(Report abuse)

Firstly, SA Rugby should never have capitulated the 5% to NZ & ARU (38% to 33%) as it represents a revenue stream of +R2m per annum to each of the 14 Unions (R30m per annum in total) now that goes to the ARU & NZRU and that was a formula struck and agreed upon and established as a precedent in 2004 precisely BECAUSE of SA Rugby’s 50% plus contribution in value to the partnership.

That was plain, well, you know what I mean…………………

Secondly, a Northern Hemisphere relationship can be pursued with a second tier tournament to the Super 15 in preparation for the day to assemble a blockbuster tournament with the top teams from Magners League, Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup & Top 14 in France.

Be careful not to view the South African player pool as the Australian one - regarding your concern for the elite players. We have depth and a surplus of elite players with too few tournaments for them to fit into.

South Africa can field 8 players per position if need be and Australia struggle with 2-3 - we have 5 times the depth they do, so we as South Africa need to be more innovative with tournaments and structures and stop thinking in such a linear fashion.

SuperSport are key in this and magnificent partners to SA Rugby and if anyone understands future scenario planning and options in tournaments - they do - and much more of this partnership needs to be pursued as SuperSport understand TV products and what advertisers and sponsors want and there is no way they would go out on risk if they were unsure of a products success.

SuperSport are without doubt key, pivot and centre stage to all of this and need to be involved in the future process not only from the money view as in “Gimme some more coin” but as in “Let’s craft something together that advertisers and sponsors will support”

(Report abuse)

The money play is of course important, but what I think was the worst was SARU not calling the ARU and NZRU’s bluff. O’Neil knew his idea’s to Japan were dead in the water. A competition without SA would not get nearly as much interest and hence revenue.

SARU should have seriously pursued the northern hemisphere and bring the rest of SANZAR to heel with a genuine threat of departure.

The S15 format and extended Tri-Nations is more of the same and how that can increase viewership is beyond my grasp logic.

The ARU also have no Currie Cup or NPC after the S14. Effectively their senior players play internationals and that’s it. They also have a compulsory 63-day lay-off from contact which is why their players last so much longer than ours. What O’Neil has done is create a situation where Oz can get a ‘domestic’ competition at the expense of SA and NZ.

Oz are also guaranteed a team in the play-offs…

Right now, if you look at the playing schedule of the S15, June tours, extended Tri-Nations, Currie Cup and November tour, the senior players will be physically destroyed within 3 years. I’m sure Tim Noakes can say something better than I can on that.

SARU are boasting that they sold the Currie Cup to SuperSport for R700mil, double it’s previous value. However, subsequently to this deal being brokered, I wonder if SuperSport have realised that they have been suckered. What they paid for is not what they are going to get because of player drain.

If I were SuperSport, I would get my lawyers to write a very strong letter to SARU asking for the exact effect the deal will have on players so that the Currie Cup remains a pre-eminent competition and not a development exercise for replacements? I would also ask for a rebate on the cash paid for the rights as one party has intentionally devalued the product.

Money talks so perhaps SuperSport, if they care about their bottom line, should do some hard talking too.

(Report abuse)

SA ‘should have called Australia, New Zealand bluff on breakaway’

FORMER South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Brian van Rooyen yesterday accused his successors of “handing SA’s crown jewels on a platter to its Sanzar partners” after agreeing to compromise on the Super 15 deal and described the new agreement as “laughable”, writes Zeena Isaacs of Business Day.

Under the new deal SA will receive an equal 33% share of the broadcast revenue after receiving the lion’s share of 38% under the current deal.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=72014

(Report abuse)

Under the new formula 1/3 each formula they have shed 5% and conceded some R150m.

The precedent for 38% was set in 2004 for good reason as SA contributed in excess of 50% to the deal. The new SA boys on the block caved and paid the price. Actually had all 14 Unions pay the price as that is R30m less per annum to the Unions. At a little over R2m per annum each that is a massive loss in anyones terms.

Tew & O’Neill played good cop bad cop and won the day and stiffed SA big time.

The point is Gerry SA Rugby went into this with the upper hand and Marinos played the wrong cards, blinked like a school girl at her first date and was drafting a press release before he knew O’Neill had pleasured himself at the expense of SA Rugby.

The guys in Oz & NZ have thrown a party because of Marinos’ folly.

Go read Peter Bills on

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Rugby&set_id=1&click_id=18&art_id=vn20090526070606754C585170

(Report abuse)

Question – I don’t know so I’m asking. Was it not perhaps a case of either/or?

“Listen mate, either we split this thing 3 ways, or we’ve just seen the penultimate Super rugby contest, coz we don’t wanna play anymore!”

If Tew actually said they were not willing to settle for less than an equal split else NZ and Aus aren’t playing anymore, what was Merinos to do?

Seriously just asking from my comfy armchair where I don’t know squat about rugger administration, because it seems to me he was trapped in a damned-if-you-do- damned-if-you-don’t situation.

(Report abuse)

(Report abuse)

But tell me this: if govt, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Cheeky Watson, EP, etc. etc. are so dedicated to giving the thousands of black players of the Eastern Cape a chance to shine, why is it that the Metro still refuses, after a year of trying and despite assurances they would help, to pass the plans for a clubhouse we are trying to build for one of those EP black clubs, and which would serve the entire surrounding community and provide the town’s sportsmen with world-class gym and training facilities?

The answer is that like any other union or govt organisation, they see only dollar signs and care only about the professional side of things, paying only the minimum amount of lip service to development and transformation. In the Eastern Cape, like in any other region, the grassroots players are forgotten in the rush to strike the big deals.

This, too, will also soon be exposed.

(Report abuse)