Govt unhappy with franchises

2005-04-18 09:30

Carien du Plessis

Cape Town - Government wants to give the South African Rugby Union (Saru) a yellow card by reconsidering its support for the planned bid for the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament.

This comes after Saru's decision on Friday not to award the South Eastern Cape a franchise for next year's Super 14 series.

The Central Region was awarded the franchise, which means that Eastern Province, South Western Districts and Border now have to join up with the Blue Bulls, Western Province and the Sharks respectively.

Cedric Frolick, African National Congress MP and spokesperson on sport, said government has come under pressure from black players to withdraw its support since the announcement of Saru's decision for the bid.

He said the minister of sport and recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, who is currently overseas, asked him to arrange a meeting between government and the South Eastern Cape unions to discuss the Super 14 franchise. The meeting will probably take place on Wednesday.

"It seems as if our discussions about transformation were pointless. It seems as if Saru does not want to share power with the new unions. Power must be distributed evenly, because it is important for the future of black, coloured and white players," he said.

Frolick added that Saru's new ban on the movement of black players without permission or good reasons was unconstitutional.

"It reminds one of the passbook system," Frolick said.

Stofile said earlier that it was unthinkable that the South Eastern Cape, which accounts for 43% of the country's registered players, would not get a franchise.

'National asset'

Deputy minister of sport and recreation, Gert Oosthuizen, said he did not think it would be fair of government to withdraw its support for the 2011 bid.

"Government is not petty. We look at the bigger goals and rugby is national asset," he said on Sunday.

However, he described Saru's decision as "hard-of-hearing and somewhat stubborn".

He said government was not clear on whether Saru made a decision or a recommendation and asked that Saru clarifies the issue. "We received two messages, one that no voting took place on Friday because all unions were not present."

Reports indicated that Eastern Province, South Western Districts and Border did not vote at Saru's presidential board's meeting in Durban on Friday because of their dissatisfaction.

The other message that government received was that a decision had indeed been taken, Oosthuizen said.

Saru spokesperson Rayaan Adriaanse said the presidential board did accept the evaluation panel's recommendation, but within those recommendations, every region now has 45 days to draw up a management plan in consultation with all parties involved. These have to be presented to Saru.

Some in rugby circles believe that a franchise for the South Eastern Cape can still be negotiated within the regions, but Frolick said he wasn't so sure.

"It will be a busy 45 days," he said.

- Die Burger