Rugby’s rebel league: How would it work and will players face international exile?

Telegraph Sport looks at plans for a global breakaway competition that would feature the top 200 players in the world

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Plans for a breakaway global rugby league featuring the top 200 players in the world playing for eight franchise clubs at “Formula One style” festivals across major cities are said to be in advanced stages.
Telegraph Sport revealed the seismic plans to rip up the game as we know it, which could put the world’s best players on a collision course with their clubs and countries.
The move represents an immediate challenge for World Rugby’s new chairman Brett Robinson, who has warned that the sustainability of the game is “at crisis point”.
Here, Telegraph Sport looks at the plans and what comes next…
The poaching of the world’s top 200 players, playing for eight franchise clubs at 14 “Formula One style” festivals across the world’s major cities, backed by a US consortium which also includes funds from the UK. The consortium’s identity at this stage remains unknown. They are targeting a start date of 2026 for the new tournament.
How much cash this consortium has in the coffers is a mystery, but a respected source within rugby finance has told Telegraph Sport that they estimate such a venture would require around £500 million of funding. Such a gargantuan total would be required to pay the top players out of their current contracts, offer them significant salary improvements, cover team costs, and also prepare for any potential litigation from unions and clubs.
That remains to be seen. A source told Telegraph Sport that “there will be a full release for international games because that is the pinnacle for every player” but how that would work in reality is a mystery. There is a chance that players would have to choose between this league’s riches or continued international representation, in a situation that would not be too dissimilar to LIV’s golfers being initially blocked from playing in the Ryder Cup. However there might, in time, be a compromise.
Again, although concrete answers are lacking, players would almost definitely be forced to leave their current club commitments and, presumably, would be bought out of and freed from their current contracts by the consortium.
Well, money talks. If this group possesses the mammoth funds that would be required, and are also willing to release players for international eligibility, then there is a chance the unions would be powerless to stop it. It should be said, however, that neither the unions nor clubs would ever allow their prize assets to leave without a fight. Whether that is in the courts remains to be seen, but chances are that any competition would not be breaking the law per se, although for the time being it is probably working outside of World Rugby’s regulations. The game’s governing body will not lie down without a fight, either.
Watch this space. Telegraph Sport has spoken to several agents who have signed non-disclosure agreements and several others who have not but are aware of approaches for players.
The mood music is that the project is at an “advanced stage” but there are still many notable hurdles to jump. Those close to the project are convinced that it is not pie-in-the-sky thinking, and that the saga is set to develop and rumble, but one wonders whether a Premiership or Top 14 club owner would take the same view. Right now, all we can do is wait and watch.
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