Players willing to accept wage cuts to save jobs and sport says Castleford Tigers’ Michael Shenton

Clubs across Super League have imposed pay cuts and furloughed staff in an attempt to cut costs during the coronavirus crisis, which has stripped them of matchday income from more than six weeks. There are fears some clubs may go under if the sport’s shutdown drags on for much longer and Shenton believes players have a big role to play in rugby league’s long-term survival.

“We have agreed for now we will take pay cuts, because we need to,” said the long-serving centre, who is in his testimonial year. The sport needs to survive and clubs need to survive – we have got to do the right thing.

“Lots of people are in the same boat and we’re not the type of people to stand in the way.”

There is still no clear indication as to when and in what format Super League might resume.

Shenton added: “I am sure work is going on behind the scenes, but the frustrating thing for me – and I am sure other players – is how quiet it is.

“We would like a bit more communication, but we’ve got the GMB [Union] who have been good for us and a lot more people have signed up to that, so we have a voice in the game which we’ve been wanting for a long time.”

For now, players’ main focus is on staying in shape so they can be ready to go when the call comes.

“We’ve been given some programmes to keep on top of our fitness as best we can,” said Shenton of Tigers’ squad.

“The club has distributed the gym equipment.

“We’re not blessed with loads of resources at the club so we’ve had to divide it as best we could, but I’ve got pretty much everything I need at home to stay in condition.

“The tough thing is the contact element of it, but I’d like to think we’d get a few weeks [to prepare] if we do get the season up and running at some point.”

Castleford’s final match before the suspension was a 28-14 home win over champions St Helens which lifted them to second in the table. Shenton recalled: “That was our best performance for a while, probably a couple of years, against a strong team.

“It was a hell of a performance, but we haven’t had a chance to review it or anything, we’ve just had to brush it under the carpet.

“It’ll be hard to come back and recapture that kind of form.”

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