July 02, 2005

Hinton and Jahouer back out of Glasgow deals

Posted by Assistant Editor on July 2, 2005 02:06 PM | 5 comments | Print | E-mail author

Rida Jahouer, like Leigh Hinton, has backed out of his deal to play for Glasgow
It is reported in today's Herald that both Leigh Hinton and Rida Jahouer have reneged on the deals they had signed with Glasgow and will not be playing here next season.

Hinton is reported to have signed for Newport Gwent Dragons, while Jahouer is staying in France.

Glasgow believed that both players had agreed contracts, but they have now backed out of their deals.

Although it's the latest example of SRU administrators failing to get the final paperwork done on deals made by pro team coaches, Glasgow coach Hugh Campbell places the blame at the door of the players and their agents. "What concerns me most is a lack of business integrity and personal integrity," he said.

In both cases the players had signed heads of agreement which the Glasgow coach believed to be binding. However the SRU is currently re-drafting its terms and conditions - largely at the behest of agents who had found the previous ones overly complicated - and consequently the final contracts were not signed.

There seems to be little that Glasgow can do about the situation. "They're looking at the legal situation but the feedback we're getting from lawyers isn't very positive," said Hugh.

"It's getting to the stage where employment law is giving no protection to the employer and loads of protection to the employee. It seems that some agents are making commitments and then using that as a tool to get better deals elsewhere.

"We've probably had five players in all who have fitted into that category, three of them having agreed verbally, but these two had signed heads of agreement."

Glasgow are now looking at alternatives - Hugh Campbell says. "The market is not what it was, but we can for example look at rugby league players, because their season is different from ours. I'm still happy with the squad we've got - we have quality players - but we can't go into the season with only three back-three players."

Comments
Posted by Big Blue on July 2, 2005 09:06 PM | Reply to this comment

This is quite dreadful. Is anyone in control of day to day affairs at Murrayfield?

Posted by duncan on July 2, 2005 11:19 PM | Reply to this comment

Sad, however, if Glasgow/the SRU had to spend a little more time and money on the loyal Glasgow players contingent, everyone would benefit. Are all these contracts locked in, I wonder?

Posted by Highlandbrave75 on July 3, 2005 04:40 PM | Reply to this comment

Hugh Campbell blames the players and their agents? Not the first time contracts have been messed up by the SRU/Glasgow and the way things stand within SRU circles...certainly not the last.

Perhaps, in the world of professional sport, Mr Campbell should come to terms that "verbal agreements" no longer hold any real binding scenario within the game.

I’ve seen the original paperwork for signing pro terms and I have to say it’s a hell of alot worse than the paperwork you need to fill out for getting money your entitled to from the government!

Not the player nor their agent’s fault. If the blame game is to be given top billing now and needs addressed…perhaps it’s best to head closer to home.

As for the sigining of the "heads of agreement" paperwork perhaps the SRU should have kept the Glasgow Coach in check when they started re-jigging the contract paperwork.

Posted by hugh on July 3, 2005 06:27 PM | Reply to this comment

horses for courses

Posted by Big G on July 4, 2005 08:15 AM | Reply to this comment

Quite clearly both players hadn't signed conracts and were therefore free to sign contracts with other clubs. Hugh Campbell dont blame others for your (and the sru) shortcomings and mismanagament, the blame lies fairly and squarely at your door and at the SRU's.

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