If you love rugby union what follows will be a tough read. According to one of the world’s leading coaches, however, the time has come for the sport to get real. “If rugby were a company people would be comparing it to an Enron,” says Ben Ryan, Fiji’s Olympic gold-medal winning sevens mastermind. “It’s completely dysfunctional.”
Ryan’s charge sheet is long and chilling. With Japan set to visit Twickenham this weekend he says tier-two nations continue to be treated with almost feudal disregard, that the sport’s law-book is being wilfully ignored and that skilful players are becoming disillusioned with where 15-a-side rugby is heading. Central to it all, he believes, is the selfish decision-making of certain stakeholders which is steering the global game into deeply worrying territory.
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/nov/14/rugby-enron-ben-ryan-fiji under the title “Ben Ryan: ‘If rugby were a company people would be comparing it to an Enron’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
