Wigan Warriors legend calls for salary cap removal and makes Owen Farrell ‘£10 million’ claim

Rugby league great Martin Offiah has insisted Super League has to remove the salary cap if it wants to become one of the biggest sports in the United Kingdom: before stating the game should have paid ‘£10million’ to entice Owen Farell.

Offiah was part of one of the greatest Wigan sides in the history of the sport – and it was their dominance which largely led to the creation of the Super League salary cap, limiting what teams can spend.

That limit is still in place today but has remained largely stagnant while equivalents in the NRL and rugby union have grown significantly.

And Offiah, speaking to the Daily Mail, suggested it’s now time for the cap to be taken out of the equation to allow Super League’s biggest and best clubs to push the boundaries of the sport.

When asked if the cap should be removed, Offiah insisted: “Course it does. It came in with Super League because they didn’t want Wigan winning everything, but all it did was push everything down. Why do you think you can be the biggest sport paying the smallest wages? Who told you that’s a possibility?”

Offiah also admitted he felt rugby league had missed a trick by not pushing the boat out to bring Farrell back to the sport he played as a child.

Farrell has moved to France to continue his rugby union career with Racing 92, but it has long been assumed he would play league at some stage before hanging up his boots.

And Offiah insisted that was another watershed moment league let slip by and a move that would have created huge interest in the sport.

“If I was rugby league, I would have paid Owen Farrell £10m, a bit like Toronto with Sonny Bill Williams in 2020.

“No one is watching Farrell in France. But if they could have paid him £10m and got him to Wigan, the Brick Community Stadium would have been full every week and not only with Wigan fans.”

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