You guys should remember that we have franchises and then we have unions/clubs.
The privatisation is more aimed at the unions/clubs as the franchises we have are all already privately owned.
The idea is to have the 11 unions all be privatised and the are:
- Blue Bulls
- Golden Lions
- Western Province
- Natal Sharks
- Free State Cheetahs
- Boland Rugby
- Leopards Rugby
- Pumas Rugby
- Eastern Province
- The Valke
- The Griffons
- Border
- SWD
Now you will count more than 11 here, but that is because some of these are sub-unions to others.
The issue is that the big 6 are bringing in the money as well as the Springboks, but since all these unions have an equal share at the table, the funds are equally distributed, and that is what they want to curb.
The plan is to privatise the unions, and have the investors and board of directors make decisions on where funding should be used and how income should be spread.
For example, Border needs more funding towards player development, while a union like Boland would rather use their funding towards player salaries in trying to keep their massive pool of talent in the Boland instead of succumbing to pressure from the big 6.
But the other part of the issue is that this will stop the Government from repeatedly interfering in how the unions operate, and will remove the "red tape" procedures which takes forever to finalise and put in place.
This article should be read with a broader perspective. It's basically a pre-emptive strike from investors on the government, stating that they are willing to put up a fight for Rugby in South Africa and will be looking into ways to get rid of the governmental issues surrounding unions.
I think the timing is also perfect, especially with this whole Bosassa case going one, showing just how corrupt officials are and how they spent money like it was nothing.
