I read today the owner of the Toulon Rugby Club, Mourad Boudjellal, is taking the IRB to court seeking compensation for his players playing international rugby. He says the IRB is abusing it’s power and that he is effectively paying for the international game for players like Bryan Habana. He is taking the IRB to court to test the waters and says he has the support of the English clubs who are facing their own struggle with the international game and have targeted next year’s World Cup as a prime example of how the clubs are hard done by.
What a crock of monkey shit!
If this dickhead (you might have guessed, dickhead is a favourite put down) is successful it will set a dangerous precedent for the international game. It has less impact here in New Zealand immediately because the All Blacks don’t choose overseas players, but how long before Super 546 teams are dictating the terms of what players can and can’t play.
It occurred to me that these professional players have agents and presumably the likes of Mourad have lawyers and the contracts negotiated would have provision for playing internationals. Perhaps not. This sort of carry on, although understandable from the clubs point of view, will be to the detriment of the international game. If Mourad and his alleged supporters had the game’s interests at heart (clearly not)this wouldn’t be an issue. To represent one’s country should be the absolute pinnacle of playing rugby and should therefore take priority over the club competition no matter where that competition is. A change to this would be an absolute travesty.
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