COVENTRY Rugby head coach Alex Rae has congratulated the professionalism shown by his players while the Championship goes through the most turbulent period in its history.
As most followers of the sport are all too aware, English rugby faces challenges at every turn with its parlous financial state front and centre of many conversations.
A major restructure of the second tier is therefore in the pipeline and the clock is ticking down to deadline day at the end of next season when the existing professional game agreement between the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the clubs expires.
Several target completion dates for a new agreement have come and gone and as a result, with their financial futures shrouded in doubt, Coventry and their 10 league rivals have been unable to plan ahead with any confidence.
In turn this means that players – who in the Championship are typically on single-season contracts – have waited anxiously for some months for news about future employment prospects,.
Rae understands the pressure this brings and praised the manner in which Cov’s 30-odd professionals have handled the situation.
Rae said: “I wish we had been in a position to have some solid news to talk to the players about back before Christmas.
“However, it’s all in the hands of people above us, it’s dragging on and unfortunately we’re just pawns in a bigger game.
“It’s really difficult for the players because we can’t make plans and have detailed conversations about the future with them until we know a bit more about what is happening the year after next.
“The players have all conducted themselves superbly well during this uncertainty. They understand that (Coventry chief executive) Nick Johnston gives them whatever he can as early as possible so they know they’re not being kept in the dark and to a man have accepted that situation.”
Rae admits that following the cut-and-thrust of negotiations between the interested parties he is now simply waiting for talks to reach a conclusion.
Rae added: “When people were first discussing the bigger issues and the structure of the Championship for the future you couldn’t help but talk about it.
“But as time has passed I have got a bit bored with it all so I’m now taking the view that I can’t control it and at some point I will be told what’s happening and what I need to do.
“Between now and then I could waste a lot of time worrying about it, so I’m not.
“It does finally sound like they’re making some progress but there’s Chinese whispers all the time and you hear a million different things so I’m ignoring all of it until I have facts to deal with.”
