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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

10. International Rugby Union

Author : Leanne O’Leary

Published in: Employment and Labour Relations Law in the Premier League, NBA and International Rugby Union

Publisher: T.M.C. Asser Press

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Abstract

International rugby union refers to matches played between the national teams of those countries whose rugby union federation is a member of World Rugby. World Rugby is the international federation for rugby union and establishes the regulatory parameters in which the sport is played globally. It organizes the sport’s pre-eminent commercial tournament, the men’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) from which World Rugby derives most of its revenue. This chapter discusses the organization of professional rugby union worldwide, the employment arrangements of players in those countries in which professional rugby union is played and the relationship between World Rugby and professional players. It canvasses the role of collective bargaining, the RWC Participation Agreement and discusses World Rugby rules that relate to wage regulation, the eligibility of players for a national team and the movement of players between national federations. The collective organization of professional players at an international level has facilitated a cooperative relationship between World Rugby and professional players.

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previous chapter The National Basketball Association
next chapter Decision-Making in a Professional Team Sports Competition
Footnotes
1
For a description of the main international rugby union tournaments, see Sect. 3.​4, supra.
 
2
See also Sect. 3.​4.​3, supra.
 
3
Telephone interview with World Rugby (World Rugby interview) 20 May 2014.
 
4
World Rugby interview.
 
5
Owing to the way in which the sport developed historically, there are national federations in each of England, Wales and Scotland rather than a single federation for the United Kingdom.
 
6
For a summary of the professional club competitions, see Sect. 3.​4.​2.​1, supra.
 
7
See Premiership Rugby, Salary Capping Regulations for the Salary Cap Year 2015/2016.
 
8
See Premier Rugby Limited v The Rugby Football Union and Others [2006] EWHC 2068 (Comm).
 
9
See the Collective Agreement Between the New Zealand Rugby Union Inc and the Rugby Players’ Collective Inc dated 15 August 2013 (NZ CBA), which is available on the website of the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association. Under s 56 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (NZ) a collective agreement is binding and enforceable by a union and certain employees.
 
10
World Rugby interview. Note: the interview with World Rugby took place before the formation of The Rugby Athlete’s Commission which is now recognized in World Rugby’s constitution under Bye-law 13.
 
11
Ibid.
 
12
Personal correspondence with the South African Rugby Players’ Association 29 May 2015.
 
13
Consultation is defined in clause 122.1 of the NZ CBA as meaning “that the parties will communicate and impart and receive information and argument with an open mind when that can still realistically influence the outcome”.
 
14
NZ CBA, cl 1.12(e).
 
15
See also Sect. 10.​3, infra.
 
16
NZ CBA, cl 93.
 
17
Personal correspondence with RUPA 4 June 2015.
 
18
Personal correspondence with the IRUPA 29 May 2015.
 
19
Ibid.
 
20
Personal correspondence with PROVALE 8 June 2015.
 
21
Telephone interview with IRPA (IRPA interview) 30 May 2014.
 
22
IRPA interview.
 
23
IRPA interview.
 
24
IRPA interview.
 
25
IRPA interview.
 
26
The Guardian, Samoa Team Deny Prime Ministers Claim That Union Dispute is Resolved, 26 November 2014, https://​www.​theguardian.​com/​sport/​2014/​nov/​26/​samoa-rugby-team-deny-prime-minister-union-dispute-resolved. Accessed 31 July 2016.
 
27
Ben Rumsby, RWC 2015: Samoa Boost Players’ Rights With Groundbreaking Deal, 2 September 2015. http://​www.​telegraph.​co.​uk/​sport/​rugbyunion/​rugby-world-cup/​11840727/​Rugby-World-Cup-2015-Samoa-boost-players-rights-with-groundbreaking-deal.​html. Accessed 31 July 2016.
 
28
See the terms of reference for the Rugby Committee available on the World Rugby website, www.​worldrugby.​org.
 
29
See Sect. 3.​4.​1, supra.
 
30
See discussion in Sect. 11.​4, infra.
 
31
World Rugby interview.
 
32
Ibid.
 
33
Ibid.
 
34
See also Sect. 11.​4, infra.
 
35
World Rugby Regulations, reg 4.
 
36
World Rugby Regulations, reg 4.6.
 
37
World Rugby Regulations, reg 4.6.1 and accompanying footnote.
 
38
World Rugby Regulations, regs 4.6.3 and 4.6.4.
 
39
IRPA interview; World Rugby interview.
 
40
See generally Parrish 2015 and Pearson 2015.
 
41
World Rugby Regulations, regs 4.7.4–4.7.6.
 
42
World Rugby Regulations, reg 4.7.8.
 
43
World Rugby Regulations, regs 4.6.7 and 4.7.7.
 
44
World Rugby Regulations Relating to the Game (March 2016) (World Rugby Regulations), reg 8.2. The requirement outlined in regulation 8.2 was introduced in 2002. Prior to that time, a player could play for another national federation after a stand-down period of three years.
 
45
World Rugby Regulations, regs 8.3 and 8.4.
 
46
World Rugby Regulations, regs 8.6–8.16.
 
47
World Rugby Regulations, reg 8.5.
 
48
Ibid.
 
49
World Rugby Regulations, reg 18.7.
 
50
World Rugby Regulations, Explanatory Guidelines on the Implementation of Regulation 8 (Explanatory Guidelines), s 6(b).
 
51
Explanatory Guidelines, s 6(c).
 
52
Explanatory Guidelines, s 1.
 
53
Ibid.
 
54
See generally Nafziger 2016, Kostakopoulou and Schrauwen 2014, Shachar 2011 and De Groot 2006.
 
55
Revenue from test matches between national teams that are held outside the RWC, Rugby World Sevens Series and the Olympic Events, is retained by the national federations who take part in the match. Revenue from the RWC and other World Rugby-organized events (excluding the Olympic Games) is retained by World Rugby.
 
56
See Minutes of the IRB Meeting held 8 February 1892 Manchester, England.
 
57
Macquire 2008, p. 1043.
 
58
Szymanski 2003, pp. 1176–1177.
 
59
Stephen Jones, It’s Time For World Rugby to Stop Exodus of Talent to Play Under Flags of Convenience The Sunday Times 10 May 2015, p. 11.
 
60
Ibid.
 
61
IRPA interview.
 
62
Horton 2012, p. 2390.
 
63
Grainger et al. 2014.
 
64
Horton 2012. See also O’Callaghan 2014 and Schieder and Presterudstuen 2014.
 
65
Horton 2012, p. 2390. The complexity of the eligibility issue is demonstrated further by the composition of the national teams for Samoa, Tonga and Fiji for the Rugby World Cup 2011 that was held in New Zealand. According to Horton, thirty players who were selected for those teams were born in Australia or New Zealand: ibid.
 
66
Macquire 2008, p. 1048.
 
67
Grainger et al. 2014, p. 986.
 
68
Ibid.
 
69
Grainger et al. 2014, p. 982.
 
70
Ibid.
 
71
Grainger et al. 2014, pp. 981–983.
 
72
World Rugby Bye-laws, bye-law 9.10.
 
73
See Sect. 11.​4, infra.
 
74
IRPA interview.
 
75
See specifically Sect. 10.​3, supra and Sect. 11.​4, infra.
 
Literature
De Groot G (2006) Sports and unfair competition via nationality law. Maastricht J Eur Comp Law 13(2):161–172
Grainger A, Rick OJC, Andrews DL (2014) Bound to the nation: Pacific Islands rugby and the IRB’s new “one-country-for-life” eligibility rules. Sport Soc Cultures Commer Media Polit 17(4):977–991
Horton P (2012) Pacific islanders in global rugby: the changing currents of sports migration. Int J Hist Sport 29(17):2388–2404CrossRef
Kostakopoulou D, Schrauwen A (2014) Olympic citizenship and the (Un)specialness of the national vest: rethinking the links between sport and citizenship law. Int J Law Context 10(2):143–162CrossRef
Macquire J (2008) “Real politic” or “Ethically based”: sport, globalisation and nation-state policies. Sport Soc Cultures Commer Media Polit 11(4):1040–1055
Nafziger J (2016) Rights and wrongs of and about nationality in sports competition. In: Paulussen C, Takács T, Lazić V, Van Rompuy B (eds) Fundamental rights in international and European law: public and private law perspectives. TMC Asser Press, The Hague, pp 309–323CrossRef
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Parrish R (2015) Article 15 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players: compatibility with EU law. Maastricht J Eur Comp Law 22(2):256–282
Pearson G (2015) Sporting justifications under EU free movement and competition law: the case of the football “transfer system”. Eur Law J 21(2):220–238CrossRef
Schieder D, Presterudstuen G-H (2014) Sport, migration and sociocultural transformation: the Case of Fijian Rugby Union players in Japan. Int J Hist Sport 31(1):1359–1373CrossRef
Shachar A (2011) Picking winners: Olympic citizenship and the global race for talent. Yale Law J 120:2088–2139
Szymanski S (2003) The economic design of sporting contests. J Econ Lit 41(4):1137–1187CrossRef
Metadata
Title
International Rugby Union
Author
Leanne O’Leary
Copyright Year
2017
Publisher
T.M.C. Asser Press
Book
Employment and Labour Relations Law in the Premier League, NBA and International Rugby Union

Print ISBN: 978-94-6265-158-6

Electronic ISBN: 978-94-6265-159-3

Copyright Year: 2017

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-159-3_10