Concern at the draining of South Africa’s rugby talent to Europe

JOHN Smit is deeply concerned about the future of South African rugby, mostly because of the player drain to Europe, but also because of the devaluation of the Springbok jersey caused by the growing selection Boks.

Smit reveals that a top Bok based in South Africa will earn around R7 million a year, with his domestic franchise paying about R3 million and Saru the balance. But if he goes overseas to play of overseas-based club rugby in France, he can make close to the same, but in Euros. In addition, the player would get a house and a car.

“We can’t compete with those sums and the player drain is very worrying,” Smit said. “When players come to us at the end of their contracts, the issues they raise about not renewing are, inevitably, the state of the country, the falling rand, and the threat to their livelihood of transformation.”

Smit says that SA Rugby has to be smarter with the handsome sum it receives annually in US dollars for TV broadcasting rights.

“Our problem is that Saru is currently feeding too many mouths.

“We have 14 unions, but only about five of them are going concerns, financially.

“We need to streamline and consolidate that, so money is well spent on keeping our players.”

Smit adds that SA Rugby cannot use transformation as an excuse for poor results.

“It riles me that 20 years down the line people rant about quotas.

“Not one black player in the Bok team is not worth his place.

“In my opinion, the only issue about transformation is the continuing failure to cash in on the wonderful talent in the eastern Cape.

“It is a gold mine of natural talent, but nobody is mining it.”