Why SA beat France and Ireland

Here are the five main reasons SA’s bid succeeded to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023, writes Craig Ray.

●

Despite an initial ban by former sports minister Fikile Mbalula preventing SA Rugby from bidding for the tournament, the government threw its weight behind the bid when Thulas Nxesi took over earlier in 2017. Key to the backing was the government’s £160m financial guarantee to World Rugby, which allayed fears of commercial failure for the union.

●

SA Rugby was one of the driving forces behind a change in the bidding process that would allow for greater transparency. SA Rugby, led by CE Jurie Roux, pushed for an evaluation process that weighted key criteria and was made public to eliminate “horse-trading” at the voting stage.

●

Thanks to hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, SA has eight allseater, modern stadiums to host the matches. The smallest venue has a capacity of 43,500 while the National Stadium, where the final and opening matches will take place, has a capacity of more than 87,436, making it the biggest Rugby World Cup stadium of all time. As a result of the facilities there is a projection of a record 2.9-million ticket sales that will further swell World Rugby’s coffers.

●

With SA in the same time zone as the lucrative European television market, the South African bid lost no ground to Ireland and France. SA’s climate in spring is perfect for rugby while foreign visitors will have much more spending power given the strength of the dollar, pound and euro against the rand.

Hotels and airports were upgraded for 2010 and will only need minor tweaks in the coming years.

●

SA has staged large international sporting events. The huge success with the 2010 Fifa World Cup is the most prominent. Rugby World Cup 1995, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2003 Cricket World Cup are the three other major sporting events this country has successfully hosted in the past quarter of a century.