England hooker Jamie George insists that the internationals team’s split from the Rugby Players Association (RPA) in favour of negotiating their own contracts with Twickenham chiefs was simply about independence.
Saracens No2 George is one of five player-directors of Team England Rugby Ltd, alongside fellow internationals Ellis Genge, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler and Anthony Watson, who are now set to handle contract and commercial negotiations with the Rugby Football Union. It comes after players voted in overwhelming numbers to reject an extension with the RPA.
RPA split
“It will become very apparent soon what exactly that new Team England looks like, and the reasons why and how it came about,” George told City A.M.
“The big thing that we want to try and stress is that it’s not a complete separation from the RPA. We are not saying that we are completely drawing away from the RPA, we will still be encouraging people to become members of the RPA, we’ll still be encouraging people to use the RPA because what they do on a welfare front is second to none.
“The independence was an important thing for us. The emphasis on the fact that this isn’t us saying that we are badly paid, it isn’t anything to do with finances to be completely honest.
“The main reason for it is to do with the day-to-day running of the team England contracts and how that looks. It’s not in any capacity saying that the contracts that we’ve been given previously are not good enough, because that isn’t what we’re talking about.”
It follows a dispute between players and English rugby’s governing body over a payout for playing the third-place playoff at last year’s Rugby World Cup, which the RFU reportedly tried to deny to players.
England are back in international action next month with the return of the Six Nations.
Day-to-day management
“We’re talking about the day-to-day management and the players being at the forefront of decision making within the game,” added George, who has this week been named as an ambassador for finance firm Funding Circle.
“I haven’t spoken to other people [in other sports] but I know that has been the case in cricket. When we had the conversation, it was a common sensical decision. I think that was pretty unanimous across the squad.
“We’re hopeful. We’ve put our names to this now, we’ve decided to make some decisions, we need to make sure that we put all our words into actions.
“Lots of people have come forward and said that it’s great that we’re going out and doing our own thing, and I think they see it as a positive step. They’ve also offered any advice or help that they possibly can do, which is absolutely fantastic and we’ll be drawing on those people going forward.”
Jamie George is an ambassador for Funding Circle. For more information on Funding Circle and its range of financial products, see: https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/
