Vaccination = Ticket to stadiums?
THERE is the slightest of possibilities that when fans finally return to the country’s rugby stadiums, and by extension to the stadiums of other sporting codes, it might only be the vaccinated that are allowed to enter initially.
Mark Alexander, the president of South African Rugby Union (Saru), revealed that such a protocol was recently tabled before the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) and various stakeholders in an effort to get supporters back into the country’s stadiums.
Speaking at the official announcement of the Carling Black Label Championship Match in Houghton yesterday, Alexander was at pains to explain that Saru, and other collaborators, were in negotiations to see the return of fans but that it would be done within the ambit of responsibility and accountability.
“We’ve been lobbying for months now,” said Alexander, regarding the return of supporters to stadiums. “We were at a point before the British and Irish Lions tour where we lobbied Nedlac and Cosatu and then unfortunately the third wave came.
“There is a big drive now,” he continued. “(Tuesday) we were on a call with the Nedlac working group and a whole lot of stakeholders there, talking about getting fans back but it is a process. It is not going to happen overnight. We’ve had to learn how to live with a new normal now and playing without fans but we would love to have our fans back. Fans are so important to all the things we do … government has started the process.
“People say look at what is happening in Europe but they have herd immunity. We are very far from herd immunity and we have to act responsibly. The last thing we want as Saru is for people to attend a rugby game and then we have a major spreader.
We don’t want that to happen. We are trying to make sure that all the controls are in place when we do let the fans back into the stadiums.
“There was talk (Tuesday) on the group we were on – it is a big lobby group and I don’t want to talk outside of that group because that is that group’s right to talk – there is a drive around that (allowing the vaccinated population to return to stadiums) but let’s wait for that to be announced by government and the authorities that are dealing with that.”
Recently, much has been made of the presumed fractures cracking the façade of Sanzaar (the rugby unions of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina), especially the developing animosity between Australia and New Zealand, and the tension with South Africa. This, Alexander argued, has been exaggerated to the maximum by a sensationalist-hungry media, insisting that there is “no big fight” within the administrative body.
“We are all working together on this thing (the Rugby Championship), we are all members of Sanzaar,” Alexander explained calmly.
“We looked at the best solution for all of us. We played Argentina in home games here because it was the best for Argentina to remain and play there (in Gqeberha). We are living in unprecedented times and we need unprecedented measures to take place. We don’t care where we actually play now. If we have to play in Siberia, we play in Siberia as long as our players play rugby.
“We have big arguments in the boardroom,” Alexander said matter-offactly, “and we have local arguments here, but it doesn’t mean we are fighting with each other.
“So, I don’t think we must read into these things. The media plays things up, they blow things out of proportion. There is no big fight within the structures of Sanzaar.”
On the topic of Saru director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, and his disciplinary hearing before World Rugby, following a leaked video in which he was highly critical of the officiating of the first Test against the B&I Lions, Alexander remained mum.
Said the Saru president of that process that began this week: “We cannot talk about that. There is a process unfolding – let the process unfold and we will keep you informed as it unfolds.”