In order to set the record straight, the Blue Bulls replied to the comment below made on this website:
Is this the future to come? Is the other unions to gain from the Bulls decision to contract most u/19 boys for only one year. I think so. Will rather send my boy to the Leopards with a rated Academy and two year contract with game time, than the Bulls with a one year contract with no guaranteed game time and a “dis functional” TUKS academy
Bulls representative:
TUKS Rugby Academy is an entity in its own right and function separate from us.We as the Blue Bulls Company do not place ANY players in that Academy, be it contracted or not contracted.
We as the Blue Bulls Company have a select group of High Performance contracted players. Some of this contracted group of players are full time students at the University of Pretoria or at the Tswane University of Technology. We have designed our practise sessions around the students’ classes. As you can see in the success of TUKS winning the Varsity Cup as well as the Young Guns for 2 years in succession.
We also do not just offer 1 year contracts as been said. Our contracts vary from 1 year to 3 years.
I hope this clarify the confusion regarding TUKS Rugby Academy.
@Deon: As hy natuurlik super intelligent is, sal hy Pukke toe gaan. LOL!
@BOG: Dis nie wat Johan van Rensburg – nog ‘n paar randjies met die Vriendelike hulp van ABSA – se nie!
@Djou: Now three bottles of red. They said what the deemed enough although anybody can see my statement was read and answered by a sub A child. This is their attitude and behaviour we are used to here in Ptown.
Djoutjie not all the other provinces has fcuked so many boys chances of playing pro rugby. The corpses is scattered all over the country. Come on Bulls answer your faithfull.
Guys, the statement is insufficient to draw many conclusions. We need the full policy and strategy. But not just from the Bulls, at least they responded. We need it from SA RUGBY, and how they work with the unions in this regard.
@Klofie Pa: Not exactly the same thing at a big company. When the Bulls “appoint” you with a contract to play front row, you are under the impression you are going to play. However, when you pitch up for work you suddenly discover they have appointed six others – and you have to fight it out to do the work of one.
@Meadows. If a young man is intelligent enough to obtain entry to an University, be that Tuks,Maties,Kovsies etc, whichever, he would not want to play for the Bulls now, would he? There are exceptions I am sure, but… they remain exceptions.
@Westers: There are rules – the key ones affecting player eligibility are;
– player must be 25 or younger
– 18 of the 23 man squad for any game must be “bona fide” students
– A player will only be regarded as a bona fide student if he has passed at least 30% of all subjects that he has been enrolled for in the previous year at the University for which he wants to play, unless he was never previously enrolled at a university in South Africa, or he is a post-graduate student.
It is easy to see how issues such as “bona fide” student can be manipulated – there doesn’t appear to be any requirement for the student to be enrolled in a proper degree course or be progressing in it which I would have thought necessary to put the “bona fide” into the definition of student.
Tuks were again in 2013 formally charged by VC management for breaching the rules in four of their games by exceeding the number non bona fide students.
The same thing had happened in 2012. In both instances the same Adv Lubbe SC ruled that the transgressions were to be punished by a reprimand – ie no points were deducted notwithstanding that being the prescribed sanction in the rules and that Tuks were repeat offenders.
Shimlas in 2012 and UCT in 2011 also received no more than a slap on the wrist for the same transgression so it seems that the administration have little or no will to enforce the rules as they stand.
@Westers: If you are enrolled for a six month course you are seen as a full time student. But why bother shall we put a second bottle of red wine up if they answer. This is how the Bulls are.
@meadows: I thought there were stringent rules in place to ensure Varsity Cup players were bona fide students at the varsity who were also making academic progress, i.e. if they fail they may not continue to play the next year. Maybe someone can clarify this situation.
I suppose the next question will be, if there are rules, who checks that they are not being broken and what are the penalties?
@Djou:
It would also be interesting to know;
– how many of the 23 players that represented Tuks in the final of the Varsity Cup are actually registered for a proper degree course (minimum three year degree and writing and passing exams) at the university, and
– how many of their VC team were eligible to represent Tuks in the recent USSA rugby tournament hosted at Tuks at few weeks ago.
i’m not intending to single out Tuks here as I doubt that they are much different to any of the other major Varsity Cup teams that have become comprised of fringe professionals contracted to the unions rather than the student platform it was initially conceived as.
@Klofie Pa: Miskien het ons nog saam in daardie tou gestaan en teenoor mekaar gekla. En dan het ek nog altyd, na n laaaang wag ge-eindig by die een wie daardie “far-away look” op haar gesig kry wanneer sy na die monitor staar. Selfs n atoomontploffing sal haar nie haar oe laat knip nie. Ai, dit is lekker in Afrika !
@Klofie Pa: ja en hoe het tuks die varsity cup gewen? Was daar nie weer n reel oortree nie?
@BOG: Nou dit is presies my punt!! As ons al die negatiewe dinge weet van wat by n unie aangaan, hoe op dees aarde sou jy daar wil gaan werk! Maar tog is die Brooklyn tak vol mense as ek daar instap om my grant wat ek van Zuma ontvang wil wissel vir n volgende rondte.
@BOG oor ABSA- as jou opmerking nie so korrek was nie sou ek baie lekker gelag het. Jy is ongelukkig in die kol-bull’s eye.
@Klofie Pa: Klofie ek hoop nie dit is hoe jou besluit geneem is oor my twee seuns wat daar by jou bly nie. Wat jy egter uit die oog verloor ABSA of enige ander maatskappy gaan jou nie in diens neem en vir twee jaar in die pos sorteer kamer los en jou dan afdank omdat jy nie finansiele analises kon doen nie. My “gripe” teenoor die stelsel is bekend. Al wat ek vra is behandel die kinders soos mense en moenie verwagtinge skep wat jy nie kan “deliver” nie. Jy werk met kinders en hul drome.
@Klofie Pa: Absa is miskien nie n goeie voorbeeld nie. By hulle is ongeskiktheid n voorvereiste en nie n beletsel nie. Ek kry die indruk dat hulle n uitruilooreenkoms het met die staatsdiens of toonbankpersoneel vir Binnelandse Sake oplei. Andersins is jy seker reg.
Dit gaan tog als oor keuses wat die kind en ouer neem wanneer dit by enige beroep kom!! nie??
Die besigheid bied jou die werk aan en jy moet besluit of die risiko te groot is en of jy werklik kans sien vir die joppie!!
Sou jy nie die mas opkom by bv. Investec, Aurecon, Absa ens. sal daar ook n swaard oor jou kop hang na n jaar of 2. Selfde met die Bulle en enige ander unie.
Al gewonder hoeveel jong mense hul werk verloor het agv incompetence en niemand n woord rep daaroor. Beweeg maar aan na n meer geskikte maatskappy wat jou kan akkomodeer.
Selfde met rugby en als wat daarmee gepaard gaan!!
@Muzi: This is exactly why I asked the question. They are playing with PEOPLE’s livelihoods. Like big companies. Rather don’t contract them, or tell them upfront they’d be better off at a smaller union, or “share” them with the Valke, Limpopo, etc. And if they perform there, they will be looked at again.
@Muzi: Put a bottle of red up say they will not bother to answer and/or discuss problems we have any further.
Geez I can imaging how some of those fringe players feel when they’ve been told their services are surplus to requirements after a year at loftus.
@Djou:
Concerning your second question IMHO……”rising stars” identified for the long term future like Pollard,Janse van Rensburg,the Kriel twins and Schoeman get offered 3-year-deal or 2-year-deal.
Then fringe players like Marcus Kleinbooi get paid far less in a performance based 1-year-deal even the Tjarks and WP do it that way.
Schoolboy rugby battle lines have been drawn it’s the Oom Tjoppa vs Xander and Werner show…..priceless!!!
Then please advise on the Bulls website if you click on Blue Bulls Rugby Academy you are rerouted to Tuks website where it list their academy as Blue Bulls TuksRugby Academy with the registered trademark of the Bulls on display.
If the above response from the Bulls are 100% correct do they allow Tuks to mislead the unsuspecting public or do they mislead the public.
The second question is did they change their contracting policy for next year regarding the majority u/19 players.
@Beet: Awesome that the Bulls responded. This is what we want, conversation for the better, not just to criticise. We often speculate and should rather react on the facts. This reply is how we can get the facts. However, the short statement raises a couple of other questions.
1. Does the Bulls coordinate with Tuks, even though being separate entities?
We know as separate entities they should have different objectives eg. if all TUKS players play for the Bulls, TUKS would have a sub-par team, hence they should contract differently. But, in order not to waste resources, I gather the two institutions should have some sort of working agreement.
2. Another question is how do they decide on one year versus three year contracts?
3. Thirdly, how many u.19 players are contracted and how many u.21 players? (By the Bulls and TUKS).
Maybe the other unions can also answer how they operate!