Western Force Giteau’s hand

In an obvious attempt to move on from the whole debacle of former sponsor Firepower, the Western Force last week took the extraordinary step of forcing chief playmaker Matt Giteau to make a decision on where he’ll play in 2010 by close of business last Friday.

Never mind the mere details, one being that it’s still 2008 by my count, or the other being that he was a little bit busy at the time, preparing for a Bledisloe Cup clash against New Zealand in Hong Kong on Saturday night!

Despite signing a contract with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) through to 2011 two years ago when he left the ACT Brumbies, Giteau had a clause in his contract which allowed him to negotiate with other Super 14 sides for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

The suddenly-public tug of war between the Force and Brumbies has been quite interesting; with news first that WA corporates had agreed to match the cash component of Giteau’s missing Firepower money (as long as he agreed to the deal by last Friday).

This was met with news of Giteau seeking legal advice on whether he had grounds for an immediate release from his Western Force contract, on the basis of the non-payment of the third party money.

Brumbies fans then choked on their corn flakes last Friday morning, with The Canberra Times running a story that ACT companies are doing their best to bring their prodigal rugby son home, possibly as early as next season.

This third party payment situation, as ridiculous as it’s becoming, just goes to highlight the problem the ARU has created for itself.

To start with, Giteau’s new agent (he punted the agent who put him onto Firepower) is essentially playing the corporate rugby communities of Perth and Canberra – and by default the Force and Brumbies – off against each other.

Given he carries an obvious personal stake in Giteau’s decision, this represents a massive conflict of interest.

And this is why the ARU’s ruling that the Super 14 clubs can’t directly solicit third party deals for players is flawed.

If the clubs were allowed to actively seek the third party deals themselves (like what happened with the Waratahs, sorry, Friends of the Waratahs in the chase for Andrew Johns, and holding onto Lote Tuqiri), then the process would be a lot more transparent, and less affected by the evident interest and personal gain of the player agents involved.

In reality, the current arrangement has little to do with getting the player in the best environment for his development or continued success, but rather a bigger slice of the best corporate deal for the player’s agent.

And how much due diligence are the agents carrying out?

The Firepower example would suggest the answer is “not much,” though admittedly rugby players and clubs aren’t the only victims in this case.

Presumably, any third party deals couldn’t conflict existing club and ARU sponsors, which means that the clubs would have to hold final approval over the deals anyway.

So why not just let the clubs run the whole process, and include the third party deal as part of the formal offer/contact renewal to the player? Why make the clubs so reliant on the player’s agent, who’s really just feathering his own nest?

The average rugby follower is not stupid, and can smell a rat miles away, especially when key players are being pinched (or is it poached?) from under their noses.

I’m sure I’m not alone in my assumption that the clubs play some part in finding third party deals anyway, so why not just admit that that’s the case?

The situation would be a whole lot less on the nose to the average fan if the clubs controlled the situation, and the player agents could then revert to their primary job: looking after their player.

FOOTNOTE: Matt Giteau rejected the Force’s $1.6m offer after the Bledisloe on Saturday night. Indications are that he was not happy with a condition of the offer being that he remained in Perth until 2011. No official word has been given on is likely whereabouts for 2009.

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