Arranged marriages in SA rugby don’t work … there has to be a better way of fitting the Kings into the S15 than by merging them with the Cheetahs.
Rob Houwing, Sport 24
Artificial solutions, I think it is apt to say, all too often only lead to a plethora of new problems.
Finding the right way to satisfy the generally noble quest to put Eastern Cape rugby truly back on the map – by installing it into the Southern Hemisphere money-spinner, ideally planned from 2013 – remains a matter of great difficulty and complexity, with no easy answers right now.
That is especially since the Kings had rather a comeuppance, on their supposedly earnest road to broader recognition, during the last Currie Cup first division campaign when they were significantly eclipsed by the Boland Cavaliers who gave them respective nasty hidings (including in the final).
The Kings team also didn’t blaze any particularly glorious trail in terms of transformation, which is one of the key objectives from both the region’s rugby bosses and government – the latter, of course, never hovering very far from any debate on when and how to accommodate them at a higher level.
With solutions in short supply at present, speculation has drifted toward what is arguably a crudely manufactured alliance with the Cheetahs.
AWKWARD GEOGRAPHY
Protesting, the veteran Cheetahs boss Harold Verster has already stated the glaringly obvious, logistically, in making the hardly unreasonable point that “there are few flights between Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth and you can’t drive 650km every time”.
So the geographical synergy is awkward, to say the least, and trying to foster a meaningful cultural bond, if you like, between the two very different rugby regions just seems a goal fraught with fruitlessness.
There have been earlier lessons in the foolhardiness of this sort of thing: the combination of the Lions and Cheetahs as the “Golden Cats” at one stage in the old Super 12 was anything but a marriage made in heaven, and the Sharks’ former status as the “Coastal Sharks” – featuring official franchise ties with Border and EP – was also riddled with pitfalls.
This season’s first Super Rugby season in its expanded format saw the Cheetahs, so often poor cousins in the past, find some good mojo at times – including much greater competitiveness abroad and a memorable home win over the Crusaders.
Fiddling with their momentum by lumping them with the Kings, and zigzagging between the Free State Stadium and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium for “home” assignments, just doesn’t seem a beneficial move for either party, frankly.
TREASURE OF TALENT
It is also not in the broad national interest to dilute the Cheetahs brand: the region remains a phenomenal treasure trove of talent, particularly because of that amazing nursery of Grey College, with flyhalf phenomenon Johan Goosen just one gem to burst to the domestic forefront last season.
The emergence and development of players like him must not be impaired by the creation of a distractive combination with a faraway other region.
A problem with the Kings possibly entering Super Rugby as a standalone entity in two years’ time is that their presence would only complicate an already ludicrously congested southern hemisphere season, when a British and Lions tour of Australia has to be squeezed in and bye weekends for the Aussie franchises, especially, are thus going to be extremely hard to factor in.
My own gut feel is that the Southern Kings issue will simply stay on a smouldering backburner for another few years, regardless of whatever Super Rugby 2013 “promises” or “assurances” may have already been made.
Meanwhile, other methods must be thrashed out to skin the cat they call the Southern Kings. …
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November 29th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Awkward geography is Alexander Bay and Bloemfontein in the same region. 1000+ km apart. How many Cheetah fans will you find in Upington?
How about Outshroon and Umtata? 700+ km apart.
First dump the idea that teams represent vast regions. Accept that teams are based in cities and rely on the relatively small and densely populated surrounding areas. Then accept that not all cities and their hinterland can be represented. Then accept that the current five are the most appropriate for now.
November 29th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Reply to Timeo @ 2:43 pm:
And accept that even with all the politicians
and wonderful ideas about transformation
6 just don’t go into 5.
Get your act together, then we talk again.
I don’t think I’ll live to see that.
November 29th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
There will never be a 6th RSA permitted in the S15 by NZAR… 5 teams each is now the ceiling in the competition for the next few years… unless another nation is introduced…
November 29th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Let them play CC as EP
and S15 as weepee.
Whats the problem?
Why should we accomodate them?
November 29th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
When was EP ever really a power in SA rugby? In my lifetime they’ve never been any good and when they competed in the CC amongst the top six they just about always ended sixth. Now Cheeky and the Xhosanostra want to copy the Arabs in the Gulf States … go against nature – manipulate it with brute force – to create lush gholf courses on top of desert sand. With enough resources anything can be achieved. Just throw enough money in the direction of PE and EP rugby will become a powerhouse. Why PE? There are Blacks everywhere and they all have equal potential to make it or not make it in rugby. Why not spread rugby development resources equally amongst all the regions? Why not come up the ranks and play your way open? Nobody will deny EP a place if they are worthy of it.
In my mind this mess was created when Xhosa politicians dominated the ANC and Government. That has changed with Jacob Zuma. The centre of gravity has moved north and there is far less allegiance to the EC region in ANC circles these days. The ANC opposition is actually gaining momentum in this region. SARU, I’m sure, would have picked up on this. I see Cheeky’s crusade becoming tougher as time marches on. Sympathy does not make for a good business case. Politicians will lose interest and then the natural process will take over again and the decline will become apparent again. No business will keep something alive that has no life of its own.
I wish this whole thing will just go away and that EP rugby will work their way up instead of demanding a free ride. Real leather is always better than imitation leather. Be real. Be authentic. Then people will want to see you succeed.
November 29th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
Reply to Kat @ 5:42 pm:
EP beat the 1955 British Lions 20-0.
November 29th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Funny how others are expected to carry the can after the Sharks threw it down. If it’s not the Lions that must stand aside then it is Free State that must join up with someone else. Se gat man. Tell the Sharks to take back their can and carry it. Don’t mane it a Lions or Cheetah problem.
November 29th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 5:56 pm:
In 1988 EP was the only side that beat Northern Transvaal on their way to an almost unbeaten run to take the CC.
Frans Erasmus
Danie Gerber
Heinrich Fuls
Hennie Le Roux
Jacques Du Plessis
All guys that made the province excellent!
November 30th, 2011 at 4:18 am
Teams will not improve if its handed to them on a plate. This breeds mediocrity which is South Africa’s biggest problem at the moment.
EP needs win at the next level to advance otherwise the jump between S15 and vodacom is too big. I do want to see EP rugby on the up but not simply at the exspense of another union.
As usual this is crap stupid politics interfering with rugby.
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 3:04 pm: you are right the aussies will not allow another saffa team, not for the right reasons though but just to be spiteful.
The EP Kings should merge with its WP.
