The Views Of Professional Rugby Players In England

In recent years there has been an increasing level of debate within professional rugby union. The one group which has so far been largely absent from these discussions is the players. As a result the Professional Rugby Players Association (PRA) commissioned Ipsos to conduct the most comprehensive survey of professional rugby players ever undertaken.

The main aims of the study were:

• To provide rugby players with an opportunity to have a say in the core issues facing the professional game in England.
• To obtain opinions from a large sample of players so as to provide robust results and an accurate understanding of opinion.

The Length of the Season and Number of Games

The majority of players think the season is too long (60%; including 77% of EPS players) and that they play too much rugby. However three-quarters (74%) think the current number of Premiership games is the right amount. Half of players think that an 11 week close season is about right - of the remainder, more think it is not enough (29%) than too much (13%).

Promotion and Relegation

Twice as many players support promotion and relegation from the Premiership (60%) as oppose it (30%) - support is greatest among those early in their careers. Opinion is evenly split between those who think it has had a positive impact (42%) and those who think it has had a detrimental impact on the standard of play in the Premiership (39%). Older players are more negative than younger ones in this regard. Straight promotion and relegation is the most favoured option (42%), followed by a play-off system with the bottom Premiership team playing the top National League team (29%). More than 8 in 10 players think the standard of play in the Premiership has improved in the last 3 years.

Structuring the Rugby Season

Not playing Premiership games on the weekends of Internationals is generally favoured by the majority of players (53%) - particularly those in the EPS (80%). Half of players (49%) favour tournaments starting and finishing in consecutive weeks, with one-third opposing the idea (32%).

England Rugby

Half of EPS players think 16 EPS days per season is the right amount. The majority (80%) think the EPS days should take place in pre-tournament blocks rather than throughout the season.

A successful England team is widely regarded as very important to the commercial and grass roots game in England, with 61% rating the England team as 'very important' in this regard.

EPS players are evenly split on whether England players should be rested for 7 days before the Autumn Internationals and Six Nations, with 41% thinking they should and 45% that they should not.

Opinion is divided on the limit of 32 games for EPS players - four in ten (41%) think it is the right amount, but the remainder are divided between those who think it is too few (27%), or don't agree with having a limit (23%). However, most EPS players think the limit is generally not being enforced (39% say it is very often not enforced, with 23% saying it is not enforced at all).

Technical details

Ipsos interviewed a quota sample of 403 PRA members. All interviews were conducted between 6 January and 15 February 2006. The research was conducted using a mixed methodology of on-line interviews and self-completion paper questionnaires.