Rugby transfer window 'the only answer'

Wednesday 3 March 2010
Published By: Amy Nicholson
Magners League > Ospreys

Creating a transfer window would be the only way to ensure that all moves between rugby clubs are above board, ensuring that loopholes are not being exploited, one source has claimed.

A pundit named Hersh, writing for the BBC, said that the Ricky Januarie affair has only served to highlight how clubs are willing to bring in a "ringer" to help them win crucial games in the biggest tournaments, before suffering the consequences (or dodging them, as the case may be), at a later date.

Full investigations by the ERC resulted in the Ospreys being cleared of all wrongdoing after signing Januarie on what was first announced as a two-month deal, even though the minimum contract length for a player to represent a side in the Heineken Cup is three months

Hersh claimed this gave the ERC the chance to knock such activities on the head but the result is that the club were let off the hook.

"I hope that in the future that a transfer window is set in place as they have in football to put an end to this un-sportsmanship behaviour, as in the long run this will damage the once great game even more than it is already," he said.

Posted by Amy Nicholson