The junior player development body of the Sharks is the Sharks Academy. The Academy has an outstanding track-record and has been held in high regard in South African rugby circles for many a year. However the advent and growing popularity of the Varsity Cup, allegations of the Shark Academy being operated primarily as a profit making entity and the highly publicised spending spree of main opponents the Blue Bulls has started to raise more and more questions about the viability of the Sharks Academy.
In its current form as the Sharks’ chief support structure, the once untouchable image of this market leader is slowly being replaced by that of an institute struggling to change with the times and gradually falling off the pace. However what is being overlooked in discussions it that the Sharks Academy is still a world leader in the areas of rugby that matter most. World class coaching, conditioning and ancillary development techniques are employed at world class facilities. The structuring of the players’ day is also important and is geared towards balancing out rugby, academics and a wholesome social lifestyle, something that rivals struggle to simulate. Finally what stands out is that Durban is the rugby land of opportunity because of the way the Academy is run. An absolute nobody, a late developer or even a recognised school player who was considered not good enough by others, has the chance enter the Academy on his own steam, work his butt off and get somewhere, perhaps even make it to the very top. These are the greatest success stories of all and can be told by the likes of Springboks Keegan Daniel and Marcell Coetzee, two players that joined the Academy without contracts.
Back to the perceived problems, the main concern is that the Academy offers little by way of variety in tertiary courses to its close to 100 new arrivals every year. Of these maybe 5 – 10 per year are going to emerge as the rugby real deal. It is not a stat unique to life at the Sharks. Nationally at similar rugby institutions, between 90 and 99% of players once spoken of as talented schoolboys and tipped to go far in the game, find out they are just not pro rugby material. The probability of making a proper career out of rugby is tiny. One can therefore see the importance of studying towards a degree for a career outside of the sport from Day 1. Limited academic choices at the Academy is one thing. Compounding the problem is the proper universities (rivals) are living the high life thanks to the big hit that is the Varsity Cup. It’s felt that this is now starting to hurt the Sharks’ ability to attract good rugby players to Durban. The Academy’s ± 50% drop out rate after year one is perhaps testimony to a reality check that occurs amongst youngsters after they have had time to assess the demands of the sport and what they are up against on the field. They know that it’s time to get serious about their future career paths which invariably means they have wasted an academic year. On the flipside it can be argued that very few professionals ever reached their desired goals in rugby by giving academics priority. In fact many who try to study at major tertiary institutions find it extremely difficult coming to grips with constant timetable clashes that exist between lectures and training. Flexible correspondence study like UNISA make life a lot easier but easiest still is the Sharks Academy where as it’s been mentioned above, the tertiary study routine has been carefully structured to fit in with training. At the WP Institute the boys do not study during their first year out of school which is an extreme.
With regards to the Academy being a business model, it is difficult to understand why the situation is the way it is. The Sharks are always talked about as a rich union, owning their own stadium, generating good revenues but the fact remains that both the Bulls and WP in partnerships with their respective excellent universities are able to offer a lot more financial support packages to prospective players that the Sharks can. The notion exists that if the Sharks Academy focused less on making money and more on spending to attract talent, it would increase its chances of success substantially. The junior rugby (under-19 and under-21) results show the Sharks finishing behind the Bulls and WP more often than not. The Sharks are quick to point out that their primary objective is to develop players for senior rugby. They are willing to accept that their junior teams often play second fiddle to the Bulls and WP. This may not be ideal for developing a winning culture but they firmly stand by their long term objective which is for Academy to provide good players for Superugby and the Currie Cup one day. Junior rugby is used as the springboard. That said, the rate of improvement witnessed over the course of a junior season is remarkable. The Sharks under-19’s often start off as one of the worse teams in the competition but invariably end make a huge about turn in form and fortunes and end the season as one of the strongest outfits around. This is achieved with between just 8 and 12 contracted players out of a squad of 23 on their books. Compare this to the The Bulls who will have about 40 financed players competing for 23 places in 2013. In 2012, the Sharks under-19 ratio was 6:17 contracted to uncontracted players in the 23. As a result of their efforts which included wins against both the Bulls and WP, a further 6 players landed themselves contracts at the end of the 2012 season. So essentially many players have been and will be rewarded based on form and promise they show at junior rugby level as opposed to what they had to offer at school level. This is a huge contrast what is happening at the Bulls. The Bulls were praised during the first part of 2012 for forking out millions to bring together the best assembled under-19 squad imaginable, only to see this dream-team being beaten several times and then failing to win silverware. The hugest blow to the Bulls development model however came when news began to filter through suspecting that they were looking to cut as many as 30 first year players amongst them former SA Schools players. It appears the Bulls have just too many players on their books to accommodate all going forward. Just about all of these now unwanted youngsters were good enough to start games in other provincial under-19 teams in 2012. Had a few of them been at the Sharks Academy all along, their rugby careers might well have been firmly on track. Instead they find themselves having to start over from scratch and there are valid concerns that some players who are good enough to get to senior rugby one day might be become disillusioned and be lost to rugby altogether. Amongst contracted players the Bulls look to be heading for an all-time low percentage conversion rate of those that make it from junior to senior rugby while the Sharks still boast a very impressive 80% strike rate in this area. A rugby academy run as a business is not all about negatives. It has it’s pluses as well. There is efficiency. There is incentive to succeed. There is a constant drive towards producing a high quality end product at an affordable price, knowing that good value is what “customers” seek and therefore what generates profits at the end of the day.
Perhaps what is needed in KZN now is some healthy competition for the Academy within the province or maybe even a new partnership of sorts to improve tertiary study options. Here the rugby challenges that face the University of KwaZulu-Natal will have to be assessed. Opportunities exist for the Sharks and UKZN to mimic what is happening at the Bulls and in Western Province but it will take hard work and some sacrifices to get there.
@beet: baywatch came back from that course very happy,he said they learnt alot about the mental aspect of the game,which is often overlooked.
@BOG: I am sure he will thank his mom now
My respect for Jannie Du Plessis- he somehow combined his medical studies with a S15 rugby schedule. I could not even reconcile my studies with my drinking schedule. The story goes that he (Jannie) phoned his mom in his 4th or 5th year to tell her that he was offered a contract to play for the Pumas which meant that he would have had to suspend his studies. Being a very organized lady, she apparently gave him a complete breakdown of the money she had already spent on his studies a told him that if either he or the Pumas repaid her the money, he can go ahead and suspend his studies. He changed his mind and finished his studies. A very persuasive lady, is Jannies mom.
It would be interesting to see why the approximately 50% are dropping out of the Academy and the percentage of contracted vs non-contracted boys.
Last century, when I started 1st year, we were told to look left and right of ourselves as there would only be 1 of us left at the end of the year. We started with about 250 and ended with about 30 after 3 years. I have heard that the drop out rates at most ‘1st year’ activities (except gap year) is much higher now.
@QC86: Sorry I never got back to you about the Investec game. It was disappointment in a sense that the one team was a proper team that are preparing for a Varsity Shield compo and the other was a group of youngsters that came together just for the week. The Investec team put their opponents to shame. I think if they had been together for a week longer the score would have been off the chart. It’s no fault of the UKZN Impis. They tried their hardest. It was just sad to how much the standard of their rugby has dropped. Hopefully a few more youngsters follow Cope in the years to come. He had a decent game and more guys of his standard would go a long way to improving the outlook for the Impis. But so right as said by others about. UKZN has to get interested in rugby and commit the funds before any deal with the Sharks can be considered sitting around a table to discuss.
I thought the Investec course game was great. After every quarter, the position specialist coaches got onto the field and spoke to their 2-3 players. I get a feeling the boys learnt a ton that week.
ukzn have contracted a few players this year,so some effort has gone into their game,i know B Cope is going to play for them
Interesting article – UKZN really does not seem to have rugby as a priority
@Gungets, I used to play for Varsity back in the late 90’s and early noughties. We were B league at best, although my Under21 side shocked a few of the other A sides. Angus Dunstan was a great coach there.
@Gungets Tuft: Crystal clear! Such a great pity though. My father played for what was then UNP in the 1970’s when he was at the medical school. Even represented the black Natal side.I have always thought they took their sport with some level of seriousness.
With so much talent going up to KZN year in year out, UKZN has the potential of being a great contender in Varsity Cup circles.It’s a pity.
@Playa: UKZN is not intested in sport. They had a great “koshius” league years ago – now nothing. They would do better partnering with Varsity College who are based at Riverside Sports (previously Glenwood Old Boys). Despite UKZN being a lot better at academics than they get credit for, they are dismal at sport. In that regard Pretoria, Stellies, UCT, Potch, Free State all cleaning up.
Harsh realities very well put!!!
What is stopping the Sharks from partnering UKZN?
@beet,spot on