Another worrying Lions sign: South African grassroots rugby grinds to complete halt
Further indications of how serious the concern is about the pandemic in South Africa with the Lions having just arrived for their eight-game, three-Test tour is how all grassroots level rugby has been cancelled even though the government had granted an allowance for it to continue.
There is speculation that the Lions tour will get switched to Cape Town and take it away from the Gauteng region which is at the epicentre of growing concerns about the virus. The touring Lions are set to open their South Africa tour in Johannesburg this Saturday against the former Super Rugby Lions while the Springboks have returned to training ahead of their match versus Georgia following an outbreak in their camp.
In the meantime, amateur levels of rugby in the country have shut up shop. A media release on Tuesday read: "SA Rugby have commended its 14 member unions for proactively halting all forms of club and amateur rugby in the wake of the current third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that has gripped South Africa.
"SA Rugby advised that provincial competitions such as the Currie Cup (Premier and First Divisions), as well as the Women’s Premier and First Divisions, as well as the U20s international series, will continue with strict adherence to all relevant protocols and that changes to the schedule will be made if necessary."
Jurie Roux, the SA Rugby CEO, added: “Even though the Government Gazette allows for club rugby to continue, all provincial unions have halted club and amateur rugby proactively and we are very grateful of this approach of safety first.
“I want to compliment all the role players, including the administrators, coaches and players, for taking responsibility to halt club and amateur rugby due to the resurgence of Covid-19 in recent weeks.
“Ultimately, the health, safety and wellbeing of our players, coaches, officials and others comes first. We will reassess the situation after July 11, even though most of the club leagues have already been halted beyond that date.”
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Everywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
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