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Threat of player bans may trigger antitrust scrum for rugby

By Lewis Crofts ( October 9, 2025, 09:23 GMT | Comment) -- An antitrust bust-up looms for the world of rugby after its major governing bodies united in banning players from international games if they join the breakaway R360 competition. The standoff revisits a familiar playbook that saw European football and its biggest clubs embroiled in four years of litigation over the power to run the sport. While bans raise an antitrust specter, rugby’s structure differs from football’s, possibly complicating some counter-arguments.The ball is a different shape but the game is the same: a breakaway league rattles a sport’s governing body, which retaliates by saying that any player who signs up faces a ban from international competitions....

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