Sanzar must call SA’s boycott bluff
12 Feb 2012
South Africa’s five existing Super Rugby franchises have threatened to pull out of the competition in 2013 – if six South African teams are not accommodated. MARK KEOHANE says Sanzar needs to call their bluff.
Once again the tail is wagging the dog. Once again Saru’s leadership is being shown as pathetic and without bite.
Oregan Hoskins, the greatest of disappointments as a leader, needs to stand tall and dismiss the threats of the five South African regions. He won’t and the regions will continue to hold the national governing body to ransom, when it should be the other way around.
Rapport newspaper’s sports editor Rudolph Lake wrote of a meeting between the five regions, a meeting sanctioned by Saru, in which they would look at solutions to the Kings’ entry into Super Rugby in 2013. The same regions, whose leadership had unanimously accepted the Kings’ 2013 entry more than two years ago, now feel the need for crisis meetings, in which the only solution is to accommodate six South African teams.
Now comes the threat that all five South African regions will boycott the tournament if they don’t get their own way. Any proper leadership will tell you they have no option but to play in the tournament. If they don’t they are in breach of existing contracts, they lose their primary source of income and they won’t have a region, let alone players.
It makes for a dramatic headline. It sounds spectacular. But there is no way they should even be in a position to make such a demand.
Sanzar’s board members should be laughing at South African administrators who are nothing but an embarrassment with their insular agendas and motives.
On Sunday the City Press sports section was led by an expose of the Golden Lions Rugby Union’s finances. Leading Media24 investigative journalist Jacques Pauw reveals that the Lions liabilities exceeded assets by R46.6 million in 2007, by R49.6 million in 2008, by R63 million in 2009 and by R73 million in 2010. It shows the Lions owing R38 million to Absa for an overdraft facility, R18 million to businessmen Robert Gumede and Ivor Ichikowitz, R14 million to Saru, R5 million to former coach Dick Muir, R6.8 million to the Leopards Rugby Union and R4.5 million to the Pumas Rugby Union.
Who are the Lions to threaten a boycott of the tournament?
Hoskins confirmed to Lake he had received a letter from the five regions with the threat of the boycott and that he was ‘shocked and disappointed’.
Come on, Regan. Show some leadership. You can’t always be shocked and disappointed. Sending the letter to the other nine provinces for input is also not about leadership, but more denial.
If the five ‘traditional’ provinces don’t want to play in Super Rugby, then kick them out and play the next five. Forget about provincial identities and focus on the players. The players will move to where the playing opportunity is.
The five traditional unions, among them the cash-strapped Lions and Cheetahs, have no position of strength when it comes to Super Rugby participation.
The bluff to force an expansion of Super Rugby from 15 to 16 teams and six South African teams should not be tolerated within Sanzar. If SA does not play ball, as per the agreed Sanzar deal and broadcasting arrangement, then Sanzar and the broadcasters should sue Saru and the respective regions/provinces.
What we are seeing here is how administrators in South African rugby have always conducted their business, be it by bullying or bluffing. The threat to withdraw should be a threat from Sanzar to kick them out.
Hoskins, in his time as Saru president, has never made a hard decision to show he is in charge. He has failed transformation and failed at everything that requires a decision and potential confrontation.
Don’t expect this situation to be any different, although I’d like to think those wizards in New Zealand and Australia have slightly more business acumen and a bigger set of balls to tell South Africa’s traditional five to F-off and stop their shenanigans.
Saru should have dealt with who falls out long before they gave the Kings the OK to play in the 2013 tournament. If it is on historical performance then the Lions must go. And if you look at their finances they should have gone ages ago.
307 Comments
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12 Feb 2012, 18:12 pm
Aother one bites the dust!
The hills are alive with their sound of muzak.
12 Feb 2012, 18:12 pm
@PissAnt-131:
sorry, but you are very ignorant to the responsibilities the unions have to their players and the lengh of planning and investment involved.these unions recruit and nurture young sa rugby players from the ages of 18 years old with the hope that with the correct enviroment and training provided some of these youngsters will be superrugby ready in 5 years time. To suddenly turn off the lights next january is not a viable nor responsible solution in the grander scheme of things in my opinion.
Ironically, that is exactly the spears argument withregards to their inclusion and initial 3 season grace period. They need time to build and nurture a superrugby franchise.
the real solution withregards to superrugby is to include all 6 franchises, expand the superrugby format to 18 teams and radically change the playing format.Personally, I would like to see a champions league like playing schedule with pools,seeded teams leading to knockout format home and away with a pre-allocated final.
To me, timing and lack of planning is the real problem now and for that the blame can be laid squarely ar saru’s feet. this should have been disscussed 3 seasons ago with sanzar, and when i say disscussed……I mean we (SA) would need to get exactly what we want or have the bollocks to withdraw entirely from sanzar and buggeroff to play heineken cup.
12 Feb 2012, 18:14 pm
Thats the Game
12 Feb 2012, 18:14 pm
Uh oh!
12 Feb 2012, 18:15 pm
difference between Wales and Scotland is when Wales get into the strike zone they invariably score, contrast to Scotland who make a huge song and dance getting within range of scoring and then they invariably don’t.
I guess they call it possessing killer instinct.
12 Feb 2012, 18:15 pm
@Captain Jack-146:
Seeing as the franchise agreements end next year, they shouldn’t offer contracts based on that assumption of automatic renewal. Remember that the unions contract players, knowing that SARU will subsidise their salaries when they play for the Franchise.
12 Feb 2012, 18:16 pm
I say again.
Let me coach these scots for just ONE game.
12 Feb 2012, 18:17 pm
All over rover good night nurse!
12 Feb 2012, 18:19 pm
@David-156:
well David, you can’t have it both ways. if the franchises didn’t offer players decent lengh (2-4 year contracts), do you think they would be staying in SA to be playing for Currie cup salaries?
no way hose….they’d all be playing overseas
12 Feb 2012, 18:19 pm
Halfpenny!
12 Feb 2012, 18:20 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-159:
Exactly.
12 Feb 2012, 18:20 pm
@Tacitus-145:
Your post at 141 is sucking figures out of your thumb and assuming you know what every single rugby fan wants.
The ‘Kings entitlement syndrome’? What about the Lions/Bulls/Cheetahs/Sharks/WP ‘entitlement syndromes’? What do you base that on? In Super Rugby and professional rugby’s infancy the ‘smaller, insignificant’ unions handed out beatings to the so-called big 5 regularly up and till the point where automatic, continuous Super Rugby entrenchment (of the big 5) made it impossible for them to compete financially.
Your previous question about the Lions and where they might find themselves seem to suggest you agree that without SR participation any union will struggle to survive or find themselves in the position the Kings find themself in right now.
THAT suggests you are 100% right about an entitlement syndrome, what you however base this justified entitlement on is where we differ completely.
12 Feb 2012, 18:20 pm
Gahhhh
12 Feb 2012, 18:20 pm
Jock thats about it unfortunately.
Scots should look at getting Mallet if he doesn’t end up at the poms
12 Feb 2012, 18:22 pm
Wales at their devastating best despite all the grouses.
12 Feb 2012, 18:23 pm
@PissAnt-162:
I base it on real market research. Which I think you are quite familiar with.
12 Feb 2012, 18:23 pm
You all see how gorge rory lamont is!
12 Feb 2012, 18:24 pm
@Captain Jack-164:
Yep, another game of whatif.
Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooo, wtf nowwwwww
12 Feb 2012, 18:25 pm
2nd weekend, 2nd disallowed try
12 Feb 2012, 18:26 pm
Who cares if they lose they look good doing it.
And that was a try.
12 Feb 2012, 18:27 pm
high drama in the scot/wales game!
12 Feb 2012, 18:27 pm
Real market research ?give us the sources or should we just accept that you are talking ****?
12 Feb 2012, 18:27 pm
@stormersboy-148:
SB, you’re a businessman. If you had an office in PTA that was one of your best producers and another in Jhb that was a financial nightmare and constantly at the bottom of the pile, what would you do if given the opportunity to chose between retaining both offices in Gauteng or opening another in a market where the potential client base was much bigger? I know what I would do.
12 Feb 2012, 18:27 pm
@Captain Jack-146:
Again, so its okay to ruin the Eastern Cape unions but not the Lions or Cheetahs? With Super Rugby participation what has these two unions achieved in the last 5 years?
Did they build rugby empires with all that money and resources? Or did they fail every single year to make any impact in Super Rugby using their resources to achieve some success in a worthless Currie Cup competition?
Just what entitlement do they have?
@stormersboy-148:
So let them bid again when the franchise licenses comes up for grabs at the end of this year and let’s see how it goes?
@Tacitus-150:
That is because the Lions still owe them over 6-million.
12 Feb 2012, 18:30 pm
@PissAnt-174:
Well exactly, so WITHOUT that R6m from the Lions, they still outperformed the Kings, despite the Kings being based in a Metropole, with 1.3m residents?
12 Feb 2012, 18:30 pm
Scot forwards had too many mars bars
12 Feb 2012, 18:31 pm
@PissAnt-174:
Eastern Cape rugby ruined itself during the 90′s. Now they are reaping the consequences of that.
12 Feb 2012, 18:31 pm
@PissAnt-162: I think that someone is sucking numbers out of thin air if they expect anyone to believe that the EC has more clubs and players than anywhere else in the country. I suspect that what is happening is that rural villages assemble 22 youngsters, calling themselves a club … running around some dirt patch on a Saturday afternoon, in an effort to please the elders. Seriously can anyone verify the existence of these clubs that the EC boast?
12 Feb 2012, 18:31 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-159:
That’s why we should look at central contracting. SARU currently subsidises the players S15 salary, as it is.
12 Feb 2012, 18:32 pm
Keep going Tac. Some gravitas is needed here to counter my nervous blathering.
12 Feb 2012, 18:34 pm
Are allblacksareknobs and capo related?
They both like to repeat the same thing over and over.
It’s like their tiny brains can only cope with one thought at a time.
As for “comfortably dumb” khakiballs in filly.
“Sort after”?
Lobotomised gibbon.
12 Feb 2012, 18:34 pm
PA what I am saying is that everybody should get a franchis lisence and that saru should backtrack on entry for the KIngs in 2013 and let them in in 2015 or they should use SA financial superiority to force sanzar into accepting another team. Or Combine the Sharks and KIngs for a few years and in 2015 let the Kings go it alone. That way nobody loses out. The Kings could do with a few more years to get their structures right and do some player developement because they are terrible at the mo.
12 Feb 2012, 18:35 pm
Slowmo is the best thing ever in rugby
12 Feb 2012, 18:36 pm
@Tacitus-175: well actually the Pumas also owe the Lions some money. So after the you owe me this and I owe you that is balanced the Lions may end up paying the Pumas nothing … still the Pumas were able to compete in the premier division and moer the Kings in the promotion relegation match.
12 Feb 2012, 18:37 pm
@RL-178:
Well of course. Did anyone ever think it was anything different?
In Jo’burg a guy works full day, travels through traffic and still has the passion to go to club practice at night. His wife provides food for the club get together, and the entire family sacrifice their Saturdays to spend it at the rugby field.
That’s a rugby club in Gauteng.
In the Eastern Cape, 15 unemployed 20-somethings run around a dusty pitch, playing against 15 other unemployed barefoot guys, and this is now a rugby club.
Yet, when the Kings get formed, they are gonna buy the 30 year old Joburg guy to come and play in PE, and those 30 villagers from the Transkei hills will remain a number used to inflate the Kings’ justification for existence.
12 Feb 2012, 18:37 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-152:
And again I must say it is a case of everyone is equal some just more equal than others it seems.
Why should only the big 5 unions be allowed to identify, recruit and develop players from 18 years old and invest in them thanks to the money and security they receive through Super Rugby participation?
The only thing Super Rugby participation guaranteed for unions like the Lions and Cheetahs in the last decade was that they would be competitive at Currie Cup level.
So what exactly is the criteria for this entitlement the Lions and Cheetahs enjoy because it sure as hell is not success at Super Rugby.
@Tacitus-166:
Surely you cannot be that naive.
Where did this market research take place? How was this audited? Did they go to shopping malls in JHB, PTA, DBN, Bloem, and CPT and asked shoppers who they support?
12 Feb 2012, 18:38 pm
@David-179:
no, unfortunately I do not see that being a viable solution in Sa. when does a player actually become a centrally contracted player?
do the unions stop all their youth developement polocies?
Do the bulls for instance, contract a young player…have him come through all the youth group structures only for SARU to decide that he should play for the Kings this superseason.
what ****.
superrugby is where the franchises reap their return on years of player investment. As we see some franchises(lions,wp) are poor at this part of the senario and other just can’t compete financially to keep their best developed (see cheetahs)
12 Feb 2012, 18:42 pm
@Tacitus-177:
Of and what has the Lions done in the last 6 years? Have you seen their audited financials?
@RL-178:
All unions are listed on the SA Rugby website, contacts to each union is also available from there – it can easily be verified.
@Tacitus-185:
That is the most ignorant **** I have ever read from you.
12 Feb 2012, 18:42 pm
@PissAnt-186:
Yes. Because one supporter in a Cape Town shopping mall is worth 50 barefoot guys in a tribal village in the Ciskei, cause that supporter will actually pay for a season ticket and buy a supporters jersey.
Besides, I doubt the 50 guys in the rural village have heard of EP, but they sure as hell have heard of the Bulls or Sharks.
12 Feb 2012, 18:42 pm
I believe that you are a clown and have never made a rugby related comment on this forum.
12 Feb 2012, 18:43 pm
@Captain Jack-182:
What we see right now, is the result of a bunch of amateurs trying to run a professional game.
12 Feb 2012, 18:44 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-152:
If SARU were to really show some gumption they would approach Sanzar as soon as possible to come up with a clear-cut workable solution in which to expand Super Rugby from 2016 onwards. And i’m not just talking about the Kings inclusion here. Let them expand the format to a Super 18 – as you said – from 2016 with the inclusion of the Kings, an Argentinian team and a Japanese team or New Zealand team, for example.
If SARU really had their ducks in a row they would have pushed for the Kings inclusion into Super rugby from last year already which was year 1 of a new 5 year agreement with Sanzar. Whether they like it or not SARU will have to live with the current Super 15 format until 2015.
So 2016 it will be for any expansion of the Super Rugby. SARU, sorry for you.
12 Feb 2012, 18:45 pm
@PissAnt-186:
look, i agree, any union needs time to develope….but the only real solution is to expand to 6 franchises.
historically, ep is the kakkest of the kak and have only themselves to blame for being so kak. you know better than I the infighting and polotics that went on in the 3 EC unions for year after year.
what is that old saying “ownership is 9/10ths of the law.”
the cheetahs and lions currently own a franchise, expect them to fight tooth and nail, i would
12 Feb 2012, 18:46 pm
” What is the most sort after item on eBay?”
It is referred to as Americanese, does-not-know-what-it-takes-to-be-a-daddy
‘Probeer mielies op jou nakende hol, ten minste’
Now everyone knows why you are the king of groin/crotch..
Most noise least pertinent action, always a truism
12 Feb 2012, 18:47 pm
Snooze time for you Tacitus.you have totally lost your mind and reason to debate on this forum this evening .
12 Feb 2012, 18:47 pm
Ai tog
12 Feb 2012, 18:48 pm
@Tacitus-189:
Really?
Correct me if I am wrong here…
Are you basically telling me rugby is still the elitist, racist sport it was under pre-1992 era where 15 barefoot passionate supporters of the game running around on dusty fields using any object they can find to use as a ball has as much say as 1 elitist city dweller?
Really?
12 Feb 2012, 18:49 pm
Surely after 15 years of professionalism there should be enough professional experience in sa rugby now so that we can get rid of the old amateur way of conducting these discussions and making the right decisions regarding this kind of thing. How did saru think that they would get the Kings into the S15. Surely when the decision was made there was a plan as to how this would eb achieved. Therefore they should have had a while to sort this out instead of leaving it til the last and creating all this panic
12 Feb 2012, 18:49 pm
@Tacitus-185:
And you don’t believe that happens in the EC? Or are you just referring to white players and clubs that you’re familiar with?
Besides, how many of the current Bulls squad are not from the BB area?
12 Feb 2012, 18:49 pm
I feel for my scotties
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