Time for SANZAR to lead the charge for a global season

Recent test series in the Southern Hemisphere have shown that world rugby could be facing a crisis unless a global season is agreed to.

When Wales announced their team to play two tests in Australia, they were missing up to 18 of their best players. England sent a team which contained many inexperienced players to South Africa, and France sent a mixture of young and veteran players to New Zealand, few of whom will make the World Cup.

The reason for these second-string teams is simple one: money. In the Northern Hemisphere, players are contracted to their clubs, not to the national union, so when there is a clash between club duty and internationals, the clubs tend to win.

France played the All Blacks last weekend, and will play them again this coming weekend as part of their short tour. But something else is being played on those two weekends: the semi-finals and finals of the French club competition. With clubs understandably reluctant to release their best players for these crucial games, the only options left were to cancel the tour or send a sub-standard team. With New Zealand rejecting France’s offer of financial compensation for cancelling the tour, the only remaining choice was to send the under-strength team that is here now.

The same pattern has repeated itself with the Welsh in Australia, and the English in South Africa. And what do the fans get seeing these one sided games? What can players take away from victories against weak opposition or losses against over-powering opponents? The answer, unfortunately, is very little.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has made noises for years about creating a global season, a window during the year when all club rugby with stop to allow internationals to take place. But for years they have seemingly done nothing.  To think FIFA would allow internationals to clash with Champions League semi-finals or finals is utterly laughable, but that is exactly what the IRB has allowed to happen.

Of course the window for a global season has always been a contentious issue, should it be during the Northern Spring and Southern Autumn? Or the Northern Autumn and Southern Spring? But these issues must be worked out if the game is to become truly global.

With the poor showings of their opponents, and the lack of respect shown to them, it is time for the three Southern Hemisphere powers to push for a solution. They are, by no means, without blame themselves as they have also sent under-strength teams on tour , but usually under the guise of “player burnout” rather than scheduling clashes.

If these three powers can get together and agree on what form a global season should take, the IRB will have to give the idea serious consideration. But even without a push from the Southern Hemisphere, the situation needs to be remedied before true test matches become a thing of the past.

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The Time for SANZAR to lead the charge for a global season by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.