Rob Andrew, Newcastle Falcons' director, said yesterday that he believed football clubs could learn from rugby in ensuring their financial future.
Three years ago Newcastle were losing more than £2m a year and facing bankruptcy. Now Newcastle are close to showing a profit and with perhaps a third of the nation's football clubs facing financial problems the lessons learnt by rugby could prove invaluable.
"I think we went through a difficult learning curve of not really understanding the finances of the professional game from day one. Some teams had £3m-£4m wage bills and huge squads of 40 plus players. There was no sense of balancing revenue with costs.
"Nationally, when you now look at where rugby has got to we are in a good position as a sport and an industry. We have made mistakes but learnt from them and put in place a set of sensible structures to ensure rugby's survival. I'm sure football would love to be in the same position."
He highlighted the co-operation between clubs, the Rugby Football Union, sponsors and television to ensure a solid basis for the professional game. The £1.8m salary cap had been instrumental in helping balance the books.
Andrew revealed that negotiations were under way to extend the contract of the England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, who was yesterday named club captain.
Wilkinson has one more year on his contract and though the director of rugby was not talking figures it is reasonable to assume that a fair chunk of the savings from last season's wage bill will be used to keep Wilkinson.
· Ben Tune will fly to Johannesburg this morning to play for Australia against South Africa on Saturday night, having escaped punishment for taking a prohibited drug.
A tribunal found Tune guilty of breaching the doping by-laws by taking the banned drug probenecid, which can be used as a masking agent, but it acknowledged he was acting on the advice of the Queensland Reds' medical team to counter an infection in a gashed knee last year.
In response the International Rugby Board will call an urgent meeting of its anti-doping advisory committee after recveiving details of the tribunal's deliberations. A spokesman said: "The advisory committee may either accept the result or refer the matter to an independent board appeal committee for further consideration." Tune said: "It's been an issue that has been bugging us for a little while now. To have it put behind us is a huge relief."
· The International Rugby Board is to hold discussions with the South African board about pitch security for next year's World Cup after the incident on Saturday when the referee David McHugh was attacked by the Springboks' fan Pieter van Zyl during the South Africa-New Zealand match in Durban. Van Zyl has been banned for life from attending matches in South Africa and charged with assault.
An IRB spokesman said: "There will be some very serious discussions about pitch security at the World Cup."
