MyPE

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Southern Kings – trying to contract in an abnormal environment

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The Southern Kings management have made their ‘frustrations’ at the narrow and restrictive window of opportunity granted to them for participation in the 2013 Super Rugby Competition.

They did so in the form of the following statement:

“The decision of granting the Southern Kings, participation in Super Rugby from 2013 has been met with a welcome relief. However, our ability to recruit Super Rugby players for 2013 has been severely hampered by:

  • the uncertainty and delay of the announcement of the Southern Kings’ participation meant that many players were reluctant to sign their names of the dotted line
  • the financial constraints (Super Rugby financial revenue streams and uncertainty regarding basis – amount and term – has limited our ability on how long we can contract players for)

We have been very vocal about our desire to develop and promote local talent, and in particular to accelerate the transformation of South African Rugby by developing quality black Springboks. As a result we have put a strong focus on developing and maintaining an Academy which is made up of predominantly home grown talent, with a strong commitment to a bottom-up transformation strategy.

Despite being unable to retain the most of our local talent without the attraction of Super Rugby until now, we are confident with the strides that our Academy has made and it is already starting to bear fruit. Already we have a number of players in the Academy who will be part of the Super Rugby squad for 2013. Soyiswapi Siviwe (15) Yamkela Ngam (14) Kuhle Sonkosi (4) Lizo Gqoboka (3/1), Thembelani Bholi (6) and Shane Gates (12) have all been identified by our Management team (who all have Super Rugby and international experience) as players who have the technique, acumen and physical characteristics to become quality Super Rugby players.

There is a precedent in place that SANZAR member countries are only allowed to field two international players. The ARU (also members of SANZAR) have made an exception to this rule by allowing heir newly formed Melbourne Rebels to field more foreign players in their team. The motivation for this was to prevent the destabilizing effect of initial mass recruitment from other franchises, when a new franchise starts.

Due to SARU making the announcement of our participation on 16/8/2012 it has led to us having difficulty with recruiting players due to:

  • The European window period for recruiting players being closed (with the only available players being those out of contracts)- interested South African players are only available in May 2013, by which time we’ll be too deep into the competition
  • The delayed announcement has seen many local players whose contracts expired this year renew their contracts with their old teams
  • The Lions have refused to entertain our request to loan us players for the 2013 Super Rugby campaign
  • The one year entry into Super Rugby and without a track record, has impacted severely our ability to recruit players

It is in light of the above, that we have had to embark on the route of recruiting players in an abnormal manner, and with our desire and aspirations of having long-term participation in Super Rugby we are requesting SARU to extend/alter the current ruling of only fielding two foreign players, for a short-term, thus allowing us the time to adequately prepare our young players for the demands and pressures of Super Rugby, as well as giving us the opportunity to contract players in a normal manner going into the future.

It is important that we field quality players who will be able to see us through the 2013 Super Rugby competition, and with the current plethora of challenges facing us we have no alternative but to make this urgent request to SARU.”

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.