'Sabbatical' clauses in football contracts...

[shiznit]

Dan Carter in NZRU has signed a new contract which contains clauses which allow him to have a 'sabbatical' for a season where he can spend a season in Europe earning big money in order to top up his contract.

this type of clause seems to be a clever way to compete with European Club Rugby.

Theres rumors that the NZRU are going to be offering a groundbreaking new contract for SBW where he can still box(hes a rubbish boxer BTW) and have a 'sabbatical' clause where he can even play a season in Rugby League.

the reason why ive brought it up here is i wonder if this could work in the NRL... i know there's gonna be an increase to the cap when the new deal comes out... so this could be moot..

but could this work?? they would probably have to get a clearance from the NRL because it would fall foul of the cap...

but i can see a fair bit of merit in the idea.

any thoughts....??

 

[Eels Dude]

I doubt there's anything stopping clubs from doing that now. The difference between the NRL and the NZRL is that one is a competition and the other is a national body. Players in the NRL don't have contracts with the NRL themselves they have contracts with the clubs they play for. Whereas Dan Carter is officially contracted to the NZRL.

 

[Cletus]

I'd say the reason for the sabbaticals is they need to play in NZ to be eligible for the All Blacks. So they could be earning a fortune in France or Japan or earn less playing in the S15 and the All Blacks, this way they get a bit of both. Without the same restrictions on NRL players playing for their country I don't see the point. It would be good to get some Union players playing league for a year though, just to see how they'd go.

 

[shiznit]

I'd say the reason for the sabbaticals is they need to play in NZ to be eligible for the All Blacks. So they could be earning a fortune in France or Japan or earn less playing in the S15 and the All Blacks, this way they get a bit of both. Without the same restrictions on NRL players playing for their country I don't see the point. It would be good to get some Union players playing league for a year though, just to see how they'd go.

fair enough...

but how about the effect a guy like SBW will have if he wants to use his sabbatical in the NRL??

would his main contract have to be considered under the cap??

 

[Cletus]

fair enough...

but how about the effect a guy like SBW will have if he wants to use his sabbatical in the NRL??

would his main contract have to be considered under the cap??

I guess his NRL contract would be used for the cap. It looks like he might be playing NRL in 2013 anyway, his exclusion agreement with the Bulldogs runs out then and his Quade Coopers contract runs out then as well. Apparently Khoder Nasser is offering them as a pair, no idea why or how considering he doesn't have an NRL license but there you go. I'd love to see them play for the Warriors really.

 

[Slackboy72]

I doubt there's anything stopping clubs from doing that now. The difference between the NRL and the NZRL is that one is a competition and the other is a national body. Players in the NRL don't have contracts with the NRL themselves they have contracts with the clubs they play for. Whereas Dan Carter is officially contracted to the NZRL.

Since when does Dan Carter play league?

 

[Goldfields_Titans]

greed

 

[broncos2012]

Pretty sure benji marshall tried this and failed after the NRL said noooooooooo. Also when the hell would SBW find time to play Union if he plays a season of league? He would miss tri-nations, super rugby etc. Would only be available for european tours.

 

[muzby]

trent barrett had one of these clauses which he activated to go to wigan..

he then chose to go to cronulla instead of coming back to the dragons upon his return to the NRL in 2009 as "cronulla would provide him with the best chance of winning a premiership in the NRL"



ahh.. hindsight...

 

[Eels Dude]

Pretty sure benji marshall tried this and failed after the NRL said noooooooooo. Also when the hell would SBW find time to play Union if he plays a season of league? He would miss tri-nations, super rugby etc. Would only be available for european tours.

He's talking about a sabbatical season, not a sabbatical off season.

 

[mxlegend99]

trent barrett had one of these clauses which he activated to go to wigan..

he then chose to go to cronulla instead of coming back to the dragons upon his return to the NRL in 2009 as "cronulla would provide him with the best chance of winning a premiership in the NRL"



ahh.. hindsight...

That's the truth though. He wouldn't have cracked the Dragons first grade side, and therefore he had zero chance at winning a premiership with them.

 

[Slackboy72]

Sort of like Luke Priddis?