that while the clubs are in private ownership the owners can do as they please.

 Toulon owner Mourad Boudjjelal  has stated quite openly that he is not in the business of keeping the French rugby team going but his only concern is Toulon. That is great to hear if you are a Toulon supporter but not if you are a French rugby supporter. In Ireland at the moment they have it down to a fine art keeping the provinces going and having success at International level. They don’t just keep it going they compete at both domestic and european level. The biggest question facing European rugby at the moment is, will the French just get stronger and leave the rest a long way behind or can all the other nations get back onto a level playing field.

Money does speak all languages and for that reason it is not surprising to see the SRU taking money from BT Sport in exchange for the renaming of Murrayfield as BT Murrayfield. The IRFU has done this in the past also renaming Lansdowne Road as The Aviva Stadium. Now while a cash injection like that isn’t the worst thing in the world in my opinion you are going down a slippery slope to a point where the IRFU will have no choice but to let private investment in just to keep the Provinces going.

 I am not against that idea fair from it , I just feel that the player pool in this country is so small that we need to cultivate from within our academy’s and the cheque book should only be used sparingly to bring in a top quality recruit like Elsom or Howlett as both Leinster and Munster did to help them in their quest for European glory.

 Ulster have done the same with both Pienaar and Muller being brought in. Connacht have brought Bundee Aki in for the next three years to add to ex Chiefs skipper Craig Clarke so they are now doing what all the other teams have done for years and bringing in that extra bit of quality to supplement their home grown talent. They along with the other three Provinces seem in my opinion to have struck the right balance to give home grown talent the opportunity to flourish.

Having watched the Ireland and French under 20s earlier today , it was interesting to hear that many of the French players are with sides in Pro 2. Whereas Ireland ‘s players are with AIL clubs along with their provincial commitments , I would much rather be a Irish player than a French player because the Irish player will have a better chance of making it than the French because there route to the first would be blocked by Foreign recruits.

So in this instance , I am not saying that outside investment would be a bad thing but it would still need the IRFU to control the contract situation.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

02/06/2014.