R360: The players face the ban on testing rugby if they join Breakaway League while the main nations publish a joint declaration | Rugby Union News
Eight of the main rugby unions have published a shared declaration in which they indicate that any player who joins the rebel circuit R360 will be prohibited to play for their country.
England, Ireland, France, Scotland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia have joined forces to clarify anyone who participates in the proposed Rugby Union tournament will not be able to play test rugby.
Wales and Argentina are the only level 1 nations which are not included in the declaration.
“As a group of rugby national unions, we urge extreme caution for players and support staff, planning to join the proposed R360 competition,” the statement said.
“Each of the national unions will therefore advise the male and female players that the participation in R360 would make them inadmissible in the international selection.”
What is R360 and what are his criticisms say?
The new competition was developed by a group including the winner of England of the Rugby World Cup in 2003, Mike Tindall.
The R360 has been nicknamed a concept of division by criticism because it wants to try to direct the players of their current clubs in a new franchise league, made up of 12 teams based in the big cities of the world.
The criticisms also indicated a lack of details on the key elements of the competition, including the well-being of the players and its match calendar, and the fact that it was not ratified by world rugby.
Tindall would have informed the players last week that the funding had been obtained, but without disclosing the names of the donors of R360.
The funding of R360 was organized by Oakvale Capital, an advisor specializing in finance of sports and playing business.
Full R360 Multi-Union Declaration
“As a group of national rugby unions, we urge extreme caution for players and support staff, planning to join the proposed R360 competition.
“We all welcome new investments and innovation in rugby; And support ideas that can help game evolve and reach new audiences; But any new competition must strengthen sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it.
“Among our roles as national unions, we must have a broader vision of new proposals and assess their impact on a range of fields, especially if they add to the global rugby ecosystem, for which we are all responsible, or if they are negative clear to the game.
“R360 has given us no indication of how he plans to manage players’ well-being; how would players realize their aspirations to represent their country and how competition would coexist with international and domestic calendars so minutely negotiated in recent years for male and female games.
“The R360 model, as indicated publicly, seems rather designed to generate profits and make them in a very small elite, possibly digging the investment that national unions and existing leagues do in community rugby, the development of players and the ways of participation.
“International rugby and our main competitions remain the financial and cultural engine which supports all levels of the game – from the participation of the base to the performance of the elites. Dading this ecosystem could be extremely harmful to the health of our sport.
“These are all problems that would have been much better discussed in collaboration, but those behind the proposed competition have not engaged or encountered all the unions to explain and better understand their business and their operating model.
“Each of the national unions will therefore advise the male and female players that the participation in R360 would make them inadmissible in the international selection.”
