SA Rugby’s equity deal dilemma

Despite South Africa’s successes in the sporting arenas of the world, there always seems to be issues off the field that hold our teams back.

We’ve seen how boardroom problems nearly derailed the Springboks, Bafana Bafana and Proteas, not to mention the headaches administrators gave our Olympic stars.

Yet, the Boks have won four World Cups and they clinched the Rugby Championship title this year.

Even the doomed Proteas Men’s team reached the final of an ICC event this year, going all the way to the title decider against India in the T20 World Cup in Barbados, which they lost by seven runs.

Something is going right in SA sport when Bafana Bafana are competitive at the Africa Cup of Nations – Hugo Broos’s team finished third in Abidjan.

But the old off-field bogey has reared its ugly head again in rugby.

SA Rugby’s member unions (the provinces) were scheduled to vote on a new R1.3 billion equity deal with American company Ackerley Sports Group, which would see the creation of a separate entity to run the commercial side of SA Rugby.

The governing body would own 80% of the entity and Ackerley 20%. The deal could help SA Rugby make the most of the Springboks’ status as world champions – much in the same way New Zealand’s All Blacks did in a similar deal a few years ago.

The extra money would ensure that local competitions were secured and assist in having the best Boks playing for the Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Lions instead of overseas clubs.

But some of the provinces are unhappy about some of the terms and have requested a postponement of the vote, so that they can get further clarity.

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie made a similar postponement request, which SA Rugby has granted.

But while the provincial unions have every right to scrutinise the deal, let’s hope a solution is found that doesn’t result in a red card, but rather a try for the Boks.

They were unable to capitalise on their world-champion status in 2020 due to Covid-19, so this deal could be their chance to make the most of their position as the world’s best rugby team in a commercial sense – and not be held back by boardroom issues once more.

Cape Times