Failing franchises not united
IT DID not seem a viable option last year and it may seem even more unpalatable now but, with the spectre of Super Rugby exclusion looming large, failure to temporarily join forces could sound the death knell for the future Super Rugby aspirations of the Lions and the Southern Kings.
As their promotion/relegation matches draw ever closer, suggestions that the Lions and the Kings merge intensified this week as the possibility of two years in the rugby wilderness — and its consequences — sunk in.
In 2016, Super Rugby, that great open-ended juggernaut, is scheduled to expand once again, by which time the losers’ supporters might have joined their sponsors beyond the horizon.
In their search for a solution that will benefit the game in the country, rugby bosses in the respective franchises are likely to find negligible common ground, given the all but insurmountable logistical problems.
Perhaps emboldened by his team’s performances in the Vodacom Cup and in their challenge matches, Lions vice-president — and major shareholder — Altmann Allers, poured cold water on speculation about a merger.
“I can’t see how the business model would work,” Allers shrugged. “Where do you play? Whose players are you using? Where do you base players?
“These are questions for which answers need to be found.”
Kings chairman Cheeky Watson wasn’t quite as fist-thumping in denouncing the lumping together of the two franchises.
“I haven’t attended one meeting about this. I don’t know what this merger is about,” he said.
The parameters and the big picture, which the South African Rugby Union should perhaps be making franchises more acutely aware of are, understandably, not the focus of rugby officials in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
The waters are further muddied by smaller provinces which help make up the franchises. They may offer little but they have a say.
Officials seem divided on the issue which means the status quo will remain; so promotion/relegation matches will be used to deliver their brutal verdict later this month.
“We have no animosity towards the Kings,” Allers insisted. “The impact on both sides is going to be huge. This is a lose-lose situation.
“We are in a big drive to get suite-holders back. There were 120 suites not renewed after last season so now we have been putting together more innovative, cheaper packages to get people back.”
The Kings have problems too. Head coach Alan Solomons lamented their lack of depth, while a stakeholder who did not want to be named warned the Kings run the risk of losing supporters’ trust should they exit the competition.
The possibility of not playing Super Rugby for the next two years is a prospect rugby bosses don’t seem to find too ghastly to contemplate.
The problem for rugby is that if they don’t find a solution, the driving forces that helped earn the Kings their status could wield their influence again.