by It has been locked away in a safe deposit box for nearly 30 years but the original player contract for the ‘World Rugby Corporation’, the £200 million rebel rugby circus backed by Kerry Packer who threatened to set up a broken global franchise in 1995, is now available. revealed for the first time.
The document, which is still in disrepair, serves as a stark – and fascinating – reminder of the ‘rugby war’ that could end 120 years of Test rugby.
And, according to the owner, former England lock and British and Irish Lions Martin Bayfield, a moment of missed opportunity for the Rugby Football Union, the consequences of which are still felt today, with the union about to offer new hybrid contracts to . gain better control over their players.
The battle for rugby’s future has been fought mainly in the southern hemisphere as it enters professionalism against the backdrop of the 1995 World Cup in South Africa when media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Packer went head-to-head in a race to broadcast ensure rights that would quickly end the amateur game.
Murdoch appeared to have landed the decisive blow when it was announced on the eve of the World Cup final between the Springboks and New Zealand that US$550 million had been agreed by the three main southern hemisphere unions – South Africa, the New Zealand and Australia. deal with his organization News Corp.
The 10-year deal gave News Corp exclusive television rights to the new annual Tri Nations international, the Super 12 club competition and all incoming Test tours to the three countries.
But News Corp, and indeed the unions, did not know at the time that the leading players in each of the three countries had already been secretly contacted by representatives of the World Rugby Corporation (WRC), which was ahead. by former Wallaby tapper Ross Turnbull and later supported by Packer.
Around 400 players, including the majority of the squad in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, had signed temporary contracts after the WRC contacted their respective captains, Sean Fitzpatrick, Phil Kearns and Francois Pienaar.
Murdoch-backed unions would ultimately prevail after the Springboks squad’s support for the WRC collapsed under pressure from controversial South African Rugby Union president Louis Luyt.
Although those machinations between players, unions and broadcasters have since been well documented, what is less well known is how close the England team was at the time to signing up for the WRC – and turning their back of the Rugby Football Union.
The contract offered to the England players was just as lucrative as that of their southern hemisphere rivals, and the 24-page document, entitled the ‘Deed for the Provision of Services’, began an offer of £200,000 in wages in face of the season, starting. on December 15, 1995, plus a match fee of £1,350 per match.
The wide-ranging document, which was marked by Turnbull Hill Partners, a firm of solicitors based in Charlestown Mall in New South Wales, Australia, covered every aspect of a player’s life in the new global league which proposed to include 30 franchises. of the globe to begin in September 1996.
“The Corporation intends to establish a world organization for professional Rugby commencing in 1996,” the contract states, although at that time the game had not been declared ‘open’ by the International Rugby Board, the world game’s governing body. is now known. World Rugby.
“The Corporation wishes to engage the services of the Player to play Rugby for the Corporation on the terms and conditions set out in this Deed.”
The contract was considered secret, not only the amount of money on offer but also the existence of the deed itself, which at the time was seen as crucial to the success of signing the world’s best players without their knowledge. their respective unions in the southern hemisphere, who separately agreed the deal with News Corp.
The players who receive the contract offer, however, would be in no doubt about the implications of signing it, effectively turning their backs on the unions and controlling future competitions for the ‘Corporation’, including amendments to the law and. discipline.
What is less clear, however, is where the players would be playing this new professional game, but that they would be allocated a ‘region’ – a territory designated by the WRC on or before December 31, 1995.
“Where the Corporation exercises its rights to relocate the Player, and the Corporation has notified the player two months in advance of its intention to exercise that right, the Player may, if he does not wish play in the team nominated by the Corporation. The Corporation may have a period of one month to negotiate with other teams in order to locate a selected team to accept the Player,” the contract states.
“The player must make himself available for selection by the Corporation or any affiliated body and, if selected, will train and play on any representative Team playing the Game and, in any Competition, conducted by the Corporation in any country.”
It was made clear that players would not be able to play for any other team after the start of the contract, which would mean that players such as Bayfield would have to turn their backs on England.
However, the level of support promised is noteworthy, including “all direct costs incurred by the player in the performance of his duties under this Act” including clothing, participation in publicity, strapping and equipment, travel to games, lodging and food, comprehensive health insurance and disability insurance that would pay 100 percent of the first year of the contract, and 50 percent of years two and three if the player was unable to play due to injury.
He even had the foresight to acknowledge the importance of salary caps, suggesting that the corporation could introduce them for the good of the game and the “viability of teams and competitions”.
Given the decades-old battles to align the hemispheres and resolve the conflicts between club and country born in those volatile days, what also stands out is the simplicity of the contract try to bring to the game that would immediately be known as ‘rugby. or rugby union’.
“Games will be arranged, as far as possible, to take place mainly between September and April each year, however, the Corporation reserves the right to introduce a summer competition at any time or from time to time,” says he.
It is unclear whether the WRC plans to recreate a summer tournament to replace the Lions tours, but significantly Bayfield, a veteran of the 1993 tour to New Zealand, insists England’s players were on edge in the turbulent days that followed. World Cup 1995. towards the signing even if it meant they might not play at Twickenham again.
Although the major negotiations involving the southern hemisphere players took place in five-star hotels in Sydney, Johannesburg and Auckland, Bayfield reveals that one of the crunch meetings involving the England players took place in the Holiday Inn setting at Crick off. the M1.
“When we came back from the World Cup, East Midlands boys from Northampton and Leicester including Dean Richards and Tim Rodber met up in that lovely environment off junction 18 and talked about the options, ” Bayfield told Telegraph Sport.
“I wondered how a game that was amateur from the day William Webb Ellis was a naughty boy and picked up the ball could go professional overnight and how the administrators, who were amateurs, could be suddenly become professional administrators.
‘I was earning £28,000 as a constable with Bedford Police’
“But suddenly we had contracts in front of us. They were putting teams together, and you could be put somewhere where you might need a country, for example Australia or America. I think we were all happy to sign because the figures and the numbers were good,” said Bayfield, who at the time was earning around £28,000 as a constable with Bedford Police.
“It was a great time for the players. We were asked to make a big decision. And we were like those vultures in the movie Jungle Book asking each other: “What do you think? I do not know? What do you think? I do not know. But we liked the look of the numbers.
“But I’m a skeptical policeman, I remember thinking I’ll only sign this when I know it’s going to happen. That’s why I put it in my safe, and that’s why you haven’t got it.”
Bayfield says that it was not until the South African players appeared to be pulled out of the WRC that the concept dropped, and while the RFU dithered, imposing a moratorium on professionalism for a year, the club owners in England , moved to sign up the best. players and took control.
“From that moment the seeds of what we’re reaping now were planted, without a doubt,” added Bayfield, who kept the contract as he called it a “piece of history,” like old shirts and game boards.
“It’s a historic document about the evolution of rugby,” Bayfield added. “The RFU are trying to get these core contracts now, but at the time, if they turned around to the top 100 players in England and said we’ll pay £150,000, £100,000 and £75,000 on a sliding scale with you, we would. they are all signed and the RFU could then lease those players back to the clubs and we are off. There would be none of the negotiations between club and country that we are doing now.”
