It will be goodbye Lions, hello Kings come 2013 as a political decision has been endorsed to allow only ONE TEAM per PROVINCE.
ruggaworld.com
Lappe Laubscher reporting exclusively for RuggaWorld.com asks the question of exactly who is uninformed and who is trying to fool who?
Newspaper stories in South Africa suggests that the South Africa Rugby Union is in a highly embarrassing situation after the board promised the Southern Kings franchise of Port Elizabeth that they will play in the Super 15 competition next year.
SANZAR is adamant that there is no place for a sixth South African franchise in the competition and SARU thus far has kept mum on the issue.
But facts tell a different story. A story of the behind the scenes influence of politics and big money.
Let us look at these facts.
- Last month there was a major indaba between the Minister of Sport, the department of sport and the various stakeholders in South African sport at the historic Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. At this indaba a document on the future of South African sport was presented by the department of sport was endorsed by the minister and the various delegates.The document is now the official document on the policy of the South African government on sport.In the document, among various other issues, it is stated that as from 2013 no sport will be allowed to enter more than one team per province in any competion.At the moment the South African teams in the Super 15 are Bulls (Pretoria and Gauteng), Lions (Johannesburg and Gauteng), Cheetahs (Bloemfontein and the Free State), Stormers (Cape Town and Western Cape) and lastly Sharks (Durban and KwaZulu-Natal).It is obvious from this document that the Gauteng province will only be allowed to enter one team and will have to choose between the Bulls and the Lions or combine these two teams.
- The Southern Kings` home is Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Cape.
- In the last week of January 2012 the Gumede group brought an application for the liquidation of the Golden Lions Rugby Union. There has been no decision on this application. This group was a previous co-sponsor of the GLRU. The group claimed that the Lions owe them more than R90 million. Thus far Mr Kevin de Klerk, the president of the GLRU has denied this claim. In his denial he was unclear whether he only denies the quantum of the claim or whether he denies the claim as such.
- Sail (Pty) Limited, a group in the Rupert stable with a major interest in various sport and leisure activities in South Africa, has an interest in most of the South African rugby franchises with the exception of the Lions. Unconfirmed reports indicate that this group also has an interest in the Southern Kings. The Rupert-group also has a direct interest in Supersport, the company who has the South African broadcast rights for the Super 15 and in Media 24, South Africa’s largest media group. The face of Sail is the highly respected former Springbok captain, Morne du Plessis.
- Lastly it is also a known fact that rugby has come in for a lot of pressure from the South African government for their seemingly unwillingness to provide opportunities for black players to perform at top level. The new CEO of SARU, Jurie Roux, has committed himself to rectify this position.
Allmost from the sidelines, the Tshwane Sports Council has already announced on its website that the colours for teams representing the region (that includes Pretoria and the Bulls) will in future play in be black, green and gold. This will mean the end of the famous blue jerseys that the Bulls used to play in.
In the meantime, the Bulls announced in a seemingly unrelated move that they will in future play in a jersey with diagonal lines in various shades of pink across the chest in their games away from home. According to a press release, that simply doesn’t make sense, this is to “scare” their opponents.
With all these facts as a background it only makes political sense to bring the Super Kings to the party as soon as possible. The only stumbling block at the moment is sponsorship deals in which the players and some of the franchises are involved.
It seems as if SARU is deliberately delaying the announcement of who the Super Kings will replace till the end of the 2012 Super 15 competition to accommodate present sponsorships.
How all this will affect smaller unions like Boland and Border remains to be seen.
In the meantime Cycling SA has almost quietly announced that the sport has last weekend adopted a new constitution to bring it in line with the new government policy.
“Allmost from the sidelines, the Tshwane Sports Council has already announced on its website that the colours for teams representing the region (that includes Pretoria and the Bulls) will in future play in be black, green and gold. This will mean the end of the famous blue jerseys that the Bulls used to play in.
In the meantime, the Bulls announced in a seemingly unrelated move that they will in future play in a jersey with diagonal lines in various shades of pink across the chest in their games away from home. According to a press release, that simply doesn’t make sense, this is to “scare” their opponents.”
Die is twak, en maak die hele berig verdag. Die TSC het geen sê oor die Bulle se truie nie, behalwe die amateur tak. Verder het meer as 20 sportsoorte al klaar aangedui dat hulle nie die TSC se besluit oor kleure sal aanvaar nie.
Die pienk trui het boggerol met dit te doen. Die Bulle speel al lank met wit truie as hulle weg truie en niemand het iets daaroor te sê gehad in hierdie konteks toe die TSC al 3 jaar gelede met hulle strooi uitgekom het nie.
dan noem ons nie eens die feit dat supersport 49 % van die cheetahs besit nie,en sal hulle regtig toelaat dat n span waarin hulle so n groot aandeel het uitgeskop word
The Lions and Bulls are set to merge then.
@ Loosehead:
Ja,dis al genade,lyk my.
Dis n flippin skande……maar so gaan dit oral waar die Watson clan betrokke raak.
Cheeky beskryf die Southern Kinga as ‘SA’s first black rugby franchise’……..hellooooo!!!!!! Waar is die swart spelers in die Kings span? Sover sien ek net n klomp ‘has beens’ wat vanaf ander provinsies oorgekoop is.
Hoe gaan dit die ontwikkeling van ‘swart’ rugby in die OP bevorder?
En dit wemel van briljante jong swart spelers daar rondom O-Londen en Mdantsane; kyk net bv. na hul Cravan Week-spanne.
Of weet Cheeky en Fikile iets wat ons rugbyouens nie raaksien nie?
BOLLOKS!!!
WTF are SARU going to do if the Lions win the SA conference?
Don’t be surprised if the Stormers end last in the conference. Then the fat will really be in the fire.
I smell a court case where only the lawyers will come out with anything worth having.
Further to that, despite it all, I can’t see the Kings playing super Rugby next year no matter what. There is just no collective willingness to make it happen in a sensible and workable manner.
It’s a flipping scandal what goes on in Rugby in this country!
When are the IRB going to get tough on the SA Government interfereing in Rugby?
If a government interferes in any Soccer team anywhere the National body is IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDED by FIFA, but the IRB are a bunch of eunuchs without b@lls or the collective will to promote and develop this great game, and continually allow the SA government to do whatever they want.
FFS, I think I must just let Rugby Union rot and rather watch my daughter’s netball games.
SARU + SANZAR + IRB = A bunch of village idiots.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum!!!
@ Scrumdown:
Amen brother.
It’s a shambles down there in the EP rugby development. Cheeky is going to milk them dry, that’s his trademark, taking advantage of the ‘disadvantaged’ for personal gain…..he feels sweet fanny adams for rugby.
Rugby politics…..eishhhhhhh 🙁
@ Pietman:
Where in the world is Pietman these days?
6@ Pietman:
Do you think the Rugby development is any better in Johannesburg?
It’s really disapointing to see that the club I worked so hard to build up has all but become a non-starter this season, barely 18 months after I walked away.
The Union seem oblivious to the fact that a Community based Rugby club have VERY different needs and assitance to a “club” like UJ.
Sad, very sad.
Of course, the groot koppe at the Coke Tin purely point to the Currie Cup and say that all is rosy, while those battling to get players to away games using unroadworthy minibus taxis, because that’s all they can afford, don’t really give a tinker’s cuss about the Holy Grail of SA Rugby.
They’re more intersted in how to field teams, make sure that the players have a shirt without holes in it, and where the R 250 for paint to mark the field with is going to come from.
Talk about being out of touch with the real world.
There’s still a LOTTTT of water to go under the bridge on this one.
There is NOW WAY that it is valid in Law or in any way Constitutional to force only ONE Super Rugby Franchise per Province.
In fact specially in Gauteng’s case it does not make ANY type of sense, almost half the South African population sits in Gauteng… even though it is the smallest Province if you take the boundaries and area it covers into consideration.
All the biggest economic activity takes place here, the biggest sponsors available to rugby in South Africa sit right here.
Like Scrumdown says, I cannot see the Southern Kings taking part in the 2013 Super Rugby competition happening!
@ Scrumdown:
Sorry,only got back home now, busy with dish and computer installations….the whole lot crashed while I was back in SA earlier this month.
(I am in Saudi Arabia/Dubai/Abu Dhabi at the moment for another year before contract runs out. I hope to spend more time with you RT’s this season, didn’t have much time the last one.)
The situation in the Article is untennable….
Let’s look at Soccer in SA.
Are you telling me Kaiser Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United and all the big Soccer entities in Gauteng must now merge too… to only form ONE Gauteng Soccer Franchise…. it is simply not going to happen.
It might happen at amateur level, but in Pro Sport… never!
Imagine Manchester City and Manchester United and the other big close proximity Soccer Clubs in the UK having to amalgamate…. there will be war before that would happen. I know, I know, they’re not South African, but the same analogy can be drawn here in SA. There is no way in hell you would convince an Amakhosi supporter to amalagamate with the Buccaneers, or a Swallows supporter amalgamating with a Sundowns… or all of them merging!
The disproportionate provincial population distribution is what drives these entities, what sets them apart… what defines them!
This whole thing of one sports team per code per province is ridiculous. Lets look at the EC for example. Logistically it makes no sense, because of the distances between Border, SWD, and EP. No thought to the whole process.
12 @ Lion4ever:
Professional Sport is driven by one thing…. simple economics!
Now if the Southern and Eastern Cape was a major economic hub in SA, they could have made a good case of it…. but it simply is not, in fact it is an economic disaster area compared to the wealth of Gauteng or the Western Cape or the Durban area.
@ Lion4ever:
SWD to Border = Swellendam to Stutterheim!
Is the proposal possibly for amateur level? But that again makes no sense when one has to take the vast distances to travel in various provinces? Then look at the economy of each province. For example, Northen Cape. Can people in De Aar afford to travel to Kimberley for practice?
@ grootblousmile:
Chelsea and Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool
How many professional soccer cluns in JHB alone? It is just an unworkable solution.
@ Lion4ever:
Same with basketball and NFL in the United States. Can you imagine only one team per State!
Only in South Africa…..
Cluns = clubs
GBS, yoh bruvva! Ek sien PietBlou se aansoek vir die Superbru-poel is nog ‘pending’…..keur goed man,’samblief.
19 @ Pietman:
O vlok… is PietBlou jy?
Ek keur jou NOU goed, Bruvva!
@ grootblousmile:
Thx man, PietBlou, dis ekke ja,kiekie en al!
Kon nie inlog op Pietman met die nuwe rekenaar nie, elektronieks was bietjie fktap hierie kant, moes laptop uitsmyt, nou als nuut en reg darem na n moosa gesukkel…..woestynvirusse het my byna opgevreet!
Nun of that funny stuff!
A hippie gets onto a bus and sits next to a nun in the front seat. The hippie looks over and asks the nun if she would have sex with him.
The nun, surprised by the question, politely declines and gets off at the next stop.
When the bus starts again, the bus driver says to the hippie, “If you want, I can tell you how you can get that nun to have sex with you.”
The hippie of course says that he’d love to know, so the bus driver tells him that every Tuesday evening at midnight the nun goes to the cemetery to pray to the lord. “If you went dressed in robes and some glowing powder,” says the bus driver, “You could tell her you were God and command her to have sex with you.”
The hippie decides to try this out.
That Tuesday, he goes to the cemetery and waits for the nun.
Right on schedule, the nun shows up.
While she’s in the middle of praying, the hippie walks out from hiding, in robes and glowing with a mask of god. “I am God, I have heard your prayers and I will answer them but you must have sex with me first,” he says.
The nun agrees but asks for anal sex so she might keep her virginity.
The hippie agrees to this and quickly sets about having sex with the nun.
After the hippie finishes, he rips off his mask and shouts out, “Ha ha, I’m the hippie! ”
The nun replies by whipping off her mask and shouting, “Ha ha, I’m the bus driver!”
“In the meantime Cycling SA has almost quietly announced that the sport has last weekend adopted a new constitution to bring it in line with the new government policy.”
Well then, they can replace the Kings in the 2013 Vodacom Cup can’t they? At least they’ll have a decent turn of pace down the sidelines!
Now WTF does that piece of absolutely useless information have to do with the context of the article or Rugby?
22@ Scrumdown:
Apologies to anyone the joke may have offended, but it made me laugh on what can best be described as a K@K day.
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