Spears’ Super 14 ambitions rest on appeal
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http://www.businessday.co.za/article...?ID=BD4A278376
THE Southern Spears’ hopes of playing in the Super 14 series next year were dealt a cruel blow yesterday when Judge Dennis Davis granted SA Rugby leave to appeal against an August 4 ruling.
In essence, this decision gives SA Rugby, the commercial arm of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), more time to argue its case against the Spears participating in the competition in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Davis ruled on August 4 that the Spears should play in the series for the next two seasons. He ruled there was a “legal and binding agreement” between SA Rugby and the Spears — a decision was made at a presidents’ council meeting in Johannesburg on June 8 last year and it was ratified by SA Rugby’s board of directors on December 2.
The appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
“The effect of the decision is to suspend the order granted earlier, pending the hearing of the appeal,” said SA Rugby’s acting MD, Basil Haddad, yesterday.
“To expedite the matter, our legal team will attempt to secure an early date for the hearing of the appeal.”
SA Rugby’s legal GM, Christo Ferreira, said yesterday they would try to arrange a date in November.
However, it would only be a request — meaning the matter could take longer.
As a backup plan to halt the Spears’ participation in the Super 14, SA Rugby has been trying to acquire shares in the commercial arms of the three unions making up the franchise — Border, Eastern Province and South Western Districts.
Border has agreed to sell 25,1% of shares in the commercial arm of its union and, according to reports yesterday, SA Rugby has verbal agreements with Eastern Province and South Western Districts to acquire 25,1% of shares in their unions.
Additionally, SA Rugby reportedly has a verbal agreement with South African Investment Limited (Sail) to acquire a further 24,9% stake in each member union.
However, there are issues that need to be resolved with Eastern Province, South Western Districts and Sail before formal agreements can be struck.
If it is successful in acquiring these shares, SA Rugby would have enough power to appoint members of the unions’ boards, thereby exercising a controlling interest in the Spears.
This, combined with Davis’s decision to grant SA Rugby leave to appeal, paints a bleak picture for the Spears’ Super 14 hopes.
Southern Spears CEO Tony McKeever was bitterly disappointed yesterday at the judge’s decision to grant SA Rugby leave to appeal.
“I was always hopeful that SA Rugby would understand the importance of the Spears playing because the franchise caters for a huge rugby contingency in the Eastern Cape region. You cannot ignore the three member unions and pretend they do not exist.
“We are only fulfilling that which SA Rugby created,” he said. “The decision to form the franchise was made consciously by the presidents of the provinces.”
McKeever said the court cases they had to attend over the past year had “regrettably” used up valuable resources and energy, which could have been spent on the development of rugby.
He suggested that SA Rugby work with the Spears to find a solution to the saga.
“There must be a strategic plan,” said McKeever.
“We had a three-year window period to operate in (2006 to 2008). But we can work outside of that and make it a five-year programme.
“Unfortunately, everyone looks for a quick fix instead of formulating ideas … how hard can it be for SA Rugby to get the CEOs of the Super 14 franchises and the Spears together to work out a recipe for success?”
SA Rugby’s pending appeal has created a barrier for the Spears regarding their preparations for next year’s competition because should SA Rugby’s requested court date be granted, the judgment on whether the team will play in the competition will be made only in November.
This gives them less than three months to prepare for the competition and resolve issues with SA Rugby regarding their participation, should the Spears be allowed to play in the series.
The five franchises participating in this year’s series added to the Spears’ woes by refused to agree to the clause in the competition’s participation agreement stating that up to eight national players from the relegated franchise — which would be the Lions, previously known as the Cats — would be allowed to play for the Spears.
The lack of time to prepare for the competition, could also be used as ammunition in SA Rugby’s case as one of the reasons the franchise should not play in next year’s series.
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Originally Posted by Flat-top
Let them eat cake. Any more posts like this, im going to shop Bath and start supporting Saracens 
