PaarlBok said:
PhucNgo said:
The CC will remain pivotal in SA by weight of crowd numbers but probably will feel the pinch if SA goes alone or moves its S14 teams up north. Either way you can see the dilemma. Like him or loath him JON has a keen eye for the big picture.
I have post on TSF my thinking about this. The CC play the most important role in SA rugby. Its not a competition of the top players but also a U19 & U21 going on the same time. That competition is our next levels from schholboy to Vodacom Cup.
IF SARugby drop the CC it will be one huge disater to our rugby.
No way Saru will give Oneil the green light to add a team, they'll only settle for a extra SA team like the Spears.
SA Rugby can also do easily without either S14 or 3 Nation rugby and can replace them play in the NH and let NZ have tours here or there. Rugby is big enough in this country to let a arse like ONeil tell us what we should do. He'll either have to adopt or he'll pay one huge prize if we withdraw for both the S14 and 3 Nations.
Paarl, I think we all understand your strong feelings about the CC, but can you explain how, in practical terms SA rugby can manage a meaningful connection with the NH? This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum previously without success (by probably not the worlds greatest Rugby brains, admittedly.). The only meaningful thing I could add to that argument would be perhaps SA could find a way to compete in the HC, which on reflection probably wouldn't be all that meaningful; symbolic maybe but not meaningful. The only practical alternative would be for SA to go it alone, realistically, and they could probably manage it in the short term. But hang on, you guys have got a Soccer World Cup around the corner, and as we experienced here in Aus, the post (Rugby) WC halo effect that transferred into 2004/5 was significant. Can you imagine what impact its gonna have in SA, where the overwhelming majority of the population (I suspect) has greater sympathy for the round-ball game?
I did happen to read your comments earlier today on TSF, along with the input of some like-minded (fairly loud-minded) Kiwis, who seemed to have one aim, that of villifying JON, rather than discussing the issue. In Rugby terms, playing the man and not the ball. It seemed to me tho that they all avoided addressing he parlous state of the ANZC, or if they did the probablems could be sheeted home to Aus Rugby or JON in particular. We live in the world we live in, we may not like it but that's where we're at. I'm not defending JON, I'm just saying that the old standards are changing, not necessarily for the better, but like it or not the change is not gonna stop. I guess the nearest analogy I can paint to SA Rugby going alone is the situation of the NRL here in Aus (and I won't mention (gloat over) the success of their recent season launch). Similar to Rugby in SA they've had the game to themselves in NSW and Qld forever. They'll always have their diehards but every time you open the paper these days there's someone going to Rugby in NH or Japan, or threatening to anyway, and if its not this its the success of the national soccer team or the national soccer comp. (And SA doesn't even have to contend with the AFL.) The NRL is under real pressure from all quarters and they don't have a way out. Rugby does. It will never challenge the RBG for global supremacy, there are just too many boneheads out there, but it can survive successfully at an international level.
At the moment, SH Rugby has the pleasure of seeing its finest running around up close and personal courtesy of the money brought in by the S14. While the money's there we have a shot at this continuing, however, the unappealing alternative is to get your weekly dose of Rugby immediately following the English Premier League match on cable.
Rant over.
