Why Saracens deserve every bit of their punishment

Earlier this week Saracens were deducted thirty-five league points and fined more than £5million, a decision they immediately appealed. The reason behind the sanctions was the long overdue confirmation that the North London side had breached their salary cap and over the past three seasons failed to fully disclose certain player pay-outs. In essence, they have manipulated an unfair advantage over the rest of their Premiership rivals, many who have suspected foul play for a long time.

The man at the centre of the controversy is Nigel Wray the owner of the club. According to an independent panel, he has systematically financed his players outside of their salaries, thus effectively cheating the system. Companies like Faz Investments (Owen Farrell) and MN Property Solutions (Maro Itoje) are just two organisations that Wray has invested in to step around the £7 million salary cap. He claims that he has done nothing wrong and that he is simply looking out for his employees so that they can progress into life after rugby with ease, in his words ‘investment is not salary’. 

They had fifteen players who represented their country in the recent World Cup, of which nine played for England (including their latest eye-catching signing Elliot Daly). Leicester Tigers were the next best represented team in the English squad with six of their players involved in Japan. Their sheer number of internationals coupled with the fact the rumours have circled for so long suggest they haven’t just exceeded the salary cap by a tiny amount. In fact, many suggest they had continued to increase their overspending year on year. Knowing full well of their actions they’ve been showing complete contempt for the rules and the rest of the league’s values. That level of arrogance is not something that sits well with the rugby community, nor should it.

In my view the punishment, particularly the thirty-five-point deduction does not go far enough to really drive home the severity of their actions. You have to go back as far as the 2008-09 season to find the last time losing that number of league points would have actually resulted in Saracens finishing bottom and thus relegated. They have a large number of players returning who will have World Cup fatigue and this spring will see many of the same guys leaving again on 6Nations duty. The reality is though they still won’t be nailed on for the drop. However, at the other end of the possibility chart there’s the outside chance they could still sneak into a top four finish and win the league, at the moment there’s nothing saying what has to happen with their players. The likelihood based on recent years is that they will end up finishing ninth or tenth, so considering the success they’ve had off the back of effectively cheating the last three years, such a finish is a small price to pay and Saracens will consider that a huge success in the grand scheme of things.

Relegation though, however enforced, either decided there and then or forced via a much larger penalty deduction would have ensured real and genuine changes. This has already been suggested as the desired punishment by many of the Premiership’s leading figures, notably Tony Rowe CEO at the Exeter Chiefs. Rowe called on the precedent of American sport where the salary cap is regularly used, ‘in professional sport in America, if you’re in breach of the salary cap you get thrown out completely’. Dropping down to the Greene King Championship would see drastic changes to the locker room at Saracens, none of the top players would want to be playing in this division and it would force a humiliating mass exodus from the club. In turn this would release many of the players acquired by their illegal activities back into the playing pool. All the teams that were effectively priced out by Saracens’ offers of additional investment opportunities atop a regular salary would have a second chance at picking up the individuals they would have otherwise had playing for them. There would also be the loss of earnings associated with being outside of everything the Premiership offers; sponsorship, rights and ticket sales to name a few. None of this is guaranteed and Saracens could avoid all of it, effectively going into the 2020-21 season having only suffered a fine.

As it stands Saracens will also retain all their trophies and titles won in recent years even despite the fact misdemeanours have been identified during those periods. For many, myself included, this is a massive let-off for Saracens. In my opinion if you’re found to have had an unfair advantage over your competitors which has led to success you should be retrospectively punished, surely? In atheletics and cycling we've seen plenty of high profile examples of titles being stripped. Over the three-year period under the microscope Saracens won two Premiership titles, both victories coming over the unfortunate Exeter Chiefs. Their success was limited to the English game though. Sarries also won European titles, a tournament where they outplayed French sides who have salary caps far greater than those in England.

Denied twice by Saracens in the Premiership final Exeter Chiefs have the biggest reason to call on the decision falling short of any real punishment. The Chiefs are the perfect example in the division on how a rugby club should be run. Investing massively in their academy and avoiding huge signings made them the only Premiership side to finish in the black and for the last few years they have competed right at the top. Their rise from the lower leagues to challenge and occasionally beat Saracens has made them a lot of people’s second team, winning fans who wanted to see someone ‘stick it to the man’ and challenge a system that many believed Saracens were making a mockery of. Its here that you also must consider the personal side of it. Countless players and members of staff that have missed out on winning titles, denied by the cheating of Wray and co. This is perhaps the greatest casualty of the whole sorry saga. Taking the titles off Saracens will never truly replace what could have been for the other sides and what about the sides that were beaten by them in the semi-finals of their title winning campaigns. Would they have lost in the final to Exeter? Probably, but this can never truly be proven. By Saracens actions they have meant that no-one can ever truly replace them as winners. I don’t think anyone would regard that as a reason not to right the wrongs but there’s a feeling nothing has been done because it’s the easiest option.

The salary cap is in place to ensure that twelve teams can compete on a level playing field, but one where good recruitment and academy growth are valued highly and rewarded. However, it is also in place to help sides commercially exist for as long as possible, its presence is just as much to ensure the progression and survival of a competitive league through the years as it is to ensure one or two teams cannot simply buy success. A league with no salary cap, or one where a side is able to exploit as Saracens have done, is a highly unstable one. As mentioned above only one side is currently making a profit and that’s more a testament to how Exeter are run than a complete surprise. With no sanctions on wages what players get paid will only go one way. Teams begin to pay over the odds for players, those that can afford it dominate and those that can’t are left crippled, waiting for the next wealthy investor that may or may not ever come.

Even in a league where there was no salary cap and teams could buy their success less tactfully there’s a very good chance there would be sides better able to compete than they have been able to do here. There’s no denying Saracens are an organisation that have great people; many of whom have done great things but what can’t be ignored is that it’s the unfair financing of players that has allowed Saracens to sit atop the league for so long. They have financially walked over sides off the pitch and often steamrolled them on it as a result. Their actions have cheated rule abiding outfits of glory and there will be some players that have been denied their one chance of lifting a trophy or playing at Twickenham as an indirect or direct consequence. Not only this but Saracens have made a fool of the Premiership and rugby in England as a whole, playing the league for a bunch of fools. Conor O’Shea a great coach, even cited Sarries fiddling of the salary cap as a reason for him leaving Quins. They robbed sides of their own chances, so to still have a lifeline themselves and to still be a part of this division, in my opinion, is another sad failing of a system that is already three years overdue with a real punishment.