Over the years my feeling has always been that SA should try to keep as many of its school-leavers interested and participating in rugby as it possibly can. But creating worthwhile opportunities in SA hasn’t been easy since the onset of rugby professionalism and financial contracts play a big part in limiting places available and with it the chances available to players for advancement. Shutting the door too early on players with potential to go far is a realistic concern. Granted at the same time, not all young players out there are worthy of the opportunity because they simply aren’t good enough to ever make it as pros at senior level.
Anyway SA rugby has hit new lows and part of the worry is that we don’t operate in a proactive rugby society which means we’ll never be one step ahead of our problems and there are even questions about whether or not our rugby officials are motivated or skilled enough to be reactive to the sometimes obvious changes that need to be made – in other words they know no better or they just don’t care enough to avoid plodding along down the same path that eventually leads to total failure. Fortunately even in these adverse rugby times that we live in, there is no shortage of good useful observations and new ideas being bounced around. Here’s an article worth sharing which offers a perspective which you may or may not have considered up to now:
http://www.vodacomrugby.co.za/cull-professional-players-unions/
@Valkie: Big question is, will the VC even continue in 2017 with the present turmoil at the varsities? I have my doubts regarding the format.
@Grasshopper: So let’s try and convince or sell that idea to sponsors of the varsity cup and see how quick they start to run……it’s too expensive they’ll say…..
@Valkie: Merge Varisty Cup into a big Club tourno like in the old days when Dispatch played Tuks and Maties played Villagers etc. Too many tournaments, focus required on one big club champs
@Grasshopper: @Tang: I agree with you both.
For the ‘varsity cup’ there is a sponsor so there is some money. Clubs are all struggling as there is limited resources and they are amateur clubs, thus players don’t come through the system.
Look at the current ‘Free State’ team that will be playing in the Currie Cup final. Where did these players come from, i.e. who them came through the ‘varsity cup’ vs ‘club’ system.
The biggest ‘animal’ here are sponsors…….they are not interested in clubs as there is no or limited exposure meaning a limited return on their investment.
Since rugby became professional in South Africa our club system died. It will take some brave individuals with capital to burn in order to get the ‘club system’ up and running as it is running in the rest of the rugby playing nations. Once that is up and running our rugby will be stronger and we will be a force again and we shall be able to keep talent and especially young talent in South Africa. These brave clubs should also not affiliate to SARU but remain private……..
There is nothing wrong with an individual player finding his own sponsor and wearing that sponsor’s logo on his jersey, and it is really time for that.
@Tang: I agree with all you guys, but SA has got so expensive that normal salaries are just not enough to survive. I reckon to live comfortably, paying a bond, medical aid, car & house insurance, life insurance, own 2 cars, pay school fees, food and utilities a family needs to earn a million a year & that leaves only a little for saving & entertainment. I mean some decent occupations are paid less than R10,000 a month. How does anyone live on that. My medical aid for a family of 4 was R6,600 a month and you can’t live safely in SA without it. A young rugga player as a waiter might earn R1,000 a week as a waiter, not enough for rent & food. Hence, to keep these players Unions have had to pay them enough. In Europe one can easily live ok on a waiters wage. The Economy is to blame and that falls on the Gov. I mean nurses, teachers & police all earn less than R20k a month, disgusting. It something not easily fixed. Clubs & Unions all need to be privatized to offer decent contracts. I agree we glorify schools rugby too much too. In the UK here schools are not even watched by the minority, it’s certainly not attended by crowds of 5,000 plus. 500 max. Our focus needs to be on the Boks and the levels below are steps up that players need to work hard to move up. Just my 3 cents worth….
@Stier – You make some great points. A few key things stand out:
1) A win at all cost mentality.
2) Too much emphasis on winning at a young age. We should be developing skills not teaching our children to take less risks. When the boys are at open level, the focus can switch to winning.
3) Too much money in school boy rugby.
I like the article.
I like the comparison between the New Zealand system and the South African system.
The bottom line, we like quantity over quality. In New Zealand it is the other way around.
We don’t seem to have any alignment between school and pro rugby. It is ridiculous to offer school boys so much money before they have proved their worth. Our youngsters become professionals and they lack the full skill set. Until we address the need to improve skills at school level, the professional level will fall short.
@4×4: @Valkie: My thinking along the same lines as yours.
“SA rugby has hit some new lows–” My goodness, really? What a surprize?
@4×4: Maybe this is the route for Rugby Clubs to follow.
Perhaps it is time to privatice rugby in South Africa. The high schools has done so with ridicilious scholarships…so why should the unions not follow suit?
Just a thought: Why on earth or who decided that Currie Cup rugby should be played on a Friday at 15H00? Is that a sure way of killing the sport???? Maybe S.A. Rugby by doing this is killing the sport on purpose and by themselves…..
Wonder what some of the sponsors are thinking as well????? I know first hand what one sponsor is thinking, and it is not positive,
@Valkie:
“My opinion: Until such a time comes where local clubs are professional we will not be able to have ‘home grown’ talent in our smaller provinces. We all know that the clubs house amateur players and sometimes the professional franchises would come and scout, but more often than not these boys disappear into thin air.
The entire rugby system in S.A. is upside down and wrong. We should not be scouting at school level, dammit!!”
@Stier:
“Personnaly I think the SA rugby professional system was always doomed to fail and we are now seeing the result of this broken system. Club rugby should have stayed the main feeder system for our provinces and not the schools. There is ways to allow younger players to play club rugby and earn a small wage.”
Spot on guys! You both took the words right out of my mouth.
@Valkie: Don’t you think a mass concerted effort may be able to unlock the gridlock imposed by the sport ministry? “One person” can easily be isolated and taken out of the equation, no matter what their conviction or how good their plans are. Even if the unions stand together, politics and power struggles will eventually disband such an effort. We need rugby lovers from across the nation to stand together and drive a positive “agenda” into the next 10 years. Your point speaks to; who will lead or co-ordinate such an effort. I know it cannot openly come from present structures. A bit of a conundrum in my mind.
I wish to thank Mr Hoskins for admitting in media reports yesterday that S.A. Rugby is in absolute turmoil, and that it might remain that way for a lengthy period of time. The part he did not elaborate to much on is that there are no single person in S.A. Rugby willing to stand up and make decisive, cold and clinical decisions that are required at this point in time.
Personnaly I think the SA rugby professional system was always doomed to fail and we are now seeing the result of this broken system. Club rugby should have stayed the main feeder system for our provinces and not the schools. There is ways to allow younger players to play club rugby and earn a small wage. Many schools in our country battle to get enough teachers to coach rugby at schools. Programs like rugga kids is also a way to generate income for the boys. In the end the real rugby players that want to make it to the top will find a way to play and work. At least then you know the real committed players will be in the system and not players that think they want to be rugby players. It will save millions in the long run. What other sport or career in SA do we have where as many 18 and 19 year old kids walk around with R300 000 plus salaries with no qualification behind their name? It also won’t surprise me if there is more money in schoolboy rugby today then in club rugby. Club rugby should also be fixed, in many places it is not safe to play club rugby because of spectators and even players that behave like animals. Clubs that don’t keep a high standard of behaviour should be dealt with.
I also believe our junior coaching system should change, all provinces should stop with schoolboy rugby leauges, especially at primary school level. I know it’s hard for some people to believe but the difference at primary school level between weepee and the bulls is massive. The system in the weepee is not geared to win at all cost and the standard of rugby is definitely different. No jokes my son’s team in his last year in Pretoria (u/9) kicked the ball more in one game than what his team (u/10) did the whole year in the weepee and the opposite happened to the carry meters. In fact in Pretoria he was not allowed to carry the ball because he was a forward(fetcher)? The previous year he scored 34 tries while playing bulletjie rugby/rip rugby? Once in the cape he was back to scoring tries and was the top scorer in his team and he played the same position? The u/13 cw should be stopped and four regional tournaments with more teams per province should replace it. Even SASCOC had a few clever boys from Europe and the America’s here in SA to see why we did so awefull at the Beijing games. One of their findings was that there is to much of a “win” motive at a young level in SA sport and not enough focus put on basic skills development.
I have a son that is doing MMA, his first pro fight is in November, this boy has sacrificed so much to get to this point that it is hard to explain what he had to do and give up. He sleeps in the gym because he isn’t earning enough money to afford his own place, yet he trains his eight hours a day six days a week and coach his clients when ever he can fit them in. He will not get proper sponsors until he has shown what he can do on the professional stage. That is the live of a upcoming professional sportsman in most sport, why is things so different in SA rugby? Most swimmers will swim more than 10000 hours over a ten year period to win a Olympic medal, that is what it takes to be the best and get the big bucks in other sports. A Russian Olympic coach once told me that a athlete has to repeat a skill 45 000 times before he can say he has mastered it. In SA we value so called talent to much and we don’t reward hard work as much as we should.
S A Rugby is it’s own worse enemy and it’s slowly killing itself. Soon the stadiums will be empty and the bank account will follow the same way.
There’s another side to this, when the author of the Voda article speaks of amateur clubs and unions in NZ. I’ve read somewhere that in NZ and Aus a rugby player can earn a living wage by being a part time waiter, or doing other menial work. Is that even possible in our economic circumstances? With high unemployment and therefore cheap labour, I doubt it very much.
The dice is loaded heavily against a sustainable amateur setup in SA.
My opinion: Until such a time comes where local clubs are professional we will not be able to have ‘home grown’ talent in our smaller provinces. We all know that the clubs house amateur players and sometimes the professional franchises would come and scout, but more often than not these boys disappear into thin air.
The entire rugby system in S.A. is upside down and wrong. We should not be scouting at school level, dammit!! Thing is that S.A. rugby is nowhere to be found and if you do maybe find them they have no teeth.
Many years ago, a player had to affiliate to a club first, and when injured he had to go and play for the club before being brought back to provincial levels. Yes, yes I know those days are over because of the ‘so called’ professional era, but the system worked.
Let me ask you: “when last did you attend a rugby match at you local club?” In fact, do you even know where the club is and what their kit looks like?
Our schoolboys are being hunted down by vultures, so that these vultures can earn cash off our boys. Our sons are being swallowed up in international systems and whether or not that is a good thing only time will tell. We are quick to say that our children are not welcome in S.A. sport any longer, and I can agree with that one 100%, HOWEVER we are allowing it to happen and we do not have the necessary back bone to stand up for our children, it’s easier just to send them overseas and make no waves….”they earn more money overseas anyway” …….. And if they fail, where will they end up, Sir?