Depressed and anxious about wages, Welsh rugby players threaten to strike

The Wooden Spoon – barring more or less pleasant unforeseen events – this year Italy will play it at the Olimpico against Wales on the penultimate day of the Six Nations. And the Dragons, who for now are behind us in the standings, with zero points, are really in crisis. Not only in the field, but also in terms of image and economics.

After the scandals involving the management (accused of sexist behaviour) and the controversy over «Delilah», the song by Tom Jones which for decades was the pop anthem of Welsh rugby, banned because it tells of a feminicide, now Warren Gatland’s team even threatens to strike, not taking the field for the match against England on February 25th.

For over three years the players and the ‘regions’, ie the selections that participate in the Welsh championship, have in fact been battling with the WRU, the Welsh federation. They ask for adequate salaries – in rugby it often works like this: the federation asks the best to stay and play in their homeland to have the guarantee of being called up for the national team, in exchange it offers a salary that covers the refusal of tempting engagements abroad – and they had snatched a promise that seemed to have closed the question, but now they feel betrayed by the continuous postponements of the federal presidency.

“We’re all a little tired of saying next week…next week. We are currently unable to offer anyone a contract to sign. I still don’t have a confirmed budget for next season», Cardiff manager Dai Young blurted out. In the dock is former executive director Steve Phillips, who resigned following the sexist scandal, but also the previous managements. the more it goes on the more players and staff will be agitated. Everyone wants to know what their future will be. “I’m trying to keep the players focused on their work, because very important matches await us, and we are cutting jobs and wages. But everyone would like to have certain news about the future.

In a nutshell: Wales is currently living beyond its means. Eleven players of international level have already said bye bye to the valleys, and with the introduction of the salary cap which cut the compensation of the strongest players by around 70 thousand pounds (which now reaches a maximum of 278,000 pounds a year, around 312,000 euros ), another mass exodus towards the richest foreign leagues is feared. It is no coincidence that after the first ‘desert’ neither the senior national team nor the under 20 team have won a match in the Six Nations. Scrum-half Lloyd Williams said the situation has now become “frustrating” and that it inevitably affects performance on the pitch, others have come to speak of problems with anxiety and depression caused by uncertainty. The international career of a rugby player on average is not very long, and it is highly strenuous, as the increasingly widespread cases of senile dementia show. “There are more important things than playing for Wales,” Williams admitted. «It’s definitely a reason to stay in Wales, but the kids have families, they need a house to live in and food on the table. So unless playing for the national team is the main motivation, job security is more important.” Mines or rugby fields, Mrs Thatcher or Mr Phillips, work in Wales is always a national emergency.