Why Wood can only see the trees

Shortly after the second Test against South Africa Keith Wood approached Warren Gatland, acknowledged that he hadn't had a very good game and implored the Irish coach to pick him when the Springboks paid a return visit to Lansdowne Road on November 28th. That was one game he didn't want to miss and he promised he would do better.

At the post-match players' function, Gary Teichmann, the South African captain, motioned towards the Irish players from the platform and concluded his speech by saying how much the Springboks were looking forward to that November return game. "So are we," shouted you-know-who from the floor.

Wood then led the entire Irish party onto the podium as they all linked hands and Wood was lead vocalist for a defiant version of From Clare to Here.

Now Wood will not be part of the rematch, and it's a sorry - nay, faintly ludicrous - day indeed when a player such as Keith Wood effectively debars himself from selection for the Irish team over one clause in an IRFU contract which 86 other players have signed.

It's not as if Ireland are over-endowed with world-class players, and Wood is one of the few who would currently enter consideration for a world XV. Coming on the heels of the `drugs' fiasco, and in an otherwise astonishingly positive weekend for Irish sport (Irvine, Jordan, Clarke, McKiernan, McCullough, Ingle - the Paddies seemed to be taking over the world) Irish rugby seems to be stuck in some kind of bad soap opera - and it's more a case of Casualty than Cheers.

Certainly, on a purely human level, it's hard not to have some sympathy for Wood. One presumes this decision did not come easily for him and you believe him when he says he didn't sleep on Thursday and Friday night for the tossing and turning. "It's not a nice situation," he said.

Even on a a purely contractual basis one can understand where he's coming from. Basically, Wood objects to signing over what are called his "intellectual rights", whereby any of the five main IRFU sponsors (Irish Permanent, Nike, Lloyds TSB, Guinness and Ford) can use Wood's image without seeking agreement from him or offering him separate financial remuneration.

Furthermore, under the terms of his contract, Wood is not entitled to explore separate commercial and financial possibilities without the IRFU's express approval.

It seems a little unfair in this professional era and especially in a World Cup year that Wood, or any other Irish player, cannot have a clause in his contract which allows him to explore these possibilities once they are not in conflict with the aforementioned five main sponsors.

That there isn't - nor as things stand is there even a World Cup bonus scheme built into these contracts - smacks a little of a residual reluctance on the part of the union to let the players out of their control. It was the failure to explore these individual commercial possibilities which, I believe, has prompted Kevin Moran's sports agency, ProActive, to cease representing Irish rugby players.

While it is true to say that 86 other players have signed IRFU contracts (leaving Wood in not so splendid isolation) for the vast majority of the rest a player's "intellectual rights" aren't an issue because they'll never become an issue. Wood, by comparison, is one of the few Irish players with a profile which the five main IRFU sponsors and any other corporate entity would want to use.

Presumably the likes of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin can sign a sponsorship deal without the approval of the FAI. In a professional age, that's how it should be. The counter-argument is that the union could be flexible if approached by Wood regarding some individual deal, but he wants that established as his right. And for the life of me, I can't see why that isn't written into his or anybody else's contract, with agreed stipulations that satisfy both parties.

It's also worth noting that Wood, along with the other three Irish Lions, were paid individually last year for the IRFU's billboard campaign and that, therefore, a precedent has been set.

It's a highly principled/selfish (dilute to taste) stance. He accepts the irony of the situation that it will almost certainly cost him money (an estimated £13,500 this month alone in training fees, match fees and win bonuses, and probably in excess of £30,000-plus this season alone).

Another irony is that if Wood effectively excludes himself up and through the World Cup then his commercial value will rapidly diminish. The Lions tour is already history and it is a player's international profile, not his club profile, which establishes his market value (as the recent case of Eric Miller underlined).

However, as an increasingly fed up Donal Lenihan pointed out yesterday, the fact that 86 other players have signed IRFU contracts rather counts against Wood. After all, the Irish management are trying to foster a desire to play for their country which Wood does not appear to share. Also, as an equally disappointed Warren Gatland pointed out, the Irish coach's contract is no different and so, when he is invited to give a so-called business breakfast briefing, he too must seek agreement from the IRFU.

As it is, Wood was again given verbal assurances by the IRFU and Donal Lenihan that he would be allowed to continue his weekly column in the Evening Herald, and presumably there would have been a degree of flexibility regarding any other ventures he might like to have undertaken.

Another irony here is that Wood also has a separate boots deal with Nike, as any player is entitled to do. What's more, he was employed by the Irish Permanent for three years until moving to England to join Harlequins, while the Lloyds TSB sponsorship is an all-embracing Five Nations sponsorship which takes into account the other countries as well. That only leaves two IRFU sponsors, and in a rare moment of mirth in this regrettable episode, as one wag pointed out "he drinks one of them anyway."

The mood in the camp over this episode seems to be one of head-shaking regret rather than hostility, as if Wood has backed himself into a corner on foot of bad advice, and that money is the root of his problem. Ultimately, his "intellectual rights" appears to have mattered more than playing for Ireland.

Aside from which, one of the assurances made to the other 11 overseas players is that no one would be treated differently and these contract were outlined to the players as far back as last July, and presented in full last August.

It seems a bit daft that this stumbling block can't be resolved. But, as the saying goes, no individual is bigger than the team, and it won't be long before the out-of-sight-out-of-mind theory is applied. Such is sport. What a pity.