Kings vow to dodge the axe
PE franchise and Cheetahs likely to be dumped by Sanzaar next year
THE Southern Kings have vowed to fight any moves to oust them from Super Rugby following yesterday’s announcement that two South African teams would be axed from the tournament next year.
Sanzaar, which manages the Super Rugby tournament between New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Japan, has announced that the current 18-team format will be reduced to 15 teams next year and that South Africa’s participation would be slashed from six to four teams.
While the Kings and the Free State Cheetahs, which are considered to be the weakest of South Africa’s Super Rugby teams, have not been named, it is widely believed that these two franchises will be axed.
A Kings exit from the tournament is expected to have serious implications for the Bay’s sports economy, tourism to the region and on local rugby and its development, among other negative effects.
Speaking just one day after he was elected president of the financially embattled EP Rugby Union, Andre Rademan described the Sanzaar announcement as devastating.
“Should the Kings be considered for removal from Super Rugby, we will fight it,” he said.
Rademan said an ousting from the tournament would be devastating for rugby in the Bay.
“The Kings and Cheetahs have been looking after the most previously disadvantaged players in the country.
“This will be devastating for them, many of whom have been playing brilliant rugby. We have been working well, feeding these players into the system.
“We have a new executive team in place to address our problems and we are highly motivated to take EP Rugby forward, so this announcement has certainly come at the wrong time.”
Rademan said he feared for the future of the “beautiful” Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which he said could become a white elephant.
He warned that the rugby academy linked to the Kings would also be affected should the Kings lose their berth in the tournament.
“We really feel let down. We feel we should have been consulted around the reduction in competing teams,” Rademan said.
“We are sitting with a vast financial backlog and to address this we need a good product to show investors.
“This [exclusion from Super Rugby] will not help. Youngsters here will be let down.
“We can’t see why the format was changed.
“Is it just about the money and not about the rugby any more?”
The SA Rugby Union (Saru), which said it would begin internal consultations to identify its four entrants to the 2018 competition, described the reduction as a bitter pill to swallow.
It hoped to confirm its 2018 Super Rugby participants by
We really feel let down. We feel we should have been consulted
the end of June.
Asked for his reaction, Kings head coach Deon Davids said: “To be honest, we have not spoken about that.
“We have a policy that we control what we can control. Whatever the outcome is, we will deal with it when it is official.”
Saru chief executive Jurie Roux said the 18-team format had not worked.
“Fans, media and broadcasters have spoken and we have listened to them,” he said.
“The integrity of the format and the lack of competitiveness in too many matches were major issues that needed addressing.
“From a South African rugby highperformance perspective, we’ve had to acknowledge that the dilution of talent and resources across six franchises – at a time when the rand weakness has led to more departures to Europe and Japan – has seriously affected our ability to compete across the board.”
Roux said Saru had six strategic imperatives for 2017 – two of the most critical of which were Springbok performance and financial sustainability.
“Retaining a number of underperforming teams in Super Rugby makes no sense from a high performance or financial point of view,” he said.
“We no longer have the resources to support them to the required level.”
Roux said the large number of South Africans playing overseas had hastened the decision.
“There are about five or six Super Rugby squads’ worth of South Africans playing overseas.
“In 2015, 257 South Africans appeared for leading teams overseas; last year it was 313 – including 65 Springboks.”
Former Southern Spears (Kings) chief executive Tony McKeever slammed the South African team reduction plan, calling it outrageous.
He said the ouster of the Kings and Cheetahs would result in the loss of a collective R850-million investment in the two teams.
“Sanzaar has not thought this out properly. Dropping these two teams will have very serious financial implications and was is very ill-conceived by Sanzaar,” he said.
Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) spokesman Luvoyo Bangazi said while it was premature to comment on any Kings exit from the tournament, the agency was finalising a draft commercial plan which looked beyond rugby and soccer to secure the sustainability of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The MBDA was recently tasked with managing the stadium.
“While the plan acknowledges the importance of soccer and rugby to the stadium, our approach is not to put all our eggs in one basket.
“The plan also encompasses other uses for the facility such as conferencing and concerts, so the future sustainability of the stadium will not rely solely on rugby or soccer.”