As DeanoG has pointed out on numerous occasions, the failure to increase the overall level of the CC has led to a very significant decrease in "real terms" income for players over the last 5 years.

Proponents of the CC, (when they weren't spending their time accusing us of adopting a "Pro Wigan, let's return to the 1990's" attitude), argued that the loss of players to RU was not a problem, and that there would always be a "production line" of players to fall back on.

They failed to grasp the real issue that is sadly beginning to materialise now.......

- The level of RL salaries is not only detering people from bothering to take up the game as a profession in the first place, but it seems are even low enough to result in current professionals quiting the game half way through their careers.

In the case of BH, if this was for a job in the city where he could be earning millions then it would be understandable, but, and with all due respect to plasterers, it isn't............


Forget RU "poaching" players, I believe this situation highlights the real cancer that is the CC.

Bryn is living in fantasy land, because of what went on at the bulls he's decided to jack it all in? He could easy earn £50,000 a year at Salford, Wakefield or Widnes yet he leaving to get a plasterers job?

Good move, with all due respect if your a plasterer on the tools especially in this recession your really going to struggle. Moving to the construction industry he's going to have to deal with the same that went on at Bradford a good few more times on a hell of a lot less money working 8 till 430 mon to fri all year round.

He's moving abroad and I really can's see him moving abroad to be a plasterer.

Hope for his sake he hasn't burnt his bridges with RL if things don't work out for him abroad. The grass ain't always greener!

so walls outside of the UK don't need plastering?

If a player defects to RU, we just shrug and assume there's nowt we can do about it .... How about if I tell you that a 14 yr old lad, who is well regarded at scholarship levels and is the son of a very high profile ex international RL player, has quit his junior RL team, despite them being top of their league, to concentrate on a career in athletics!!! .... One of the main reasons being that even his father admits he could earn more money from athletics than he would if he were to join a SL team .......

Now, if that doesn't get the RFL worried then I have to assume they don't care anymore ...!

I know it says hes moving abroad but still the average UK wage for men is 30k a year.

Now a RL player of his level is probably on Roughly 60k yes?

So basically he probably has 6-8 years left of 60k gradually dropping until he retires.

Or he can take roughly 30k a year now which will actually rise with inflation/promotions and he could do it for nearly the next 40 years until he retires. Im with him if the right opportunity came up there isnt enough money in RL to make it worth staying in and risking there not being a job to go to in 6-8 years.

The main point is that the financial security of the sport is in jeopardy and his job wasnt safe and he went a time without being paid this year. If I had been a Bradford player I would have been disillusioned too.

So what's the answer? We can't raise the Salary Cap because a good percentage of the league isn't spending to the limit of the current one and an even higher percentage would go under if they tried to.

There is simply no money in the game. It's due to a lack of sponsors and an unfavourable TV deal.

Union is utter, utter e but money rolls in because their marketing team is first rate.

Spreading the tv money over 14 teams isn't helping to sustain a high level with the money that comes in realistically the league probably needs to be 10 teams but that's not big enough and sky won't go for that. However I think it's a good idea as if we had 10 then they could have half the league in the playoffs and be the 5 team system again.

That then breeds the problem that we need to get rid of 4 teams which would be professional and that makes the championship unfair which is probably why their sky deal isn't so great.

Maybe we could do with a match being shown on all 3 days (sky having the monopoly on Monday nights aside from Easter Monday) on a channel like premier sports. That gives more league money and if it applied to the championship too maybe we could sustain two franchises leagues of SL and Championship each of ten teams and each all professional and have all leagues below semi professional.

Usually I would say "if its doable they'd have done it" but the way the rfl works they probably haven't even thought of it.

My mistake, he's not plastering he's flagging !!!!, I think its his girlfriends fathers building company he's going working for in the States, I'm sure she's American.

How's he got a VISA?

I agree, especially the last sentence. But athletics, is a bit like cricket (both sports I like), for the average event there is no-one there, save a few high profile games (& latterly 20/20). Cricket makes a fortune from the Indian limited over game but I struggle to understand how athletics pulls in so much money, unless it is from government.

I don't know, you'll have to ask him, maybe the Rugby Gods got it for him

50 k a year as a lower league propr for maximum 15 years or 30K a year for the next 30 years?

What youve got to take into account is that some of these guys bodies are ruined by the time they retire.