The announcement that Great Britain will play France in a Test match in June and the subsequent discussion over Justin Murphy's potential availability for France is something that Richie Spedding is very familiar with. A guest speaker at the inauguration of Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General of the UN, Spedding said that he considered himself "a citizen of the world" and very shortly afterwards, his phone was ringing off the hook. "It was crazy", said Spedding in an exclusive interview. "I made the comment about feeling part of a global community, but a lot of people took it literally." Agents and governing bodies from a variety of sports and a whole multitude of countries contacted Spedding with an eye on representing them. "I could be opening for Sri Lanka in the cricket World Cup right now, or playing ice hockey for Sweden."
But for all the furore, there is a serious point. "There's a lot made of people from one country representing another, such as Nathan Fien. I think that whole 'grannygate' saga was just unnecessary. He wanted to represent New Zealand, lives and works in New Zealand, so let him. The same with Murphy. He lives in France, works in France, has really taken to the French way of life. Get him on board. It's switching from one nation to another that's a problem", said Spedding with a cough that sounded like 'Tonie Carroll'.
Thursday, 29 March 2007
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
"You'll end up like Leeds Utd", Spedding warns RFU
Richie Spedding had some words of advice for the Rugby Football Union today, as the player drain from League continues.
Chris Ashton will move to Northampton for a reported salary of £140,000 per annum. This is big money for a teenager, let alone one who has hardly played the game in the past, and certainly more than most - all, even - Rugby League clubs would be willing to pay. "I see a similar example from the football world and that is the catastrophe that was and is Leeds United", said Spedding in an exclusive interview. "The example I would refer to specifically is that of Seth Johnson, the then Derby winger signed by David O'Leary". Johnson was then an England U21 representative and making his way in the game. Leeds paid Derby a big fee, over £7m, and shelled out astronomical wages. "This is very similar to the case of Ashton, albeit on a smaller scale to reflect the differences in rugby income cf. football. He wasn't going to get £140,000 a year at Wigan and I doubt he'd have asked for it. Johnson was on £12k a week at Derby. He ended up with over £35k a week at Leeds. The RFU need to be careful. Many more of these raids will leave big holes in their finances. As we saw with Leeds, the gravy train comes to a halt somewhere - in their case, totally derailed and with a large number of casualties. The fans, mainly."
Spedding also cited flaws in Wigan's management of the strict salary cap as a contributory factor in Ashton's departure. "Maurice Lindsay may complain all he wants, but he's responsible for Wigan and has consistently mismanaged the cap, putting too much of it into too few players - mainly ageing and/or big-name overseas stars. This has led to him releasing a huge number of younger players to keep those few happy. It is he who must take responsibility for the drain of players away from Wigan."
There is a positive to the small but steady flow of players to the other game, however. "One thing it does say for our game", said our hero, "is that we're producing good players in good numbers. It's sad that the union game's youth development is so weak that they need to take what they perceive as a ready made player off the shelf from League rather than do their own dirty work. But it will bite them on the bum before too long."
Chris Ashton will move to Northampton for a reported salary of £140,000 per annum. This is big money for a teenager, let alone one who has hardly played the game in the past, and certainly more than most - all, even - Rugby League clubs would be willing to pay. "I see a similar example from the football world and that is the catastrophe that was and is Leeds United", said Spedding in an exclusive interview. "The example I would refer to specifically is that of Seth Johnson, the then Derby winger signed by David O'Leary". Johnson was then an England U21 representative and making his way in the game. Leeds paid Derby a big fee, over £7m, and shelled out astronomical wages. "This is very similar to the case of Ashton, albeit on a smaller scale to reflect the differences in rugby income cf. football. He wasn't going to get £140,000 a year at Wigan and I doubt he'd have asked for it. Johnson was on £12k a week at Derby. He ended up with over £35k a week at Leeds. The RFU need to be careful. Many more of these raids will leave big holes in their finances. As we saw with Leeds, the gravy train comes to a halt somewhere - in their case, totally derailed and with a large number of casualties. The fans, mainly."
Spedding also cited flaws in Wigan's management of the strict salary cap as a contributory factor in Ashton's departure. "Maurice Lindsay may complain all he wants, but he's responsible for Wigan and has consistently mismanaged the cap, putting too much of it into too few players - mainly ageing and/or big-name overseas stars. This has led to him releasing a huge number of younger players to keep those few happy. It is he who must take responsibility for the drain of players away from Wigan."
There is a positive to the small but steady flow of players to the other game, however. "One thing it does say for our game", said our hero, "is that we're producing good players in good numbers. It's sad that the union game's youth development is so weak that they need to take what they perceive as a ready made player off the shelf from League rather than do their own dirty work. But it will bite them on the bum before too long."
Monday, 12 March 2007
Spedding NFL deal scuppered
Ambitious NFL chiefs were over in Britain this week in an audacious attempt to acquire the services of Rugby League superstar Richie Spedding, but the deal was undermined after the mandarins from America attended the Hull KR v Leeds fixture.
As guests of Spedding at the game, they were highly impressed with the quarter-back skills of Danny McGuire who launched a spectacular 20-yard pass from the pocket for a Lee Smith score in the first half. As McGuire's wage demands are likely to be significantly lower than Spedding's, it's thought that they've turned their attentions in his direction instead. "While Spedding would be a massive boost for the NFL", said one insider, "they don't want to bankrupt the game just for the sake of it. And McGuire can do a job for us as he showed on Saturday at Craven Park."
As guests of Spedding at the game, they were highly impressed with the quarter-back skills of Danny McGuire who launched a spectacular 20-yard pass from the pocket for a Lee Smith score in the first half. As McGuire's wage demands are likely to be significantly lower than Spedding's, it's thought that they've turned their attentions in his direction instead. "While Spedding would be a massive boost for the NFL", said one insider, "they don't want to bankrupt the game just for the sake of it. And McGuire can do a job for us as he showed on Saturday at Craven Park."
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
"Discrimination is rife" claims Spedding
Huddersfield's complaint to the RFL about their players being discriminated against comes as no surprise to Rugby League legend Richie Spedding. "It is rife in the game", said the all-round hero. "Many a time a player has gone into the tackle aggressively on me and the referee penalised him when nothing warranted it", he continued, suggesting that referees are intimidated by his physical presence and devilish good looks. "How that applies to Huddersfield is a mystery though", he added before dashing off to Northern Ireland to monitor the Stormont elections.
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