THE home based players in the Ireland squad next season are being given every incentive by the IRFU not to move to English clubs they are being offered £25,000 basic squad membership fees. They will also be supplied with a car.
Senior team members stand to make as much as £50,000 a man. With some, at least, of the players also likely to hang on to their jobs, they will be in the big league of earners in this country.
With Ireland due to play at least six internationals next season, and probably seven, those who get in the team will receive £3,000 per match in addition to the basic £25,000, so an extra £21,000. And there is also the incentive of a £1,000 a match win bonus, not to mention more money through promotional activities.
The England based players will get the £3,000 match fees, but there is a sticking point in the negotiations about what basic squad membership fee they will get. A figure of around £7,500 has been hinted at.
That would mean they will get in excess of £25,000 from their Irish involvement - if in the team. In addition, they will have their club contracts, and some of those are worth £50,000 per annum. Some of the England based players stand to earn over £80,000 directly from the game. That is very big money, even by today's standards.
But even those in the national squad who do not make the Ireland senior side can still earn extra money through appearances on the Ireland A team. There is every indication now, too, that some clubs here are going to pay players officially, as a few have been doing unofficially this season.
As negotiations continue between the IRFU contracts subcommittee and the players' representatives - the committee will meet tomorrow night to review the situation - one of the outstanding issues is the remuneration the England based players will get in addition to their match fees.
Bearing in mind the money now on offer and the earning capacity from the game, players must not allow greed to cloud their judgment. There will be little sympathy for such activity, and the IRFU's basic principle on this matter is they want to keep as many players as possible at home. That is the priority and the union is giving those players every incentive to do so.
There will also be increases for interprovincial players. Last season the players got £400 for each interprovincial championship match. This is being increased to £550 per match. The European Cup fees for each group match and quarter final will be increased to £700, the semi final will be worth £850, with a proportionate increase to about £1,000 for the final.
Some young men in Irish rugby stand to earn a very great deal of money next season. They should bear in mind that the IRFU has considerable responsibility to all strands of the game, not just to the representative players.
The fitness of the Ireland squad next season will be in the hands of an Englishman, Andy Clark, a man with an impressive CV. Clark takes over from Giles Warrington, who is not in a position to give the necessary time to a task that will be more demanding and time consuming, and one put as a high priority by the Irish management.
Clark will have his first encounter with the squad next Saturday when some of them will face a fitness test. The squad has not yet been finalised, as elements of the contracts issue are still outstanding.
The Ireland manager, Pat Whelan, said yesterday: "In the circumstances I do not want to announce the names of players who will be fitness tested. As soon as the contracts are finalised, the names of the squad and the contracted players will be announced.
"I think it would be unfair in the circumstances to announce names at this stage and possibly increase the level of some players expectations, or indeed be disappointing for some who will not be present next weekend."
Some members of the current squad will, in any case, be missing next weekend because of involvement in a sevens tournament.
The announcement of the squad should be made before a fitness session that is being planned for the second weekend in June.
Clark went to rugby union from rugby league. He has been working with the Orrell club in Lancashire and the North of England District team, and he has also had an input into the fitness programme for the English national teams. He has worked with several of the English league soccer clubs as well.
Simon Geoghegan yesterday underwent operations on his two big toes. Geoghegan has had considerable problems in this area and medical opinion is that the operations will not alone put the matter right, but also clear up other fitness difficulties which were a direct result of the problems he had with his toes.
As outlined here a few weeks ago, Leinster will undertake a two match tour in Italy in preparation for the Interprovincial Championship and European Cup. Leinster will play Benetton on September 1st in Treviso, and meet the Italian Zebras in Genoa on September 7th. Prior to that tour, Leinster will play Sale in Chesire on August 24th and meet Spain at Donnybrook on September 14th.
Ireland send a sevens squad to the Benidorm tournament next weekend, and the following week, the Ireland sevens squad will be involved in the World Sevens qualifying tournament in Lisbon. The squad for the world qualifying tournament will not be announced until early next week.
Those chosen to go to Benidorm are: Ben Cronin, Eric Miller, Denis McBride, Paddy Johns, Chris Saverimutto, Niall Malone, David Humphreys, Darragh O'Mahony, Brian Walsh and Richard Wallace.
It is unlikely that Humphreys will travel because of a neck injury sustained in last weekend's match with the Barbarians.
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