Jurie is out … new dawn for rugby?
CAPE TOWN: It’s been a horror year for the Springboks on the field and now the shake-up in South African rugby has begun.
On a day described as a “pretty big watershed day” by SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux, the following major changes were announced:
Private companies will be able to own up to 74 percent of a province’s commercial arms
The Springbok coach will no longer be appointed by the 14 provinces who make up the general council. That appointment will now be made by the executive council, which runs the business side of SA Rugby
Increasing the make-up of the independent and player representation on the executive council to five independents with six elected members
Introducing new committees for franchise (Super Rugby) and non-franchise rugby to focus and streamline decision-making
Removing the selection committee while retaining a selection convener to work with national team coaches
Reducing the presidential roles from three to two by removing the vice presidency from 2018.
Roux said at a press conference the decisions represented a “massive change” in the way rugby would be run in this country.
While admitting these were “tough economic times”, Roux said SA Rugby is not insolvent, having made some operational cost-cuts. He said they were budgeting for a profit next year but were anticipating a “small loss” for this year.
“It’s a pretty big watershed day in South African rugby. If we move in 15 different directions, we will never move forward. We needed 75 percent approval, and that’s pretty unanimous. People are always afraid of change, and change is difficult,” he said.
“Sometimes things happen on the field and other places that just force you to change. Maybe there’s a silver lining to everything, although sometimes it’s difficult to see it. But in the end, I think people made decisions in the best interests (of South African rugby).
“And if you think about some of the decisions taken, turkeys actually did vote for Christmas on some of them – and I’m being serious.
“Some of them had to make fairly hard decisions, which could be deemed in their own constituencies as not being in the interests of their unions, but in the interests of South African rugby as a whole. And people are not always loved for that. So, I’ve got a great amount of respect for people standing up today.”
The change in the ownership scale could see local teams run in a similar style to European clubs, where millions of pounds and euros have been brought into those sides by private investors, and one of the positive spin-offs may be top South African players being retained in the country.
Springbok coach Allister Coetzee has complained about the late arrival of overseasbased players before matches, and keeping the leading players at home would help solve that problem. “We have looked at all our committees and sub-committees, and those have been streamlined down to the statutory requirements in line with the King 4 (report on corporate governance),” Roux said.
“A very big decision was to take away the constitutional restriction of 49.9 percent in terms of private equity investment into the commercial arms of the provincial unions to 74 percent, but that is at the discretion of each and every union – whether they want to do that or not.”
Roux added that choosing the Bok coach often resulted in a delay for the General Council to make the final decision months after the best candidate was identified by the executive.
Another change, in line with Sascoc regulations, sees SA Rugby changing the provincial members to the nine geopolitical boundaries. But Roux and president Mark Alexander insisted it won’t change the make-up of commercial competitions such as the Currie Cup or Craven Week, which will still have 14 provincial teams taking part.
Saru president Mark Alexander said Coetzee was not discussed. “We never discussed the national team. We will have a full review on Monday and Tuesday,” he said.