Prinsloo: Franchises bound by President’s Council
2 Feb 2006
Saru CEO Johan Prinsloo has told keo.co.za that the decision to include the Spears in next year’s Super 14 cannot be overtuned by any entity other than the President’s Council.
Speaking after the CEOs of the six franchises met with him earlier today, Prinsloo would not however answer the direct question concerning whether the Spears will definitely play in next year’s competition.
“To say that would be controversial,” Prinsloo responded. “All I will say is that a decision from the President’s Council cannot be overturned by the CEOs of the franchises. My role as CEO of Saru is to execute the decisions of the President’s Council, not amend them.”
Prinsloo confirmed that consensus on the matter had not been reached.
“Two issues were not agreed to by all parties, the first concerning the automatic promotion/relegation proposal for the Super 14, and the second the draft system towards the end of the year. The finer detail of each proposal will be discussed at a later time, but at this stage there were disagreements with regard to the fundamental principles.”
Prinsloo stated that the meeting was not specially organised.
“Four times a year, the CEOs of the franchise companies get together with the CEOs of the various Saru bodies. This was a scheduled meeting.”
Essentially the outcome of the meeting leaves no party clearer as to the future of Super 14 participation. The Spears demand their inclusion, the five franchises in possession of Super 14 status reject their claims on the back of their recent canings in warm-up fixtures.
Despite the seemingly unresolvable position, Prinsloo does not believe a courtroom brawl is the inevitability most believe it to be.
“I’m always confident that anything can be solved.”
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE – ISSUED JOINTLY BY SARU AND FRANCHISE CEOS
Chief Executive Officers of the Vodacom Bulls, Vodacom Stormers, Vodacom Cheetahs, Cats, Sharks and the Southern Spears met with senior SA Rugby management today to discuss matters relating to the Participation Agreement for the forthcoming Vodacom Super 14 season.
The parties reached consensus on a number of issues, particularly on the commercial programme for the tournament during 2006. On the matter of automatic promotion and relegation, the parties decided – after a constructive debate – that the question should be further discussed after consultations with the Board of Directors of SA Rugby.
63 Comments
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2 Feb 2006, 18:35 pm
Richie
Sorry my mistake I thought Man U were still top. Did you throw the Man U kit away when you bought the Chelsea kit???
How much did you pay for your English Kit after RWC ’03.
2 Feb 2006, 18:36 pm
Shame Richie. Boooohooooo
2 Feb 2006, 18:39 pm
lmfao Shark, you got me. Next season you can wear a Blues jersey
2 Feb 2006, 18:43 pm
Richie
You’ve missed the point. (must have been during your nap)I’ve told I will support the Sharks forever.
Your surname must be Fairweather. Left the ****** sheep weather to come and soak up our sunshine.
2 Feb 2006, 18:43 pm
yes please slag bands as much as you can. makes richie look so much better, doesn’t it?
2 Feb 2006, 19:00 pm
aaaanyway, on the prinsloo issue: who knows, they just might find a solution. here’s hoping for the best.
2 Feb 2006, 19:21 pm
Guys, its common sense that they will monitor the Spears progress throughout the year. They won’t let them into the Super 14 if they clearly are not ready for it. SANZAR will also not invest in rubbish. So everyone fret not.
2 Feb 2006, 19:23 pm
Hey Blues boy (Ritchie), early riser nad, its like 06:20 in Auckland mate. Thats if you are a Kiwi or should I say JAFFA, just another **** from auckland??!! Remember the Bulls trouncing the Crusaders last year, same hiding will be dealt to your Blues!
Wait for it son
2 Feb 2006, 21:28 pm
Back on topic please.
Prinsloo says that they have to accept the decision of the Presidents Council. I suspect he is wrong. If that decision is binding, then what are they asking the franchises to sign? And why is it a problem if they don’t?
They will never keep this out of court. Previously they only had the Presidents Council and the 5 franchises to appease. Now the Spears have been working for months on the basis of a promise. They have a huge interest in promotion/relegation.
In the meantime, the players and supporters suffer. As usual.
2 Feb 2006, 21:50 pm
I do not think you can really blame the big 5 unions for not being too enamoured with the idea of possibly being relegated for coming last in the S14 this year. Firstly, their livelihoods are threatened and secondly they pretty much had the whole relegation issue forced on them when the politicians demanded presentations from each of the big 5 to justify their getting a S14 franchise for 2006.It was more or less go along with the relegation scheme or you might not even get a 2006 S14 franchise. The whole thing had political motives and undertones and nothing to do with rugby. Just remember a certain Garth Wright whining on about how the Eastern Cape was at the forefront of rugby development and transformation in SA etc. Obviously the Cheetahs deserve their place in the S14, even without their curry cup win it was clear that on rugby grounds there is merit in their inclusion in S14 2006 – good luck Cheetahs. Is there merit in the Spears inclusion at the expense of one of the established S14 franchises? On pure rugby grounds I do not believe this is the case. I do not believe they have the players, the infrastructure the supporters or the financial backing to be a success in the S14. This may be a bitter pill to swallow for many rugby fans in the Eastern Cape, but I believe it is the truth.
Having said all that, I personally think that the relegation system should be implemented as planned and that there should be no play-off between the team finishing last and the Spears. I do not believe the Spears would have a hope of beating a team that had come through a S14, even the bottom finishing side.
As a loyal and faithfull Sharks supporter I can think of nothing worse than my beloved Sharks being relegated out of the S14 and having no team to support in 2007. But will this be the end of the world? I think not. What I do think is that it is going to light a fire under the arses of every player and official involved in Sharks rugby and the days of simply turning up at the stadium and getting beaten will be a thing of the past. I am sure we will see a return of the spirit and determination that was so evident in the days of Mark Andrews, Teich and Lem. For too long now the big wigs at Kings Park have gone about business as usual, drawing their fat salaries irrespective of results. If relegation has the effect of changing this mind-set then I am all for it, painfull as it will inevitably be. And here I am not only talking from a Sharks perspective, I think this can be applied equally to our two other under-achieving franchises, the Cats and the Stormers.
I do believe however that some fairly clever and strict rules regarding poaching of players from the relegated team will have to be put into place, otherwise I fear the rule of unintended consequences will come into play, namely the players simply packing their bags and signing for the Spears and possibly the other franchises, which will be contrary to the intention of the whole plan, namely development of rugby outside of the big 5.
I also believe the whole relegation thing has added a lot of spark to the 2006 compo which I feel has been a bit lacking of late. So, if it is the Sharks that take the plunge I will not be a happy camper, but at the same time they just might emerge a hungrier and more focussed team than before.
Sorry for the verbal diarrhoea, but this is my first post of 2006 after battling to register – thanks for the help Ig.
Cheers
2 Feb 2006, 23:51 pm
J, great, you get us back to the topic. What is it with some on this site – not happy unless they are Tackler / Richie /sheep/ anything NZ bashing? Have they ever been there – their comments suggest they haven’t ever crossed the Vaal.
Can’t agree with your point on SA franchises coming back hungrier from a year in the wilderness. Players will move away overseas if they have to, supporters will do something else and it will take years to get the player / support base back to where it was. Have a look at earlier S12 games played at Loftus when the Bulls were struggling – half full. That is how fickle support
is there and surely what will happen even at Newlands if the Stormers lot in life is to play a few Currie Cup games there a year. Ditto the Sharks and Cats – the “Presidents Council” did not apply their minds and need to before they stuff up SA rugby more for political tokenism.
3 Feb 2006, 07:34 am
Trounced the Crusaders and then had their asses fed to them come semi’s time. Much like the Currie Cup final.
You one of those dumb ******** from Pretoria then mackie?
3 Feb 2006, 11:07 am
Richie,
Obviously your confused and your not quite sure where you fit in. In your little created wet dream fantacy your probably a kiwi (fruit) but as everybody else suspects, your not and I reckon your some stupid lonesome idiot. Im a South African working in Africa but I still remain a South African and I will never shy away from being one either, just a pity you dont have the balls or the brains to do the same. Maybe they paid you to get the hell out of SA, who knows?
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