The British and Irish Lions have confirmed that players selected for the 2025 summer tour of Australia will become the first to benefit from a profit-sharing model.
Lions players have traditionally been paid a flat tour fee with bonuses dependent on performance, but now squad members from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales will see players earn a portion of the tour profits.
The Lions have not yet clarified whether the new arrangement will replace or complement the traditional payment model. The Dublin-based company from which the Lions operate made €9.6 million in profit during the Covid-affected tour of South Africa in 2021. The previous tour to New Zealand yielded €9.3m in profit.
Rugby Players Ireland CEO Simon Keogh acted on behalf of players from all four unions to complete the profit-sharing deal for 2025 and beyond, which the Lions say will also yield increased collaboration with players around scheduling and preparation. It’s understood that players will particularly have input into their training schedule prior their departure for Australia, with Andy Farrell’s squad set to have a training camp before their pre-tour match against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on June 20.
SHELS HANGING ON
By Sunday afternoon we should have a better idea of who is in pole position to win this year’s League of Ireland Premier Division title. Shelbourne have been the leaders for most of the season and the Reds are still two points ahead of Derry City, with each having played 33 out of the total of the season’s 36.
Derry lost a big opportunity to go Monday night, but could only get a home draw against Sligo Rovers. Shels have struggled since Hull City recalled the excellent Will Jarvis in August from his loan spell at Tolka Park. Manager Damien Duff brought in former Irish international Aiden O’Brien, but he not been as impressive as Jarvis was. Shelbourne haven’t won a game since Aug. 31 when they beat Waterford 2-0 at Tolka and have only won twice in their last 14 games in all competitions. Waterford are the visitors to Tolka Park on Friday next, so it should be an interesting clash.
Currently, Shelbourne are on 54 points, with Derry 52, Shamrock Rovers 52, St. Patrick’s Athletic 50, and Galway United 50.
GAA PREZ KELLY
FACED THREATS
Former GAA president Seán Kelly recently revealed that got death threats during his campaign to amend Rule 42 back in 2005. In an interview with Hot Press, a music magazine, Kelly said he got ‘a lot of hassle’ over the issue and received some very unpalatable mail and unsavory phone calls with a lot of things being said that could have been upsetting. He said: ‘‘A lot of it I kept to myself because it would be upsetting for the family if they knew that was happening. Most time I just put it aside.’’
The vote to amend Rule 42 and open up Croke Park to other sport was eventually carried by huge majority of 227 to 97 votes. If Kelly had not campaigned for a ‘yes’ vote to use Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being re-built, it would have meant Irish Soccer and Rugby teams playing their homes games at venues in England and Wales. In the interview Keely, who is currently a Fine Gael MEP, admitted he has been approached by senior figures in Fine Gael to run for the Irish presidency next year when Michal D. Higgins’s term ends.
TOP CATS GO DOWN
Nine-time Kilkenny senior hurling champions James Stephens will be playing their championship hurling in the intermediate ranks next season after being relegated in a play-off against Glenmore 10 days ago. Known as The Village, the club is now managed by former Kilkenny manager Brian Cody. But beaten in a relegation play-off ends the city club’s 69-year stay in the top tier of the Kilkenny’s hurling championship.
Meanwhile Tipperary star Patrick “Bonner” Maher has announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. The Lorha clubman, who is 35 this week won three All-Ireland senior hurling titles, in 2010, 2016 and 2019, five Munster finals and two All-Stars awards.
And the Leitrim senior hurlers have a new manager next in Mike Wall. A former Kilkenny All-Ireland minor winner he recently stepped down as Kildarr’s camogie manager and he has previously managed the Camogie inter-county teams of Offaly and Kilkenny.
PRISON TIME FOR STOKES
Former Republic of Ireland footballer Anthony Stokes, 36, has been jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to possessing almost €4,000 of cocaine for sale and supply. The ex-Celtic and Sunderland player also pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving during a pursuit in which he reached a speed of 160km/h while driving over the legal limit shortly after midnight on January 6th, 2023. He also admitted not producing a driving licence and not having motor insurance. He was sentenced by Judge Gráinne Malone at Dublin District Court on Tuesday last week after it emerged that he failed a recent drug test. Stokes also entered an additional guilty plea to possessing 86 illegal tablets in Cabinteely about 10 days after the traffic pursuit, which the judge regarded as an aggravating factor. The judge refused to suspend any of the sentence and also imposed a five-year driving ban on Stokes, who lodged €1,000 and was released on bail pending an appeal.
MADDEN SET FOR RETURN
Former Dublin minor footballer James Madden could be back in the blue of Dublin next year. The 25-year-old, who played his club football in Dublin for Ballyboden St Enda’s, announced last week that he was quitting AFL club Brisbane Lions to return home to play Gaelic football. He made his AFL debut in 2021 and played 13 games for the club between 2021 and 2023. Madden broke the AFL Draft Combine 20-metre sprint record at the European Combine in Dec. 2017 clocking 2.69 seconds.
JOHAN NEESKENS, 73
The death occurred last week of form Netherlands midfielder Johan Neeskens at the age of 73. Neeskens was an integral part of a famed Dutch side along with Johan Cruyff which finished runners-up at the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, winning 49 caps for his country. After a glittering playing career where he won three European Cups with Ajax and starred at Barcelona before retiring in 1991, Neeskens went on to become a successful coach with assistant roles at Netherlands, Australia, Barca and Galatasaray. Neeskens died last week while in Algeria.
Also former Liverpool player Peter Cormack died last week at the age of 78. The Scottish-born midfielder spent four years at Anfield during the reigns of Bill Shankly and Bill Paisley, making 178 appearances for the club, scoring 26 goals. Cormack arrived in Merseyside in the summer of 1972 from Nottingham Forest and played a major part in helping Shankly’s win the First Division title for the first time in seven years. In the same season, Cormack played every minute of Liverpool’s UEFA Cup win over Borussia Monchengladbach, the club’s first major trophy win in Europe. He went on to win the FA Cup as a red, playing a key role in the side that beat Newcastle to the trophy in 1974. Despite Shankly's decision to leave the club at the end of that season, Cormack decided to stay on at Anfield and fight for his place. However, in December 1975, he suffered a serious knee injury that curtailed his time at the club earlier than expected. Peter went on to play for Bristol City, Hibernian, where he started his career and Partick Thistle before retiring from club football in 1980. He won 9 Scottish caps and later managed clubs from the lower leagues in Scotland.
And the League of Ireland lost one of its legends last week with the passing of manager Billy Bagster. The 80-year-old Dubliner was a familiar sight at various grounds, sporting a Trilby hat and smoking a French Gitanes cigarette. He was assistant manager to Charlie Walker at St Pat’s when they ‘discovered’ Paul McGrath. Later Billy was No. 2 to Brian Kerr when the Saints won the League in 1988. He later managed Longford Town and Monaghan United, when they were promoted to the Premier Division of the League of Ireland.
