SARU - 6 FRANCHISES WILL REQUIRE MORE PLAYERS

SANZAR announced earlier this week that no matter what format super rugby will be in 2016 it will include 6 South African franchises.  As a Kings supporter this has been music to my ears but with more players leaving to play rugby overseas and with the additional franchise (Southern Kings) to join in the Super rugby competition will we have enough players to field 6 competitive teams??

Now with a 6th franchise being a reality SARU should start to plan towards 2016. It was hard enough in the past to keep players in SA but with the new way of thinking applied by Heyneke Meyer that 'if you are the best you will play no matter where you are' -  all the best players are leaving to ply their trade overseas for financially larger contracts. Now they will be rewarded with money for leaving our shores and also still be able to play for the Boks - talk about having your bread buttered on both sides.

The ripple effect of this way of thinking can already be seen as there has recently been a mass exodus of quality and experienced players to Europe and Japan. During this exodus many of the franchises have lost players seriously depleting the quality and depth of our super franchises and the Bulls have probably been hit the hardest. Now we will have to pick one more team (6 and not 5) from a seriously depleting pool of players with a lot less players of quality to choose from in 2016.  It has not only been super rugby players who have been contracted to players overseas but also players from curriecup premier & 1st division level. So not just the top players leaving but probably also their replacements. 

SARU should somehow adapt their way of thinking or the super teams depth will be depleted and the competition will die as the supporters and viewership fade due to a depleted and second rate competition.


The first option that I propose as a possible solution will be to not pick players for the Bok team if they are playing club rugby overseas.  This will hopefully discourage young players from leaving our shores (at least the ones who seriously feel they have the ability to make it).  I also note that many of the players who left signed contracts for more than one year. So we will need to phase in this way of selection. Any player who leaves or signs an overseas contract from now on will not be picked for the Boks. Players already overseas who have signed contracts can still be selected and the amount allowed to be selected will decrease per year till 2016 - hopefuly confincing/forcing some players to return to SA and strengthen our super rugby squads. Allow Heyneke to select 10 overseas based players till the end of this year (2013), 7 in 2014, 4 in 2015 (no one playing overseas will be considered for selection in the world cup, and only 2 players per year from 2016 onwards.  This will hopefully bring the players back and prevent others from leaving.


My 2nd possible solution will be to privatise the teams.
We should get Local Business men to own/buy the franchises and run them like businesses, this will be the only way that we will be able to compete financially with clubs in Europe and Japan. Clubs in Europe are owned privately and I even read somewhere that the 'Ruperts' (who are South African) are major share holders in Saracens in England (not to sure of this fact as it is hear say).  Rugby claims to be professional - our management style needs to catch up. The players might be professional but the teams are still run like amateur or Semi professional clubs.
This raises the question... Why should South African business men go overseas to become shareholders of rugby teams?  Maybe even have the shares of the franchises available on stock markets for Joe-Public to be able to invest money into their franchises (I am sure many supporters would love to own a part of their favorite franchise , even if it is only 0.1%).


So, In my opinion SARU needs to either abandon their way of thinking as far as player selection for the Boks are concerned (dont pick overseas players to give young players an insentive to stay) or they should Privatise the franchises and become more professional like the teams are in Europe and Soccer all around the world.