RFU Statment re PRL proposals submitted yesterday

By RFU PRESS OFFICE
March 28 2007

The RFU Management Board at its regular monthly meeting today discussed the new PRL proposals submitted yesterday and which were simultaneously circulated to the media and placed on the PRL web site.

RFU STATEMENT

The RFU Management Board at its regular monthly meeting today discussed the new PRL proposals submitted yesterday and which were simultaneously circulated to the media and placed on the PRL web site.

The Board were surprised and concerned that these proposals, which were in response to the detailed Heads of Agreement submitted to PRL by the RFU on 6 March, should be made in the public arena prior to any discussion or consultation with the RFU. The RFU and PRL had agreed to follow a private and confidential process in the recent negotiations so that all the difficult and complex issues could be raised and discussed in private as it was felt that this was the best way to secure material progress. The RFU remains of this view and will not conduct these complex and difficult negotiations in public.  PRL’s unilateral and unexpected termination of this confidential process is not helpful to resolving the issues before us.

The PRL proposals are a ‘cherry picking’ of those items in the draft Heads of Agreement of the 6 March that they find attractive to them. They differ in a number of material aspects from the proposals made by the PRL Negotiating team in recent meetings, in particular on the management control of the Elite Player Squads.

The RFU will, however, include these latest PRL proposals in the ‘Way Forward’ Consultation Document currently being prepared so that the Game generally can review them in the proper context together with other options for the future of elite professional rugby in England. The Consultation Document will be published shortly after the Easter holidays.

Martyn Thomas, Chairman of the RFU Management Board said: “It is particularly disappointing that PRL have chosen to break the confidentiality agreement on the negotiations. We had made progress on a number of the more difficult and sensitive issues because both negotiating teams were able to talk about these issues and potential solutions in private and in confidence.

While we will continue to seek agreement through dialogue with PRL, we remain confident that the in depth and comprehensive approach represented by the ‘Way Forward’ process is the best way to come to the right conclusions for the future of our game.”