Cash-strapped Lions tighten belts
18 Dec 2011
The Golden Lions Rugby Union insists it will be able to pay its players despite having ‘financial difficulties’.
GLRU deputy president Altmann Allers told the Sunday Times that the union is in ‘the process of huge restructuring’ and that ‘people have been retrenched’, but dismissed reports that player salaries would not be paid this month.
‘I wonder if the rumours will go away when the players get paid this week?’ Allers countered. ‘It is true that we are going through some financial difficulties but the players’ salaries will not be affected. I don’t know if it is a misunderstanding or if someone misinterpreted the situation, but we are going to meet our obligations in 2012 and beyond. We are in financial difficulty but that is exactly why we are cutting back.
‘There are a number of players whose contracts we didn’t renew,’ he added, careful not to go into specifics. ‘We are in negotiations to terminate [the contracts of] 13 others.’
Allers estimates the union will have 40 to 45 senior contracted players in 2012, 30 fewer than last season.
919 Comments
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19 Dec 2011, 14:13 pm
@Dawn-99: A draw
19 Dec 2011, 14:13 pm
@Dawn-100: second or third hand knowledge?
19 Dec 2011, 14:14 pm
@Michael-101:
At the end of reading that brawll, I find myself asking ….
so …….. what was the question again?
19 Dec 2011, 14:16 pm
@Michael-97: Strike 1: 1997 – In 2007 Sharks made the final and should have won, Strike 2: Sharks made playoffs in 2008. Strike 3: If it wasn’t for the Bulls gimme in 2010 it is quite conceivable that the Sharks or Tahs would have made the playoffs…
Ahem…lol
Whoosa idiot?
19 Dec 2011, 14:17 pm
Hehe.
I confess, all I have to go on is past history. And so I went and studied the rich history that is SA trophy success in Super Rugby…
And what I found is that the pattern requires a couple of years of making the play offs prior to a team experiencing trophy success.
Now, this may be a road that requires patience, but not so much as that of the team that are perpetual bridesmaids, seeing the promised land but never entering it and living in neverending hope that their moment in the sun will also arrive, eventually.
So, I’m giving it 2 years before the men in blue are top of the world once more.
19 Dec 2011, 14:17 pm
@Heavens Game-104:
You are!
19 Dec 2011, 14:18 pm
@Heavens Game-104: Hey twit, ’97 was a typo for ’07 and the fact is you didn’t win. I said I forgot about ’08 and the fact is simply you didn’t make it afterwards, no matter how you whinge.
Your golden period was in the Ian MacIntosh days. Talk about holding onto past glories.
19 Dec 2011, 14:18 pm
The Lions should be happy with a mid table finish
19 Dec 2011, 14:18 pm
@Tacitus-105:
Such reasoning blows my mind.
19 Dec 2011, 14:18 pm
@Tacitus-105: Might well be, as long as Meyer remains with the Bulls.
19 Dec 2011, 14:19 pm
Stormers and Sharks to fly the flag for S.A in the play-offs.
19 Dec 2011, 14:20 pm
@Tacitus-105: sounds about right.
19 Dec 2011, 14:23 pm
@Michael-107: It may have been a typo, but coming from you it wasn’t that obvious. Again, 2007 and 2008, Ian MacIntosh was not the coach…(Just in case you didn’t know that too or it may be another “typo”) Yes, not a “golden period” but pretty much par for the course for the mighty Sharks… playoffs are expected.
19 Dec 2011, 14:24 pm
What is the Stormers recent superugby results?
19 Dec 2011, 14:25 pm
@Dawn-106: Yes? The Prawn whiff is strong even from here in Doha.
19 Dec 2011, 14:26 pm
@Heavens Game-113: If the Sharks can sustain their performances they would make the final every year. They always start strongly for the first 6 weeks of the comp and then fade as the tournament goes on.
19 Dec 2011, 14:30 pm
@Tacitus-105: Yes. That team took a few years to win the Currie Cup for the first time in 1990… But when the seal was broken for the first time the Currie Cup was then pretty much owned by the Black and Whites for the better part of a decade…contrary to the “Never again in a 100 years” wisdom of Buck Tooth “Siener” Botha. Again, that same pattern has emerged from 2010 onwards with the CC… Along with this phenomenon, it looks like this could be Sharks year for Super Rugby too…
Team of the 90′s = Team of the 10′s
This coming from the true Sharks “siener”…
19 Dec 2011, 14:32 pm
@Heavens Game-81:
how does being a ‘farken consistently good side’ make you any money?
you have not won anything in the last 5 years save two cc titles and you also dont really ‘pack them in’ at the tank.
i’m just curious to know your reasoning?
19 Dec 2011, 14:34 pm
@Sasuke-116: Yes. You are right. But better to underachieve than overachieve like the Stormers bringing a continual false dawn… Yup, the Stormers… perpetual morning glory dysfunction….
19 Dec 2011, 14:37 pm
@Tacitus-105:
“but not so much as that of the team that are perpetual bridesmaids”
just who do you refer to here?
19 Dec 2011, 14:40 pm
@Heavens Game-115:
Maggot
19 Dec 2011, 14:43 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-118: Let me be explicit:
- Successful merchandising
- Consistently high season ticket and suite holder sales
- Consistent match day crowd attendance
- Successful Branding strategy
- Half decent management (relative to most other SA Unions – daylight in between though not excellent)
All = Money in the bank.
Income > Costs leading to a bigger surplus year on year than most other unions.
Cumulatively over the entire history of Super Rugby – probably the most successful Union financially in the entire competition.
Simple. Get that?
19 Dec 2011, 14:43 pm
@Heavens Game-117:
“contrary to the “Never again in a 100 years” wisdom of Buck Tooth “Siener” Botha”
19 Dec 2011, 14:46 pm
@Dawn-99: Like Yin and Yang those two. They almost sell the concept single handedly.
19 Dec 2011, 14:47 pm
@Dawn-121: Maggot, huh? Prawny, are you flirting with me? Here, let me serenade you…
You’re a b.um
You’re a p.unk
You’re an old s.lut on j.unk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you ma.ggot
You cheap lousy fa.ggot
Happy Christmas your a.rse
I pray G.od it’s our last
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing “Galway Bay”
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day
19 Dec 2011, 14:50 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-123: Ja, guess he didn’t see the “right” future, hey?
I fear Tacitus may be looking in the same farked up Crystal ball…
19 Dec 2011, 14:55 pm
@Heavens Game-113: Those two years, and the one earlier final with Straeuli, were an abnormality in what has been nothing but mediocrity since MacIntosh departed. Fact is that the Sharks have been the third best SA franchise for the last couple of years and the trend looks to continue with Bosman on your books, no real backup for Lambie and a return to trying to buy success.
Loyalty is admirable. Self-delusion is not.
19 Dec 2011, 14:57 pm
@Sasuke-114:
’11: semis
’10: finals
’09: not worth mentioning
’08: 5th
The Banana Boys have got a long way to go to making the semis again.
19 Dec 2011, 14:58 pm
@Heavens Game-122:
oh ok.
- i will agree that the sharks definetely have a very good branding strategy and are successful at merchandising the sharks products (whatever they may be).
- i dont know enough of the management so accept your word.
- are season ticket and suite holder sale really that high?
- i think that ‘consistent match day crowd attendance’ is a debatable statement (how do the sharks compare against all of the super rugby franchises as well as cc and vc? are they in the top 4 or 5?)
- perhpas its more fair to say they have a consistent enough crowd attendance to make extra cash but that this figure is avaraged out and most importantly includeds any and all playoffs that the sharks have made in recent times, without which their attendance figures would probably drop signaficantly.
i am curous to know if they are the most successful union financially.
you fail to mention sponsorship/partnership deals like, for instance, the mr price relationship and how much that brings in?
i do know that mr price sells a lot of clothing.
19 Dec 2011, 15:03 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-129: Yes, sponsorship/partnership deals play their part. Interesting that the Sharks could afford to do the “go and whistle” to ABSA for the Stadium naming rights too.
19 Dec 2011, 15:03 pm
I am trying to paint a picture in my mind of Tac kitted out in his new Bulls jumper
Not a pretty sight…
19 Dec 2011, 15:04 pm
Classy.
19 Dec 2011, 15:06 pm
I find this part particularly “endearing”.
“You’re a b.um
You’re a p.unk
You’re an old s.lut on j.unk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you ma.ggot
You cheap lousy fa.ggot
Happy Christmas your a.rse
I pray G.od it’s our last”
19 Dec 2011, 15:06 pm
@Heavens Game-122: “probably the most successful Union financially in the entire competition”? Like your Malta “probably” nonsense, eh. The Crusaders will have something to say about that.
At least Tac says what he writes is his own opinion. You state yours are “probably” or “fact”; how very British.
19 Dec 2011, 15:07 pm
@Bod-131: Fark, I reckon Puma have pulled a fast one over the people of Pretoria with that one… Watch for the Lightning Bolt Blue clothing trend on the highveld in 2012. lol
19 Dec 2011, 15:09 pm
@Michael-128:
technically they come in sixth on the log for the 2011 sr season.
still only second to the stormers, out of the sa franchises though.
19 Dec 2011, 15:09 pm
@Michael-128: What happened in 09′ I cannot remember?
19 Dec 2011, 15:10 pm
@Michael-134: My Malta “nonsense” proved beyond a doubt that you, despite your supposed letters behind your name, can not do simple division, research or critical thinking for that matter…
But then again, bone brushing or dusting, doesn’t really require simple maths, eh?
19 Dec 2011, 15:10 pm
@Michael-128: Thanks
19 Dec 2011, 15:11 pm
@Dawn-133: Yes, Dawny… You and me, hey… How about it?
Whiplash and HG doing the Keo whoopi…
19 Dec 2011, 15:12 pm
@Heavens Game-122: Can you back that up with actual figures?
Maybe some sort of financial announcement or Balance Sheet/ I/s?
Or are you, as usual, just mouthing off?
The only actual reported figure that I can recall is the average gate takings. Which puts WPRU consistently ahead of the Sharks by some margin.
I’m open to correction, but backed by hard facts.
Has there ever been a credible study on brand value?
Would be keen to see it.
19 Dec 2011, 15:13 pm
@Heavens Game-122:
Sharks are the biggest chokers in super rugby plenty of hot air no silverware.
19 Dec 2011, 15:14 pm
@Bod-131:
Pretty in pink.
And to think they laughed at the Stormers jersey this year.
What comes around,goes around.
19 Dec 2011, 15:18 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-136: It’s a sad state of affairs when a franchise with a center pairing of Oupa and Turnstile come in 6th.
People like HG are never representative of the types of people supporting a SA franchise, imo. South Africa needs all its franchises to do well. I fear though that the Sharks will not achieve their previous glories until they learn that developing youngsters is the way to go, ala the Stormers and Bulls.
19 Dec 2011, 15:22 pm
@Sasuke-137: Rassie was the coach in ’09 and couldn’t sustain his ’08 success in reviving the fortunes of the Stormers. I don’t remember in what position they finish except that it was very piss-poor.
19 Dec 2011, 15:23 pm
@Heavens Game-138: Spoken like a true blind right-whinger.
19 Dec 2011, 15:24 pm
@stormersboy-141: He is mouthing off again – good at proclaiming his delusions as certainties, with reality being hot air.
19 Dec 2011, 15:24 pm
@NZINCHINA-142: Yup.
19 Dec 2011, 15:25 pm
I’ve done a quick analysis on the last years of Super Rugby. Using a simple points system I’ve awarded 3 points to the winners of the comp, 2 points to the runners up and 1 point to the losing semi finalists.
Based on that formula the success of the “top tier SA teams” looks like this:
Last year:
Stormers 1 point (losing semi)
Rest of SA: 0
Last 2 years:
Bulls 3 points
Stormers 3 points
Rest of SA: 0
Last 3 years:
Bulls 6 points
Stormers 3 points
Rest of SA: 0
Last 5 years:
Bulls 6 points
Stormers 3 points
Sharks 3 points
Last 10 years:
Bulls 8 points
Stormers 4 points
Sharks 3 points
HG has a point
I think that the “top tier” is too large. It’s really only 2 teams. The Bulls and the Stormers.
19 Dec 2011, 15:25 pm
@Michael-147:
he’s like the goodyear blimp
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