24 March 2023 , 15:07
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Nigel Walker has offered another harrowing insight into Welsh rugby's financial crisis by admitting the current player salaries are "unsustainable."
The careers of many players, including seasoned internationals, remain on the brink with regional teams set to be handed around £10 million less per year from the WRU for the 2023/24 campaign. The crisis is such that the national squad threatened to strike ahead of the home Six Nations clash with England last month, with the game only saved at the 11th hour amid crisis talks.
The controversial 60-cap rule, which from 2017 onwards prevented players from plying their trade abroad and representing Wales unless they'd hit that number of international appearances, has now been reduced to 25. And an exodus is now expected, with some stars reportedly asked to take pay cuts of more than 60 percent to continue at their current region.
Asked about the spending restrictions on his organisation, WRU CEO Walker replied: “Budgets across the whole of the Welsh game are constantly under review. And players may say that they have been put under undue pressure and the burden is on them more than anybody else.
“But as Malcolm Wall, Chair of the Professional Rugby Board said, the salaries currently being paid to professional players are unsustainable. So we need to get in a position where the salaries that we're offering are actually the ones that the market can bear and that's why we're seeing this correction now."
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English rugby has faced its own financial perils, with both Worcester and Wasps entering administration in late 2022. And Walker cited those examples when justifying the low cost cutting approach: “We've seen that correction in England most recently, and because England didn't make the correction soon enough, a couple of their clubs actually went bust. We don't want that position in Wales."
Welsh players threatened to strike before their Six Nations clash with England (Getty Images)Walker, 59, himself won 17 caps for Wales, and took up his current role in January. He replaced Steve Phillips, who resigned amid allegations of misogyny and sexism within the union. The WRU are now waiting for the outcome of an Emergency General Meeting on Sunday, where all clubs in Wales will vote on huge reforms within the organisation.
And Walker also offered another harrowing warning to players, admitting the money simply wasn't there to sustain the current model: “Well, we have one key problem here. The salaries paid to our professional players are higher than the market can bear. That's why the players are feeling the brunt of it now," he added.
“I understand, I was a player once a long time ago. It doesn't matter what profession you are in, if you are told you're going to take a wage cut, it just needs to be justified and the reasons explained why. We've explained the reasons why.”