Salary Cap Changes To Benefit Aviva Premiership

Friday 3 June 2011

You may or may not have heard last week that from the start of the 2012-13 season, England's Premiership clubs will be able to exclude one player from their salary cap, giving them the chance to bring in some world-class players.

For many years now the big sides from France and Ireland have been competing to secure the services of marquee players, but now this raise will finally help English sides bring in players of the stature of Dan Carter.

Carter is highly regarded as one of the best players of the modern day and Bath tried to sign him earlier this season, but were limited because of the salary cap. The 29-year-old eventually signed a new four-year deal with the New Zealand Rugby Union, much to the frustration of the Bath faithful.

In 2012-13 the salary cap will now rise from £4m to £4.26m, which will help the way for some big name signings. Also with the introduction of academy credits, the cap could easily rise to a maximum of £4.5m. Players from abroad will qualify, as will players who have emerged from the academy and have gone on to gain International experience.

But this does not mean that clubs can sign a leading English player form another Premiership club and then nominate that player to be paid outside the cap. There would have to be a minimum qualification period first.

This change should make the Premiership even more exciting as attracting some of the best players from around the world is a positive step. The last few years in the Premiership we have seen the odd big-name import, but now there should be even more as the French will face strong competition.

"Based on our collective financial strategy and the continued commitment to developing English players, we have been able to make changes to the salary cap through until 2015, said Mark McCafferty, Premiership Rugby's chief executive. "We believe this will further strengthen the playing and commercial success of the competition.

This measure should be a welcome move to the English game, as it will be promoting the use of English talent whilst also offering some of the best rubgy players on the planet. When the 2012-13 season comes, we may well be seeing players such as Richie McCaw, Bryan Habana and Brian O'Driscoll all competing, and this can only be a good thing.