: Tue May 12, 2009 2:19 pm
I have had a couple of PM’s on salary cap so would comment as below for all-
The "salary cap" is related to how much the club pays its players as rules are clear as to what is allowable and what is not.
Clearly however, the Income any individual player may get can come from both his payments from the club and any other income he may derive from other areas. (as an extreme example if a player won the lottery it would not count towards the salary cap), an example often quoted is "image rights" where a player may be paid to allow his photo to be sold by the club.
The RFL attempt to ensure that Clubs do not breach the rules by finding “back door” ways of players gaining other income related to their playing the game. Whilst a director of HRLFC we had a number of reviews/audits by the RFL that confirmed we were not cheating, as I am sure did/do others.
For Example - in the unlikely circumstances of a director of a club making a cash payment to a player in the event the team won a game or series of games this would need to be declared on the salary cap (and the players tax return). Otherwise the player and the club would be in breach of the rules – and the tax man would come.
For example - In the circumstances that the wife or partner of a player was given a job by, say, a club director this would not be covered by the salary cap as it would clearly be related to the quality of the individual and have no relationship to the playing of rugby.
It is clear that as long as
all Players and Clubs continue to maintain the high standards (as exemplified by our MP’s) there will continue to be no issues of clubs breaching salary caps, players getting untaxed income or related parties gaining inappropriate jobs.
I believe the cap should be abolished
hope that helps.
