O'Neill urges SA rugby expansion rethink

[travelling_gerry]

O'Neill urges SA rugby expansion rethink









ARU boss John O'Neill has urged South Africa to cut one of their struggling high veldt outfits to open the Super rugby door to a black team from the Eastern Cape. South African officials have taken umbrage at Australian suggestions a 15th team deserves to come from Down Under, believing the Eastern Cape's 'Southern Kings' should play in the expanded tournament from 2011.

Governing body SANZAR last week decided to expand the competition with the main plan to see three five-team conferences set up in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

With the new team expected to be included in the Australian conference, O'Neill doesn't see the sense in admitting the Kings, as politically important as it would be to the game in the Republic.

But he did believe it would be in South Africa and the competition's best interests if they replaced one of the three franchises in close proximity on the veldt – the Cheetahs, Lions or Bulls.

ONeill's suggestion would have the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs most in the firing line as they are the only win-less side in the 2009 Super 14 competition and are yet to win a game on the road in Australasia since being admitted in 2006.
The Cheetahs also gained their chance in the competition when the South African Rugby Union (SARU) controversially overlooked the Eastern Cape in their favour four years ago.

"The Eastern Cape is a politically very important component of South African rugby," O'Neill said on Fox Sports on Wednesday.

"But perhaps a better option for them, we've got three teams on the high veldt at the moment, maybe reduce that back to two and include the Eastern Cape, that's a solution for them."

The Cheetahs and Lions did play together as the Cats up until 2005 but it was a marriage of inconvenience for both as the side struggled to get off the bottom of the ladder.

SARU officials have argued they deserve to have another team as they boast the biggest television market in the competition and are opposed to the expanded competition cutting into their own national Currie Cup.

But O'Neill said it was Super rugby and the Tri-Nations which ensured a lucrative broadcast agreement for SANZAR, not the third-tier competitions.

"We (Australia) don't have a Currie Cup or an (New Zealand) NPC but at the end of the day our driving force of our success for 13 or 14 years has been Super rugby or Tri-Nations, we can't forget that," he said.

"The other stuff makes up the numbers but the revenue, if you ask Fox Sports what do they pay the big money for, they pay the big money for Super rugby and Tri-Nations.

"They are the rainmakers."

O'Neill is hopeful the new franchise – to be decided by SANZAR this year – would be an Australian-based outfit which could provide a pathway back home for expatriate Australian players and also include a heavy Pacific Islander influence.

Currently uncapped Samoan, Tongan and Fijian players can only play for Australian sides if they give up their heritage and become available for the Wallabies but O'Neill said a change in the ARU's foreign player policy could allow Islander imports to remain eligible for their countries.

"I think this is a win-win here," he said. "I think we can open the door a bit more on foreign players and give some preference to Pacific Islands players and bring (many of) them back from Europe and the UK."

-AAP


http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/2...ansion-rethink

[Burgs]

Nice one JO'N, get them even more offside, how about sorting out our own dunghole before worrying about others

[beige]

I know I've gotten annoyed at your O'Neill bashing before but I agree with you on this one...

[brokendown gunfighter]

I think he is deliberatly trying to piss them off

[Burgs]

I know I've gotten annoyed at your O'Neill bashing before but I agree with you on this one...

Damn


Just kidding mate

[mudskipper]

John O'Neill is just saying what the SARU cannot... His message isn’t for the SANZAR members but the South African Public and administration…. As they need to realize they can only have 5 teams to make equal conferences. Australian rugby doesn’t have to give ups it’s own grow potential just because SA is a political minefield. They can choose their 5 teams or perhaps they can relegate teams using the Currie Cup....

With O'Neill saying this it gives the SARU the opportunity to respond and allows them the softer position of not having make these announcements themselves as it will sound to the South Africans that they are giving up on a 6th the east cape team...

The SANZAR and the SARU may be asking O’Neill to be their messenger and raise the issue on their behalf publicly… If the SARU CEO did SA peoples would likely ask for his resignation…

If the Currie Cup is more important to the SARU the extended S15 22 week comp is in real trouble of even happening and the SA may have to leave the competition for several years… Until such time as they realise an international provincial comp is the future broadcast rugby offering positive growth to the sport….

The Northern Hemisphere unions don’t want or need SA provincial teams in their comps. In effect if the SARU did leave the Super 15 rugby concept and therefore Super rugby they would once again isolate themselves... It would be a step backwards for South Africa a nation that is trying to reinvent its identity…

[James]

Aside from which another South African team would further add to their already bloated travel budget.

[Burgs]

That all sounds good until you actually go to SA and experience how strong, and strongly supported, the Currie Cup is, where far more players are playing at a level only just below Super Rugby standard for a longer period of the year and far more locals actually give a rats arse about the result and go to watch matches.

This is a country that can broadcast live and twice on replay during the same day the Craven Week matches (same as our State Schoolboy Championships but including a Namibian and Zimbabwean Rep Team too) to strong ratings.

It may be an advantage to South African Rugby to play Super Rugby but don't fool yourself into thinking they need Australia or New Zealand to create strength or depth to their product anywhere near what New Zealand or, especially, Australia has needed South Africa.

[AndyS]

I would agree in terms of what they add to the S14, and acknowledge just how impressive their support is domestically, but I struggle to believe that they could cheerfully walk away from forty odd percent of the nett from a A$500M broadcasting deal - that would have to hurt. They perhaps should worry that Newscorp could well find $350M for a Super 12 including a team each from Japan and the Islands quite attractive (and we'd all make more money)...

[Burgs]

Probably not cheerfully walk away, but certainly be in a far stronger negotiation and fall back position than Australia if it falls over and still with potential to head to the NH.

I've done my far share of Saffa bashing over this issue too, but really, we need to stop and look at it through their eyes a bit "as-well".

[mudskipper]

That all sounds good until you actually go to SA and experience how strong, and strongly supported, the Currie Cup is, where far more players are playing at a level only just below Super Rugby standard for a longer period of the year and far more locals actually give a rats arse about the result and go to watch matches.

This is a country that can broadcast live and twice on replay during the same day the Craven Week matches (same as our State Schoolboy Championships but including a Namibian and Zimbabwean Rep Team too) to strong ratings.

It may be an advantage to South African Rugby to play Super Rugby but don't fool yourself into thinking they need Australia or New Zealand to create strength or depth to their product anywhere near what New Zealand or, especially, Australia has needed South Africa.

I understand Currie Cup is extremely popular in SA... my comment about SA advantage in being involved in a international comp such as Super Rugby is it helps the profile of the whole nation beyond rugby... If they close down they don't benefit in the positive attributes which rugby can bring to their society and business... Such as trade, tourism and cultural exchange… I'm just helicopter view, stepping back and looking at the bigger picture of SA reinventing its self in the eyes of all nations... to move forward...

[jargan83]

stepping back and looking at the bigger picture of SA reinventing its self in the eyes of all nations... to move forward...

their too busy trying to "right the wrongs" of the past to move forward. How is a 6th side in South Africa going to benefit South Africa when it will be competing against Aussie sides (and I dare say flogged) when the torunament reaches the conference stage?

Where is the benefit in more money from TV when they have to spend alot more to travel?

Where is the benefit to Australia if our existing sides are flying to South Africa every second week?

[Burgs]

Unfortunately your helicopter is hovering over the east coast of Australia, not downtown South Africa.
The cultural exchange currently is for South Africans to look for their expats in the Perth crowd shots with very little going back the other way.
That is reflected in the jumbo's regularly heading west half full and east chock-a-block.
Assuming you argument is accurate re the importance then it is an even greater reason for the SARU to be looking to the north as that is where the overwhelming proportion of their tourisim is coming from, certainly not from the relatively small Australian and New Zealand populations.
Everywhere you go throughout South Africa and Namibia are European backpackers and travellers, I met one Australian.
IF SARU are doing it for the benefit of their country they will stop showing Australian and New Zealand matches as it is adding to the appeal for their residents to leave.

[beige]

I don’t have a problem if South Africa walks away from the competition, as long as the money flow to the ARU and NZRU isn’t adversely affected. A Pacific-based tournament would hold just as much appeal to me.

My concern is the fact that more people watch Super 14 in Europe than in the SANZAR countries. Seeing as the South African matches are the only ones in the European time zone – losing them might be viewed by broadcasters as cutting out a substantial portion of the tournament’s viewership. Therefore, they might offer us less money for the rights.

Of course, if the matches are only showed delayed up there anyway, it might not be an issue…

[mudskipper]

Unfortunately your helicopter is hovering over the east coast of Australia, not downtown South Africa.
The cultural exchange currently is for South Africans to look for their expats in the Perth crowd shots with very little going back the other way.
That is reflected in the jumbo's regularly heading west half full and east chock-a-block.
Assuming you argument is accurate re the importance then it is an even greater reason for the SARU to be looking to the north as that is where the overwhelming proportion of their tourisim is coming from, certainly not from the relatively small Australian and New Zealand populations.
Everywhere you go throughout South Africa and Namibia are European backpackers and travellers, I met one Australian.
IF SARU are doing it for the benefit of their country they will stop showing Australian and New Zealand matches as it is adding to the appeal for their residents to leave.

Nice to see you're positive and open minded about the South Africa's future....