Exeter could chase Saracens over commercial losses as Gloucester fans plan to wave fake money at Kingsholm

Rivals: Saracens and Exeter have competed for the Premiership title over recent seasons
Getty Images

Exeter Chiefs chairman and chief executive Tony Rowe is considering seeking legal advice as the fallout from Saracens’ salary cap breaches continues.

It was revealed this week, after a nine-month investigation, that Saracens had breached the Premiership’s £7million salary cap in each of the past three ­seasons. They were duly fined more than £5.3m and hit with a 35-point deduction.

Saracens play at Gloucester on Saturday in their first match since the punishment was handed down and fans at Kingsholm are expected to greet the visitors by waving fake money and wearing caps with the word ‘salary’ pinned to them.

The independent panel’s findings against Saracens have sparked uproar among the Premiership’s other clubs, with Exeter in particular aggrieved by this week’s revelations.

Exeter won the Premiership in one of the three seasons that Saracens were found to have breached the cap, but in the other two years they lost to them in the final.

Rowe has already called for Saracens to be relegated and he has now revealed he is considering taking legal advice, based on the argument that Saracens’ breaches cost the Chiefs commercial revenue.

“I think most of us in the Premiership have had suspicions for a while that there is something not quite right, because you have just got to look at the amount of top-quality players in the squad,” Rowe told BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight show.

“I think they had 20 ­players away at the World Cup. Well, it speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

“If I put my commercial hat on now, then yes, commercially, I am sure we would be in a totally different position today if we were triple champions of England, but we’re not. Maybe I will take advice, legal advice, on that.”

Speaking about the greeting planned for Saracens on Saturday, Bob Rumble, chairman of fans’ group Kingsholm Supporters Mutual, said: “I would think that we will give them a warm welcome.

“I imagine there will be a bit of extra spice and volume tomorrow. It is pretty inevitable, frankly. I did speak to some people who were sorting out buying fake money.

"I have also heard about some of our ­supporters suggesting that they have the word ‘salary’ pinned to their Peaky Blinders’ caps.

“It is always good humour, though. It won’t be hostile but rather more ­mickey-taking.”

The key to Exeter bringing any case against Saracens would revolve around the Chiefs, or other Premiership clubs, proving that a breach of contract had caused them monetary loss.

Exeter CEO Tony Rowe
Getty Images

For Exeter, their claim could be based around the fact that had they won three Premiership titles in a row, their ­commercial pulling power would be far greater.

Josh Charalambous, a commercial, disputes and sports lawyer at City firm RPC, said: “If clubs like Exeter were looking at options for claims, they would realistically be looking at a ­number of issues, like breach of contract and possible restitutionary claims.

"The particularly uncertain parts of any claim, though, would come in ­relation to remoteness of damages and quantifying the loses.

"From a timing perspective you’d expect clubs to await the outcome of Saracens’ challenge (currently expected around January) in order to take their time to explore all of the various options at their disposal.”

Exeter have been the most vocal club in hitting out at Saracens and their club’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, explained why.

“What people need to understand is when you read the salary cap rules, some of the very first fundamental principles are this is in place to create a level and fair playing field within this competition," he said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in