Thirty-three years after black students took to the streets in protest against being taught in Afrikaans, the so-called Afrikaner sport tried - for the umpteenth time - to launch "black rugby" with a Southern Kings fixture against the touring British & Irish Lions.

Seeing that the powers-that-be now frown on sporting events on that historic day, government buy-in was critical for the game to go ahead.

But the carrot offered by the South African Rugby Union (Saru) was an Eastern Cape franchise to participate in Super rugby as early as 2011.

So committed were government - who normally don't need an excuse to be on Saru's case (think of the recent Beast Mtawarira kerfuffle) - they are rumoured to have promised to help fund the new venture to the tune of R30-million.

Five months later, with the Kings' bid to be Super rugby's 15th franchise having predictably lost out to Melbourne, there has been so little progress that one is almost tempted to refer to them as the Spears all over again.

In the aftermath of the rugby leadership's admission that there was never a plan B, government are understandably feeling they've been had. Saru may not have deliberately set out to deceive anyone, but to suggest they never had a contingency plan for failing to have an SA team play in an Australian conference is either disingenuous or dereliction of duty.

Surely they had to know the idea was a non-starter?

In fact, the call to run for Sanzar's 15th Super rugby franchise was an abdication of sorts in that they were avoiding having to make a decision on what to really do with the Eastern Cape.

The Eastern Cape problem has been on the Saru menu since 2003, so it's easy to conclude that political will is lacking from those charged with finding a solution.

Meanwhile, the folks at the Eastern Cape - Cheeky Watson, Alan Solomons, Robbie Kempson and Stephan Pretorius - don't appear to have got the memo as they continue to prepare for a franchise it would seem nobody but themselves wants to see materialise.

Regardless of who you talk to in SA rugby, everyone would love to see the Kings accommodated. As long as it doesn't affect them, that is.

The smaller unions don't want the sameness they bring to domestic rugby to be leap-frogged by something different, while the bigger unions are content to regularly raid the Eastern Cape of its talent from as early as Grade 10.

With the half-hearted stab at the 15th franchise a thing of the past, there are only two realistic options: accommodate the Kings by way of relegation/promotion in Super rugby, or find them a place in the Currie Cup until they find their feet.

Looking at the relegation candidates in the Super 14, the Cheetahs and the Lions, it appears the former have been identified as most likely because they are neither big nor small enough to be classified a big or small province.

But they keep throwing a spanner in those works by making Currie Cup final after Currie Cup final.

Playing the Kings in the Premier Division of the Currie Cup as a ninth province - with Eastern Province, the SWD Eagles and Border continuing to play in the First Division - would require a constitutional change to the rules.

This is where the stalemate comes in as all the threatened provinces harp on about that technicality. Which brings us to the real solution of the problem.

It's time Saru made an executive decision on what will, not might, be done with the Kings. If they keep leaving it to a flawed vote (too many self-interested small provinces have a say), we'll still be talking about accommodating them in the Super 20 five years down the line.