Southern Kings to play Super Rugby from 2013

[psychic duck]

back on topic, do you think the Southern Kings will have enough money to go on a raid of the Cheetahs/Lions? I wonder whether they could attract any Springboks

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

^^^ I'd rather see the bullshit posts removed than the entire thread being closed.

EDIT; I ment this short paragraph in response to the lady's post above yours.

Anyway, back on topic; I read in the 'Rapport' today, and Hoskins confirmed this, that the 5 SA franchizes have put an ultimatum to SARU stating that it's all 5 of them, with or without the Kings as a sixth team, or none of them in the competition...

While I sympathize with our 5 existing franchises and the fact that they have to deal with the incompetence and political sideshows of SARU the fact remains that we signed off on contracts and I for one would be very embarrassed as a South African if we did end up going against our commitments. So there are a few possibilities;

- The Kings will have to wait to 2015 or for some other solution.

- SARU end up calling the bluff and send in 5 other teams (Boland, Griquas, Kings etc) and the 'big 5' will have to sort something out for themsleves. This would make a joke of the SA conference though and I can't see anybody other than the new franchizes and the SA politicians being happy about it. That said, SARU have the right to put whoever they want in the competition as I understand that the 5 franchises as it stands come to an end at the end of 2012 (with their rights only stretching so far).

- 16 teams compete from 2012 onward.

I had a look and what I'd propose for a 16 team format without doing away with the conference system that the Aussies management worked so hard to put togeteher would look something like this;

5 team in each of the Aus and NZ conferences and 6 in SA. With home and away matches in conference and not playing one of the other franchises' teams each that comes to 17 games for each of teh Aus and NZ teams (8 domestic and 9 games against foregin opposition) and 18 games for each SA team (10 domestic and 8 agaist foreign opp). That means more games (1 for Aus, NZ teams and 2 for SA teams) and thus more money to satisfy News Corp and we give each Aus and NZ team 4 free points to make up for them 'missing' a match against the SA conferences.

Any thoughts?

back on topic, do you think the Southern Kings will have enough money to go on a raid of the Cheetahs/Lions? I wonder whether they could attract any Springboks

There ihas been a lot of money allready invested in the Kings and the entire EP region (how much of that reached it's intended goal is up for debate though). I do think though that a franchise in the area could be very sucessful if they don't go all out for 'affrimative action' as they might. If they do get the chance to compete in S15 that will be all the draw they need to lure some top quality players IMO; they have the stadium and support ITO fans and money, they have a fantastic climate and beaches. I can't see many top SA players not wanting to play for them if they would get the chance to play a leading role.

The off-putting factors though are major political interference in sport in the area; much more so than in other areas in the country, which might lead to some bad decisions being made; political considerations may get preference over rugby considerations. Between the Lions, Cheetahs and overseas -based SA players there is more than enough player resources to help them out if they went that route. The Lions have major local competition in the Bulls being just a stones through away and the Cheetahs are on the other hand isolated ITO geography, population and finance-wise and don't have many of the draw-cards other regions have.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Article op superxv.com

South Africa's five franchises have threatened to boycott the 2013 Super Rugby season if any of the current five teams are excluded from the competition.

According to Rapport newspaper, the Stormers, Bulls, Lions, Cheetahs and Sharks sent a letter of their demands to the SA Rugby Union (Saru).

This followed Saru's decision at the end of January to include the Southern Kings in Super Rugby in 2013.

Saru's 14 unions unanimously voted in favour of including the Eastern Cape team -- consisting of the Eastern Province, Border and South Western Districts -- in the 2013 season.

At the time, the national governing body said the other South African teams in the cross-continental competition would be confirmed only after proposals from provinces were considered at a meeting in March.

Rapport reported that Saru president Oregan Hoskins reacted with shock when he got the letter.

He told the newspaper that the five franchises demanded that unless Sanzar (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) expanded the competition to 16 teams to accommodate six South African teams they would not participate in next year's competition.

Hoskins said he would send the letter to the other nine unions and it "will be in the hands of all unions to decided which teams will play in the Super Rugby series".

South Africa, however, have a challenge on their hands as the current broadcast deal, which allows for 15 teams in the competition according to the conference system, will be renegotiated only in 2016.

Saru deputy president Mark Alexander said at the end of January that the national rugby body would nevertheless lobby its partners at Sanzar for 16 teams to be introduced into the competition.

"There is a window of opportunity with our partners, we are currently preparing a 16 team schedule so that we can go and debate with them," Alexander said at the time.

If Saru fails to negotiate the inclusion of a sixth team one of the existing franchises would have to drop out of the series.

"We understand if one drops out it is very difficult to come back and compete again the following year, it makes it almost impossible," Alexander said.

Sanzar CEO Greg Peters, however, poured cold water on Saru's ambitions ruling out the possibility of expansion.

 

[nickdnz]

South Africa's five franchises have threatened to boycott the 2013 Super Rugby season if any of the current five teams are excluded from the competition.

According to Rapport newspaper, the Stormers, Bulls, Lions, Cheetahs and Sharks sent a letter of their demands to the SA Rugby Union (Saru).

This followed Saru's decision at the end of January to include the Southern Kings in Super Rugby in 2013.

Saru's 14 unions unanimously voted in favour of including the Eastern Cape team -- consisting of the Eastern Province, Border and South Western Districts -- in the 2013 season.

At the time, the national governing body said the other South African teams in the cross-continental competition would be confirmed only after proposals from provinces were considered at a meeting in March.

Rapport reported that Saru president Oregan Hoskins reacted with shock when he got the letter.

He told the newspaper that the five franchises demanded that unless Sanzar (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) expanded the competition to 16 teams to accommodate six South African teams they would not participate in next year's competition.

Hoskins said he would send the letter to the other nine unions and it "will be in the hands of all unions to decided which teams will play in the Super Rugby series".

South Africa, however, have a challenge on their hands as the current broadcast deal, which allows for 15 teams in the competition according to the conference system, will be renegotiated only in 2016.

Saru deputy president Mark Alexander said at the end of January that the national rugby body would nevertheless lobby its partners at Sanzar for 16 teams to be introduced into the competition.

"There is a window of opportunity with our partners, we are currently preparing a 16 team schedule so that we can go and debate with them," Alexander said at the time.

If Saru fails to negotiate the inclusion of a sixth team one of the existing franchises would have to drop out of the series.

"We understand if one drops out it is very difficult to come back and compete again the following year, it makes it almost impossible," Alexander said.

Sanzar CEO Greg Peters, however, poured cold water on Saru's ambitions ruling out the possibility of expansion.

Man I'm sick of SARU. They make a stupid call to add another team (despite each country now having an even number of teams). They then say they won't allow a team to drop out despite knowing the broadcast deal before they included the Kings. Now they threaten to boycott, but don't offern any new solutions. It's remarkable.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

There is a slight difference in that... SARU decided to include the Kings and the 5 franchises agreed only because no team would be eliminated. Now SARU wants to eliminate 1 team which causes the 5 franchises together to boycott the 2013 season. Man, SARU consists of just assholes, morons and diplomats. And we seem to have lost track of the diplomats

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Man I'm sick of SARU. They make a stupid call to add another team (despite each country now having an even number of teams). They then say they won't allow a team to drop out despite knowing the broadcast deal before they included the Kings. Now they threaten to boycott, but don't offern any new solutions. It's remarkable.

I know. This is the type of idiocy SA has to deal with on a daily basis. Now, it's just a case of you guys also getting a helping of SA political lunacy.

 

[Hairy Scot]

Given the poor showing by the bottom teams last year, especially the SA feline franchises, there would seem to be a case for reducing rather than increasing the number of teams in the tournament.
Perhaps SANZAR should look at a return to the 12 team format.
For SARU to insist on adding another franchise for transparently racist reasons flies in the face of logic.

 

[Seaton]

These poorly performing feline franchises you refer to wouldn't by any chance happen to include a team that beat the Crusaders, Waratahs away from home, on their travels were within a score of beating the Blues and Highlanders and ultimately finishing 10th in the overall log, would they?

 

[Hairy Scot]

These poorly performing feline franchises you refer to wouldn't by any chance happen to include a team that beat the Crusaders, Waratahs away from home, on their travels were within a score of beating the Blues and Highlanders and ultimately finishing 10th in the overall log, would they?

The Cheetahs actually finished in 11th. spot in 2011, not really an impressive achievement.
In fact, the last time a feline franchise finished higher than 10th. was in 2001.