What determines the monetary value of a professional Rugby Union player? – Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

Given the sample size, breadth of sample and relative consensus of responses, it should be abundantly clear that there are definitely on and off-field characteristics and factors that play a role in the monetary valuation of a professional rugby player. The experience of the respondents interviewed also lends external validity to the data gathered (Daly, Wood, Brooks, Miller, & Roper, 1995). Despite the similarities seen, there are also obvious differences in these on and off-field characteristics and factors from the perspective of the agent, coach and senior management.

The natural ability of the player to play the game and what position they play in has a significant impact on valuation. There is also significant support from the literature in this regard. The three positions of most value are tighthead prop (3), lineout lock (5) and flyhalf (10). 

Consensus between key stakeholder opinion and literature was also seen, previous experience of the player at a higher level and a consistency in performance over time are on-field factors playing a role in valuation. Two key factors, highlighted in this study, not previously mentioned in the literature are succession planning and the style of rugby the team wants to play. 

All parties agreed that the personal character of a player and his daily behaviours were of significant value. This personal character will also play a role in forging and maintaining personal relationships within the team and organisation; a value determining characteristic reported in the literature. The weighting of this personal characteristic versus talent can be presented best on a graph used by Johan Erasmus (South African RWC winning coach 2019) (South African Rugby, 2020).

Graph 1: Talent versus Mind-set in selecting the correct players for a team and contracting.

A notably absent characteristic from the literature is that of leadership. This came to the fore as a primary characteristic that all respondents looked for in a player. The context of this leadership was also linked to the experience of the player and applying leadership to educate other team members in the squad, thus adding value to the team. The makeup of the team management is another valuation factor found in the literature. The context for this was different for the three groups of respondents as discussed, likely reflecting their varying perspectives. Two off-field factors, that are value determinates which go unmentioned in the literature, are the local regulations and that of supply and demand within the players market. As professional rugby grows in the future, these two factors will almost certainly play a bigger role and determining where players can play and what they will earn while playing there.

As was expected the three perspectives evaluated to determine the characteristics and factors that plays a role in the valuation of a player, displayed some differences. 

CEO’s (senior management) emphasised the off-field factors and characteristics that could potentially play a role, much more than the on-field factors and characteristics. Coaches, however, were much more focussed on both the on and off-field factors and characteristics. Agents interestingly were well aligned with what coaches looked for in a player.

In conclusion, the monetary valuation of a rugby player is a complex thing, with a multitude of interconnected, multilayer variables that play a role. Every characteristic and factor, be it on the field or off the field of play, can be linked back to the others, and they can all influence each other.

Clearly, if a player is in the three primary positions mentioned, has a good natural ability to play the game consistently at a high level and is of high personal character, they will be rewarded and have a higher monetary value as a player compared to the rest of the players in the organisation within the local regulations imposed on that organisation. 

Figure 5.1:  Summary of on and off-field characteristics and factors as highlighted by Agents, Coaches and Senior Management within professional rugby organisations.

Recommendations

Owing to the complex and multilayer process of determining a value of a player, the potential arises for a lot of subjective decision making, rather than objective decision making. Unfortunately, as mentioned by a coach in one of the interviews, this is a significant risk.

“In professional sport, for me, for my coaches and my players, there is no grey. There is black and white. There is win and lose. There is nothing in between” 

(Director of Rugby – Premiership)

Even though the grey areas will always be present, the elimination of some of the grey areas will also eliminate most of the frustration between players, agents, coaches and CEO’s regarding the valuation and contracting of players. 

Consistency within the process of valuation and contracting of players will be a positive step in the right direction. Even though there were some differences between agents, coaches and the organisational management, there were also certain aspects of consistency. Building on this consistency is what is needed, across all organisations and also across the professional section of the sport.

Using the characteristics and factors that are important in the valuation of the player within the organisational budget and local regulations, there could be salary bands created to ensure remuneration of players is open, honest, transparent and consistent within the organisation and also within the sport. These can be linked to the characteristics and factors on and off the field. This will keep gossip in the change room to a minimum, aiding in team cohesion and streamline aspects of succession planning. Succession planning should also be done earlier and communicated better to all parties concerned, especially as it pertains to the retention of players within a team, and once again creating consistency across all areas of the game.

A detailed recruitment and retention strategy, linked to the long-term strategic plan and the way the team wants to play, should be put in place. This should be built independently of the coach of the team. This will also be bespoke to the structure of the organisation i.e. if there is an academy etc. 

“Rugby coaches change very quickly. You must build a structure that is independent of the coach. When the coach leaves and you have built a whole structure around him, your whole High-Performance structure falls apart” 

(CEO – Super Rugby Franchise)

As coaches need to focus on coaching, CEO’s need to focus on the financial and commercial well-being of the organisation and agents want the best for his client, the need arises for a role within the process that is constant. Currently only a few professional rugby organisations fill this role, and there is currently no set title for such a role.

In such a role hereafter called the ‘Sporting Director’ role, the individual will represent the organisation and the long-term succession plan and identity of the organisation in the retention and recruitment process. The ‘Sporting Director’ would be independent of the coach and as a result, when coaches change, there will be a constant in place. This enables less subjective grey, and more objective decision making. Ultimately this would create more consistency in the process and as a result also more consistency in the organisation. If there is more consistency and transparency, and the process is less subjective and more objective, the correct players will be retained or recruited more often.  Players will then feel more valued, have a better relationship with the coach, stay longer and this will create more cohesion in the group that will lead to better results for the team and organisation (Carron, Coleman, Wheeler, & Stevens, 2002).

“Reality for me was that in the recruitment and retention I was negotiating with agents and there was conflict. That conflict made it harder to build relationships with players when you coach them. If you have somebody outside the coaching environment that is the negotiator and succession planner, I think it allows the coach to coach the player and have a clearer relationship with him” 

(Previous Head Coach – Pro 14 and Top 14)

Consistency in approach to the valuation of players is required across the game and also within organisations. This will create stability for players and staff and benefit the game as whole, especially in these challenging financial times rugby is experiencing.   

A recommendation for a further study is to look at the impact of especially the local regulations from unions, salary caps and competitions on the structure of playing squads and the further impact that has on the monetary remuneration of players within certain competitions or countries.

References

• Carron, A. V., Coleman, M. M., Wheeler, J., & Stevens, D. (2002). Cohesion and Performance in Sport: A Meta Analysis. Journal of Sport & Excercise Psychology, 24, 168–188.
• Daly, J., Wood, M., Brooks, A., Miller, J., & Roper, M. (1995). Structured Interviews on the Object-Oriented Paradigm, 1–34.
• South African Rugby. (2020). SA Rugby: Online Workshop with Johan Erasmus.