As belts continue to tighten in rugby and the sport feels the financial squeeze of the coronavirus crisis, Ireland’s professional rugby players could be set for a 20 per cent pay cut as the IRFU look to make an estimated saving of €13 million. The pay cut applies to all IRFU staff, who will also be moving to a four-day week. And in his column this morning, Gerry Thornley suggests it is unreasonable to subject players to the same cut - especially when their working hours won’t be reduced. He writes: “Even for players on provincial contracts ranging from, say, €100,000 to €200,000, it’s a shortfall of €20,000 to €40,000 per year. And Villa boss Dean Smith has said he fully supports defender Tyrone Mings for attending a Black Lives Matter march in Birmingham.

Source: The Irish Times June 16, 2020 06:45 UTC