Board wants longer break

RUGBY: The most significant recommendation arising from the International Board's first ever global Player Welfare Conference is that there should be a non-playing off-season of 10 to 12 weeks. As that is about a month longer than the off-season which currently exists in the northern hemisphere, it will mean putting it into words is one thing, putting it into practice quite another.

The two-day conference, which concluded in the Westbury Hotel yesterday, was initiated by the IRB in conjunction with its Medical Advisory Committee and following consultation with Players' Associations. The central themes of the conference were player management, including rest, recovery and protection; the reduction of injury trends; player contracts; the overall welfare of players and their families; and the maintenance of fitness.

The conclusions from the conference included the importance of having first-class global data collection, collation and monitoring, but most of all that players would have "four weeks continuous holiday/leave/active rest per year." This in turn would be followed by a "pre-season (non-game) period of eight to 10 weeks."

However, this also came with the recognition that "there are constraints which may apply to individual Unions." The conference's other recommendations stated that ideally there should be no more than one game per week, and that the so-called elite professional player would be better monitored "so that the welfare of the player be pro-actively managed. This would take into account player response to training, game type, travel, etc. In addition to the aforementioned off-season, "appropriate active rest periods to be considered one to two times per year to best maintain the health of the athlete."

However, by the conference's own admission all their recommendations were set against other factors aside from the circumstances of individual unions, namely a lack of definitive research, current commercial arrangements and competition structures.

A detailed report of the conference and its findings will be considered by the Medical Advisory Committee whose recommendations will be put before the IRB Council in November.

The Welsh and Lions number eight Scott Quinnell was upbeat about the conference's discussions and recommendations. "It's been a huge step forward for the players and I think we've come up with some proposals that can now be put forward to the IRB which reflect (the opinions) of players, coaches and administrators and hopefully we can implement these (recommendations). They are ideas, they are recommendations and if they can be passed it would be a huge step forward from the players' point of view. Players, rugby, televsion and spectators as a whole would benefit and take the great game forward." However, Quinnell admitted that he and players of his generation may not benefit from the recommendations, as they would probably take four years to come to fruition.

Also in attendance was John O'Neill, the MD and CEO of the Australian Rugby Union, who cited the success of the Lions concept in re-iterating the increasing desire amongst the southern hemisphere nations that tours revert to encompassing series rather than a sequence of one-off Test matches.

John Mitchell, the All Blacks coach, echoed this feeling, and espoused a desire for the return of midweek matches on tour, while estimating that the November internationals may ultimately have to be sacrificed. However, given these internationals are part of the financial lifeblood of the game for the European unions, they might well have a different view.