ALL ROADS HEAD NORTH FROM SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY.
This week saw the headline in newspapers and on street poles: “Bok’s Son to play for France”…

Such a headline or article would have been a revelation in the early 90s but these days it seems that many players (more and more from the Tri-Nations stable) are heading up North to Europe to find better rugby deals and more game time and in the process they are becoming eligible for the European National sides.

When rugby became professional and around the time of the 1999 World Cup, it was quite common to see similar things happening but often it was the players who just couldn’t cut it at top level rugby in the Southern Hemisphere or it was players looking for a decent ‘retirement bonus’ who were making this move. This is no longer the case, as it seems that rugby has turned a corner so to speak and, now the younger players and often the elite youngsters coming out of the academies and programmes are looking at opportunities up north. That said, it also seems that the coaches are not too far behind either (and that poses another problem and article altogether)…

What are the ramifications for the game within the SANZAR setup?

Firstly and most importantly, there will be fewer top young players in key positions. This might not seem like a major problem on the face of it but the reality remains that the pool of players coming out of the 6-Nations is far greater than that of the SANZAR countries. The sheer number of players in England and France alone is much greater than what SA, NZ and Aus can offer.

The SANZAR 3 might have serious talent but the bulk of numbers come from SA and the harsh reality is that the local competitions in SA are saturated and not up to the global standard (unless the Boks are participating). Thus, as initially mentioned in this paragraph, if there remains a talent drain at a younger level, then the higher end competitions will suffer and the result will be a negative spiral of poor quality, lack of supporters and ultimately a dwindling of rugby as a professional sport.

Secondly, it is quite obvious that the likes of the Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup are going from strength to strength in numbers, sales, value and entertainment whereas the quality of the same aspects in their southern counter-parts of the Super 14, Currie Cup, Air NZ Cup and what was the Aussie competition again… just seem to be falling by the way-side.

Sure, the North has the draw-card of money, but more than that, their approach to professional rugby since Day 1 of professional rugby has been a far more reserved and staggered approach much akin to climbing stairs to reach the goal. The SANZAR attitude seems to have been to throw down the gauntlet and create a highly entertaining game (much like basketball) but without proper structures to sustain this level. A presentation I witnessed by a representative of the ERC at the 2003 RWC in Sydney presented this same topic then and predicted this would happen.

The response of the attendees from the South was that ‘we’ had all the talent, better players and ‘the weather’ and ‘our’ rugby incorporated far more running and less kicking and would thus remain a better product… Not so! And the presentation in 2003 actually showed the stats back then were already favouring the game as an entertainment product up North.

And finally, it is now quite obvious that the professional structures put in place by the Northern (European) nations are very similar to what has been achieved in the FA Premier League for Football. Ensure that you have the world’s best competition(s) and draw on the best players and the sport (as a professional entity) will grow. There’s seems like a long term vision and so the problem is not going to be short term hassle for the SANZAR powers that be.

One major counter to this will be that the national sides of the SANZAR 3 remain stronger and such growth in the cup and league competitions of Europe has deterred from their national game.

This might be somewhat valid apart from the fact that the opposing seasons of the two hemispheres mean that on an annual basis the first choice teams of SANZAR never play their first choice counter-parts from the North either in June when the ‘incoming’ tours happen or in November when the SANZAR teams go north. And when the teams do meet every 4 years, the results show that there is no real difference in strength – just look at RWC 2007 for the answer to that.

In conclusion and for South African rugby in particular this is a major problem. A former Bok Captain’s son could well be playing for France in 2010 – more will surely follow suit. South Africa lacks the administration resources and capacity to change or adapt its structures to compete professionally with the leagues in the North. The players often end up staying or returning purely out of passion for The Bok emblem or because ‘their blood is blue’. Just how long will that argument last? Pretty soon, the youngsters coming out of this stable will make their decisions based on economical, personal and ‘other’ factors and there might not be any need for an emotional factor in the equation.

If my son shows any talent as a player – the route I would suggest to him (based on the current options in global rugby) would be to go to school in SA as the rugby at school level here is not easily matched, then look to study in the UK at an esteemed University (just to cater for after the game you know) and then play in Europe where he can become a true professional, earn excellent money for his talent and if he makes a national side there he will always be in a competitive team in the global competitions… It just makes sense to me.