SARU, FIFA in stadium talks

[zagame]

Johannesburg - South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins will head into one of his most important meetings of the year on Tuesday when he meets with 2010 World Cup organising committee head, Danny Jordaan.

Hoskins will be joined by the chairperson of SARU’s board, Dr Jan Marais as they try and sort out two very contentious issues that could affect the mood of South African rugby towards the soccer World Cup this year.

The first is the highly emotional issue of the Super 14 playoffs, and what SARU will do if a South African team does qualify for the semi-finals and finals of the competition.

According to the FIFA agreements with the host cities the stadiums - Loftus Versfeld and Coca-Cola Park - are part of a handover that has to take place on May 25 this year, in the week of the Super 14 final with no games allowed to be played at those stadiums from that date.

To make matters worse, if the Sharks, Cheetahs or Stormers make the final, they will also not be allowed to play at home as the FIFA agreement with the host cities precludes any major sporting event from taking place in the same city during that period.

All of this which leaves a massive headache for rugby officials, especially where the Bulls are the defending champions and alongside the Sharks and Stormers are considered possible semi-finalists for the competition.

FIFA have already indicated that it won’t bend the rule, as the pitch has to be manicured and painted for the football showpiece event, while logistics and parking arrangements surrounding the stadiums have to be finalised.

The second issue is the test between the Springboks and France, scheduled for Newlands stadium on June 12, but which, at the present moment cannot be played there because of the FIFA agreement. While alternatives in France and Wembley in England have been mooted, SARU are keen to try and finalise an agreement with FIFA whereby the game will take place in Cape Town.

“It’s a very important meeting for us,” SARU president Hoskins said, “We are hopeful of finding solutions to the two problems and we are certain we can work something out that both FIFA and SARU accomplish what they want to do.”

While SARU have a number of options they want to present to FIFA as alternatives, it remains to be seen how flexible Jordaan and FIFA can be regarding the matches, and whether they will accede to any of SARU’s requests.

Hoskins added that he was keen to have the game against France played in Cape Town, rather than settle for a money-spinning game at Wembley or in France itself.

“The French may have already told us to name our price on this one, but after last year’s test in Toulouse, we don’t want to give up our home advantage like that. Also, Wembley may be a financial windfall, but sometimes you have to take a rugby decision, and not just a financial one,” Hoskins added.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Content/Ru.../01-02-2010-02-40/SARU,_FIFA_in_stadium_talks

lol Rugby Fifa

comment on article sums it up nicely

FIFA own the SWC but they dont own South Africa - or CPT, JHB or DBN either !! I can understand that if the same stadiums are involved, then the state of the pitch is important for soccer...Goodness, how can you expect $100,000 a week players to put up with a bump on the pitch....but sarcasm aside, to ban ALL sporting events in the country because they clash with the SWC is too much. What happens to the Durban July and the Gunston (or whatever it is called now) 500 ?? Sorry, but I'm a supporter of our SWC initiative but I'm growing very weary of the FIFA "rule" over the country. I simply cannot believe that Germany bent to the same rules and were raped as badly as FIFA amd MATCH are shaping up to fleece South Africa and South Africans (See the article on the mascot production)

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

Thats ridiculous! they're using rugby stadiums wtf is wrong with them!??

i understand the loftus and bloem problem but the sharks will play the final at home and win it anyways

btw, where have SARU been for the last 6 years while preperations were going on?

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

oh and how awesome would it be if the footy and rugby team beat france here in the same month

 

[LCBXX]

Bit late in the game to start whining about how FIFA makes a host country bend to it every whim. Case and point: Greenpoint Stadium. Mainly there because FIFA wants 'the mountain' for a backdrop. Same goes for the new Durban Stadium right next to the Shark Tank.
FIFA rides a huge money wave with any SWC tournament. Sepp Blatter is an idiot - he does not care for anything but the financial gain and the reputation of FIFA. Now that many small B&B are also trying to cash on on the exorbitant FIFA pricing by charging their own inflated prices, FIFA cries foul 'cause it negatively impacts their own ticket sales.

I say fsck FIFA. This is our country too and we have other, equally important, sports men and woman whose respective disciplines need to be taken into consideration.

 

[APoc184]

Well, one of the SA teams will first have to get a home Semi.
Give it 12 weeks, then we will know if we have something to worry about.

 

[daveza]

Sepp Blatter is an idiot .

If he can indeed force the hand of the rugby union then he is far from an idiot.

As I see it, for a few weeks he has more clout than the president.

 

[LancelotSA]

Bit late in the game to start whining about how FIFA makes a host country bend to it every whim. Case and point: Greenpoint Stadium. Mainly there because FIFA wants 'the mountain' for a backdrop. Same goes for the new Durban Stadium right next to the Shark Tank.

The soccer stadium has always been in that position....

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

The soccer stadium has always been in that position....

and greenpoint was built over the old one wasnt it?

yes it was

The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa was an 18,000 seat multi-purpose stadium. It was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Cape Town Stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Bit late in the game to start whining about how FIFA makes a host country bend to it every whim. Case and point: Greenpoint Stadium. Mainly there because FIFA wants 'the mountain' for a backdrop

what are you going on about dude???

 

[ToxicBunny]

This irritates me no end..

Yes I can understand Coca-Cola Park and Loftus... thats one thing..

But saying the Sharks or the Stormers can't play in their own damn stadiums because FIFA doesn't want them to.. they can take a flying leap if you ask me...

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

This irritates me no end..

Yes I can understand Coca-Cola Park and Loftus... thats one thing..

But saying the Sharks or the Stormers can't play in their own damn stadiums because FIFA doesn't want them to.. they can take a flying leap if you ask me...

Shame they should say Ellis park is open, we know lions are going nowhere anyways

 

[killadoob]

LOL we have the world cup and all people can bitch about is the super 14 games? The super 14 happens every single bloody year, the world cup comes to our country once in what the next 50 years or 100 years? More than likely we will never host it again.

F SARU i say.

 

[LancelotSA]

LOL we have the world cup and all people can bitch about is the super 14 games? The super 14 happens every single bloody year, the world cup comes to our country once in what the next 50 years or 100 years? More than likely we will never host it again.

F SARU i say.

I'm a rugby fan, don't really care for soccer, and I agree with you!

 

[Jola]

F FIFA, I say !

Especially wrt stadiums that are not being used for the WC.

What sh*t is this that FIFA controls everything that happens in the country, especially events that have nothing to do with the WC !

Next thing they are going to have an opinion about Zuma's love life !

 

[The_Pumpkin_King]

atleast let the boks play here so we can celebrate a national team winning


/leaves before Lance comes back

 

[LancelotSA]

F FIFA, I say !

Especially wrt stadiums that are not being used for the WC.

What sh*t is this that FIFA controls everything that happens in the country, especially events that have nothing to do with the WC !

I think you will find that all these "demands" were part of the initial negotiations and countries had to accept them if they wanted to be part of the tender process. It is not like this is a new demand. SARU have been very slow to notice this issue!

atleast let the boks play here so we can celebrate a national team winning


/leaves before Lance comes back

We can still celebrate if they play in France or at Wembley!

 

[killadoob]

I think you will find that all these "demands" were part of the initial negotiations and countries had to accept them if they wanted to be part of the tender process. It is not like this is a new demand. SARU have been very slow to notice this issue!



We can still celebrate if they play in France or at Wembley!

Yup i doubt fifa just suddenly thinks o let's cancel all sporting events and not tell anyone until the last minute so we can piss them off and show how mighty we are.

Sounds like SARU are just slow on the uptake >

 

[Jola]

I think you will find that all these "demands" were part of the initial negotiations and countries had to accept them if they wanted to be part of the tender process. It is not like this is a new demand. SARU have been very slow to notice this issue!

Well, it's such a ridiculous demand that they probably didn't expect that any sane person would have agreed to something like that !

Anyway, the Super 14 is way more important than the WC. After the four goal-less quarterfinals of the last WC, I think that I will rather watch History channel, it's much more exciting.

We can still celebrate if they play in France or at Wembley!

No we can't, they will probably lose there, you haven't been paying attention to recent tours !

 

[killadoob]

Four goal-less quarter finals? I think if you are going to make silly comments you should at least ensure you are correct .

 

[Jola]

Four goal-less quarter finals? I think if you are going to make silly comments you should at least ensure you are correct .

OK, you are right, but two of the quarter-finals were draws, one 1-1 and the other 0-0.

I think that some of the others were also 0-0 after full-time, and there were only goals during extra time. Can't find that info.

Still think that I would rather watch History channel !

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

BS on that call that no rugby may be played. I abhor soccer, as do many others, and love rugby so it's not like FIFA twits are gonna lose revenue because we're already not giving a toss about the soccer.