Super Rugby cull means redistribution of wealth in SA rugby

The horse-trading to decide the two South Africa Super Rugby franchises to be cut from the tournament from 2018 officially began this week‚ and one of the toughest talking points will be over the redistribution of wealth in rugby.

The Cheetahs and the Southern Kings have known for some time they are the two to be cut unless something dramatic unfolds in the coming weeks. Cheetahs chief executive Harold Verster is the only one of the six men in his position who has felt it necessary to publicly make a case for the Cheetahs' Super Rugby inclusion.

Why? Because he already has a good idea what the outcome of the ‘process’ will be. The criteria announced on Tuesday‚ for the culling of two franchises‚ has been carefully worded to ensure there can be only two possible losers. The reality is that SA will have four teams in the competition from next year and no amount of whinging will change it.

Even a legal case might be on shaky ground because all franchises have agreed to be measured by the same criteria. SA Rugby issues Super Rugby licences at its discretion and backed up by a scoreboard that says the Cheetahs and Kings must go‚ there isn't a clear legal case to answer.

The rules have been applied and the franchises have agreed to them. The agreed headline criteria‚ which have been weighted‚ are: financial and economic sustainability; sustainable support base; team performance; and stadium and facilities.

These criteria were further broken down in sub-criteria and measurement mechanisms for each of these were also set and agreed upon. More significantly‚ over the course of the coming years the money SA Rugby earns from broadcast rights – R641m – in the last financial year‚ will be more heavily spent on Super Rugby and national teams.

Less money is going to flow in the direction of smaller unions who will increasingly have to exist as semi-professional entities. Structural changes to the organisation last December‚ which were ratified at its recent annual general meeting‚ mean that the current model of annually paying Super Rugby franchises R28m and the other eight unions R18m out of the broadcast income‚ will be re-weighted.

“Due to these changes in the future the money in rugby will flow in different ways‚” SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux said. “In other words money will flow in the direction of where money is earned.

“Ideally you want to come to a situation where money earned for the Springboks‚ is used for the Springboks‚ and money earned for Super Rugby‚ is used for Super Rugby franchises and for Currie Cup and so on. “It will take spending away from a blanket distribution‚ to specialised distribution spending‚ which will take care of itself.

"We have a turnaround plan and the fundamental crux of it is that we have to distinguish between professional and semi-professional rugby. “We need to get to a position where we have a sustainable model for the teams and the amount of players we have in this country.” Roux believes‚ and it’s a view shared by most role players in South African rugby otherwise the downsizing of Super Rugby participants wouldn’t be about to happen‚ that it will lead to more competitive teams.

“People try to shy away from performances but the reality is that there is only one competition in the world where fans continue to support their team regardless of results‚ and that’s English Premier League football‚” Roux said.

“Rugby doesn’t work like that. When the Bulls perform‚ the stands are full and when they don’t‚ the stands are empty. “Supporters are fickle and they should be. Why should they support a losing team and the same goes for sponsors?”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport