Multi-union statement on R360
- 2212
Multi-union statement on R360
The following statement has been agreed by the national rugby unions of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, France and Italy.
“As a group of national rugby unions, we are urging extreme caution for players and support staff considering joining the proposed R360 competition.
"We all welcome new investment and innovation in rugby; and support ideas that can help the game evolve and reach new audiences; but any new competition must strengthen the sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it.
"Among our roles as national unions, we must take a wider view on new propositions and assess their impact on a range of areas, including whether they add to rugby’s global ecosystem, for which we are all responsible, or whether they are a net negative to the game.
"R360 has given us no indication as to how it plans to manage player welfare; how players would fulfil their aspirations of representing their countries, and how the competition would coexist with the international and domestic calendars so painstakingly negotiated in recent years for both our men’s and women’s games.
"The R360 model, as outlined publicly, rather appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite, potentially hollowing out the investment that national unions and existing leagues make in community rugby, player development, and participation pathways.
"International rugby and our major competitions remain the financial and cultural engine that sustains every level of the game — from grassroots participation to elite performance. Undermining that ecosystem could be enormously harmful to the health of our sport.
"These are all issues that would have been much better discussed collaboratively, but those behind the proposed competition have not engaged with or met all unions to explain and better understand their business and operating model.
"Each of the national unions will therefore be advising men’s and women’s players that participation in R360 would make them ineligible for international selection."
ENDS
Background information
For your reference and background we are adding some additional context here regarding England's position given the profile of our Red Roses and direct investments into our leagues. These are for you to reflect but please use the statement for quoting.
“As a group of national rugby unions, we are urging extreme caution for players and support staff considering joining the proposed R360 competition.
"We all welcome new investment and innovation in rugby; and support ideas that can help the game evolve and reach new audiences; but any new competition must strengthen the sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it.
"Among our roles as national unions, we must take a wider view on new propositions and assess their impact on a range of areas, including whether they add to rugby’s global ecosystem, for which we are all responsible, or whether they are a net negative to the game.
"R360 has given us no indication as to how it plans to manage player welfare; how players would fulfil their aspirations of representing their countries, and how the competition would coexist with the international and domestic calendars so painstakingly negotiated in recent years for both our men’s and women’s games.
"The R360 model, as outlined publicly, rather appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite, potentially hollowing out the investment that national unions and existing leagues make in community rugby, player development, and participation pathways.
"International rugby and our major competitions remain the financial and cultural engine that sustains every level of the game — from grassroots participation to elite performance. Undermining that ecosystem could be enormously harmful to the health of our sport.
"These are all issues that would have been much better discussed collaboratively, but those behind the proposed competition have not engaged with or met all unions to explain and better understand their business and operating model.
"Each of the national unions will therefore be advising men’s and women’s players that participation in R360 would make them ineligible for international selection."
ENDS
Background information
For your reference and background we are adding some additional context here regarding England's position given the profile of our Red Roses and direct investments into our leagues. These are for you to reflect but please use the statement for quoting.
- We still have many unanswered questions about the R360 proposition as outlined in our joint statement.
- As a national governing body our job is to make decisions that help us grow our game here.
- The RFU also invests heavily in our domestic leagues and pathways – the PREM, PWR and Champ Rugby. We have built and helped to fund one of the strongest domestic structures in the world, which also ensures the development of players, coaches and match officials - safeguarding our leagues is therefore critical.
- Our stance on the men’s game is long established: England players must play in the PREM or Champ, and that is not changing.
- For women’s players, the conversation is more complex.
- We are actively working to grow the earning power of our women’s players, with new bonus and salary structures planned for next year and other ideas on how we might be able to support them with better commercial funding.
- We have empathy for the choices facing our women’s players — but we have also invested millions into PWR, central contracts, bonuses, and performance support to develop the women's and girls’ game here and played a pivotal role in negotiating the structure of the new WXV global series.
- We cannot therefore support this proposition.
- The World Cup showed the enormous potential of women’s rugby as a global spectacle and commercial driver. But it also delivered a financial loss — a reminder that there must be some realism about our pay structure and focus on building long-term sustainability.
- We fully understand that some players may choose to take opportunities in R360, and we bear no ill will with them. But as a national union, our responsibility is to make decisions in the best interests of the whole game, not just the short term.
- The long-term position has to therefore has to be that women's players who play in R360 will not be eligible for England.
