Absa Currie Cup format amended for the ‘good of SA rugby’

[bwana]

The Absa Currie Cup will feature an eight-team Premier Division and a new qualification round, following the decision to expand the top flight the South African Rugby Union announced on Thursday.

A Special General Council meeting of the 14 member unions gave the required 75% majority to a resolution to go to an eight-team Premier Division and six-team First Division for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

The new structure will ensure that the six ‘anchor’ unions of South Africa’s Vodacom Super Rugby franchises (the Vodacom Blue Bulls, Cell C Sharks, DHL Western Province, Toyota Free State Cheetahs, Golden Lions and EP Kings) will be guaranteed their places in the Absa Currie Cup for the next two seasons.

The meeting also approved a resolution to do away with the Vodacom Super Rugby promotion and relegation mechanism. The effect will be that the current five franchises are entrenched for the 2015 season.

“It has been a thorough process with several false starts but we have reached a decision which is ultimately good for all our members and South African rugby,” said Mr Oregan Hoskins, the president of SARU.

“It ensures all 14 provinces have an opportunity to play in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division while ensuring that our Vodacom Super Rugby franchises have a stable environment in which to prepare.

“The creation of the new qualifying competition also fills a space in the middle of the rugby season for our non-franchise teams that stretched between the end of the Vodacom Cup in mid-May and start of the Absa Currie Cup at the end of June.

“It also addresses the anomaly that we have been driving hard for a number of years for the Kings’ inclusion in Vodacom Super Rugby and yet we do not have a place for them in our premier domestic competition.

“This is a good decision for rugby – it gives the non-franchise teams two places in the Premier Division; it allows the Kings to prepare for Vodacom Super Rugby inclusion in 2016 in the top tier of our domestic competition and it removes the uncertainty of relegation from the teams currently playing in Vodacom Super Rugby.”

The approved format is as follows:

· 2014: Premier Division composition – The six franchise ‘anchor’ teams plus the Steval Pumas (qualifiers in 2013) and the winner of the new qualifying round, to be played after the Vodacom Cup final during June and July.

The teams will be divided into two sections on 2013 log positions: Section X (DHL Western Province, Golden Lions, Vodacom Blue Bulls, EP Kings) and Section Y (Cell C Sharks, Toyota Free State, Steval Pumas, Qualifier).

The teams will play home and away within their Sections followed by a single cross-conference round before semi-finals and final.

The qualifying competition will be contested by Griqualand West, Leopards, SWD Eagles, Boland Kavaliers, Griffons, Border Bulldogs and Valke. The teams will play a single round, with each team playing three home and three away matches.

· 2015: Premier Division composition - The six franchise teams plus two non-franchise teams.

They will be decided as follows:

If the two non-franchise teams finish 7th and 8th in the 2014 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division they will both play in a 2015 qualification round of eight teams.

If one non-franchise team finishes in the top six of the 2014 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division they will automatically qualify for the 2015 Absa Currie Cup. The other non-franchise team will play in a 2015 qualifying round of seven teams.

If both non-franchise teams finish in the top six of the 2014 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division, they will automatically qualify for the 2015 tournament and there will be no qualifying tournament in 2015.

Issued by SARU Corporate Affairs

 

[APoc184]

Good.

Few years too late but now they are following the right path to get the Kings ready for possible Super Rugby inclusion.

Now they must do away with the Vodacom Cup and invest all that money in club rugby. Will see a vast improvement in our rugby. After that.... central contracts for the Super Rugby Franchises and Springboks.

 

[DJ...]

Good news. No issues with the format, but I haven't dug into it in too much depth yet. I'm sure someone will find something to complain about though.

Probably a Lions supporter...

 

[Fulcrum29]

Now they must do away with the Vodacom Cup and invest all that money in club rugby. Will see a vast improvement in our rugby. After that.... central contracts for the Super Rugby Franchises and Springboks.

Don't agree, Vodacom Cup is a development competition housing various clubs which belongs to their respective Unions. Secondly do you know how many clubs there are in SA which is an ongoing battle... Which clubs will receive this money and why (the purpose)?

Central contracts?

 

[APoc184]

Don't agree, Vodacom Cup is a development competition housing various clubs which belongs to their respective Unions. Secondly do you know how many clubs there are in SA which is an ongoing battle... Which clubs will receive this money and why (the purpose)?

Central contracts?

I can't remember the whole speech that Nick Mallett gave last year but it made perfect sense at the time. He said something along the lines of R120million per year goes towards funding the small unions like the Valke, Arende etc... And they never show any profit or make any real contribution apart from being the whipping boys.

He suggested that they re-invest that money into club rugby. 120 clubs each get R1million. They then appoint a doctor, coach and invest in equipment. Clubs also get more say in the region because at the moment 4 or 5 guys make all the calls in SA Rugby according to him. He also explained in detail why it will work much better than the current setup but I can't remember everything now. He reckons the stronger our club rugby is, the stronger our overall rugby will be. He again used New Zealand's 600 Clubs and how well they do as an example.

Central contracts comes down to the NZ setup where they manage and distribute their players better than here.

The NZRU owns the 5 Super Rugby Franchises. The Union still Centrally Contract all pro players and control most sources of revenue. TV, commercial etc. The SRF’s keep all gate receipts and some commercial revenue.

But that will never happen here anyway. Too much money involved for guys like Barend van Graan and the likes to ever let that happen.

 

[APoc184]

Look in the end he wanted a mix between English and French Club rugby and also the central contract system of NZ.

It is all a pipe dream and he even said it is very unrealistic that it will ever happen.

 

[MickeyD]

Good.

Few years too late but now they are following the right path to get the Kings ready for possible Super Rugby inclusion.

Now they must do away with the Vodacom Cup and invest all that money in club rugby. Will see a vast improvement in our rugby. After that.... central contracts for the Super Rugby Franchises and Springboks.

Agree. With the extended Currie Cup and First Division they should do away with the Vodacom Cup and replace it with something to stimulate rugby in the platteland, like the old Sport Pienaar series...

 

[Fulcrum29]

I can't remember the whole speech that Nick Mallett gave last year but it made perfect sense at the time. He said something along the lines of R120million per year goes towards funding the small unions like the Valke, Arende etc... And they never show any profit or make any real contribution apart from being the whipping boys.

He suggested that they re-invest that money into club rugby. 120 clubs each get R1million. They then appoint a doctor, coach and invest in equipment. Clubs also get more say in the region because at the moment 4 or 5 guys make all the calls in SA Rugby according to him. He also explained in detail why it will work much better than the current setup but I can't remember everything now. He reckons the stronger our club rugby is, the stronger our overall rugby will be. He again used New Zealand's 600 Clubs and how well they do as an example.

Central contracts comes down to the NZ setup where they manage and distribute their players better than here.



But that will never happen here anyway. Too much money involved for guys like Barend van Graan and the likes to ever let that happen.

I can agree and disagree,

The problem is that we have ~1500 Rugby Union clubs in SA, this excludes the Rugby League and Rugga in general. The Unions used to contribute to their clubs, recent developments will mean that the clubs will need to contribute to their Unions. New rules and regulations are already imposed on rugby clubs this year, one being membership paid three attendances in advance which will include the non-players. In the Western Cape, only 3-5 clubs have an actual input with WPRU, me being once involved over three years.

People think there is money to go around which not the case. I can agree on development, not something I’m going to discuss in-depth since certain entities gets room and others go back to community level. Community rugby is happening at this moment, clubs drawing players in their own allocated region instead being tied up in a club where they don’t receive game time (experience/exposure), there is more to this.

In regard with central contracts, how many Rugby Unions in New Zealand compared to us and which entity will manage the central contracts between our regions?

 

[APoc184]

The Unions used to contribute to their clubs, recent developments will mean that the clubs will need to contribute to their Unions. New rules and regulations are already imposed on rugby clubs this year, one being membership paid three attendances in advance which will include the non-players. In the Western Cape, only 3-5 clubs have an actual input with WPRU, me being once involved over three years.

And this is why club rugby is going to suffer a slow and painful death. Players will no longer want to participate because there are no prospect of ever being chosen for bigger things. All players are signed straight out of school.

In short, I just miss the good old days of top quality Club Rugby.

 

[Fulcrum29]

And this is why club rugby is going to suffer a slow and painful death. Players will no longer want to participate because there are no prospect of ever being chosen for bigger things. All players are signed straight out of school.

In short, I just miss the good old days of top quality Club Rugby.

You are 100% correct here, this is also the motivation to return to community level rugby. The old days won’t return, but the talent can play locally until approached with a “career” contract, still early days though.

We also need to look at clubs sharing municipal grounds, some grounds have up to 5 clubs sharing… This don’t work and due to internal politics the war is slowly being won by the Unions until integration is settled.

The WPRU also changed their club rugby structure to include 4 more teams per group. This year we can see Super A League play against the top 4 Super B League teams, same game other players.