Saru cuts funding to EP Rugby Academy
THE development of rugby in the province could be seriously hamstrung with the news that the EP Rugby Academy may close its doors because of a lack of funding.
The academy’s main benefactor, the SA Rugby Union (Saru), has pulled the plug on funding and is now trying to source an outside sponsor.
An amount of R4-million a year is required for the academy to run at optimum level, but Saru has been pouring money into certain affiliates in recent years, including the beleaguered EP Rugby Union (EPRU), and the coffers may be running on empty.
Another factor is that the R35-million received from the National Lottery for the EP, Boland, South Western Districts and Border academies in 2013 has apparently been exhausted.
At this stage, it is believed there may only be one Saru academy that will be based in Boland.
The EP academy, under the guidance of former Springbok Robbi Kempson, has been the most successful academy in South Africa, with 42 full-time professional rugby players of colour coming through its ranks in the last three years.
Sergeal Petersen and Lizo Gqoboka joined the Springbok ranks recently, while Siviwe Soyizwapi is in the SA Sevens set-up.
Both recent SA U20 captains, Jeremy Ward and Junior Pokomela, are from the academy, as were their SA team members Keanu Vers, James Hall, Kooper Oosthuizen and Tango Balekile.
EPRU’s Saru administrator, Monde Tabata, confirmed yesterday
that Saru was seeking outside investors to fund the academies.
“The funding for the academy came from a grant from the National Lottery for a particular period of time,” he said.
“That is coming to an end at the end of December. But it doesn’t mean that the academy is dead or will die.
“All efforts are being made to keep the academy open because of the results it has produced.
“I’m not at liberty to share what is being done at this stage until the work is done and completed.
“In fact, you can rest assured that everybody from Saru is working to ensure the academies are kept open.”
Tabata would not be drawn as to whether the EP academy would be open for business come January.
“I can’t say. We need to only talk about certainties,” he said. “I’m not going to deal with speculation.
“Saru cannot fund out of its own pockets anymore and EP is also not in a position to do that.
“I would much prefer that an official statement comes from Saru at an appropriate time.”
Sean O’Dea, who heads up the academy’s recruitment and analysis, confirmed Saru’s withdrawal and that EPRU had also indicated no funding would be available from it anymore.
“EP Rugby has always covered the players’ salary amounts,” he said.
“Saru only came on board with us from 2013. So the entire thing was funded from EP’s side from 2011 until Saru came along.
“Saru’s money was used mainly for logistics like accommodation, meals, medical aid, etc.
“To cover the academy properly, we would require funding of around R4-million per year.
“That covers 40 players in the U19 and U21 age groups. Most of the players are on three-year deals.”
O’Dea said that without funding the academy would close its doors and all its players off-loaded.
“Eight first-year guys are meant to be joining us,” he said. “There are 15 guys in the academy who won our U19 Currie Cup and are now potentially going to be without anything.”
Saru was not in a position to comment last night.