![Currie Cup to kick-off as scheduled as player welfare concerns taken into account | Sport](https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/3685/63a0187920cb4803afe6749c09ede3f7.jpg)
Rian Oberholzer, CEO of Saru (Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)
- The Currie Cup will
commence in July, SA Rugby confirmed on Tuesday. - There was some doubt the
prestigious competition would go ahead amid concerns for player welfare
due to ongoing international tournament commitments. - However, a deal struck
between the SA Rugby Employers’ Organisation and MyPlayers ensures the ninth
oldest rugby tournament in the world will remain in place. - For more rugby news,
visit our dedicated section.
The 2024
Currie Cup will go ahead as scheduled, while new plans are in place to ensure
player welfare, despite a 12-month rugby season, SA Rugby announced on Tuesday.
In a deal
struck between the SA Rugby Employers’ Organisation (SAREO) and MyPlayers (the
professional rugby players’ organisation), both parties acknowledged a proposed
eight-week shutdown was not a possibility for a South African playing calendar
that straddles the hemispheres.
For that
reason, both parties accept a 12-month season is a reality but necessitated
player welfare strategies to address the unique international match-scheduling
challenges South Africa faces.
The
agreement was brokered following arbitration of a dispute relating to mandatory
rest periods for players.
The
arbitrator ruled the players’ terms and conditions of employment required all
contracted players to rest simultaneously for eight weeks.
He also ruled such rest
periods were not contracted to take place within each 12-month cycle.
The deal now accepted includes the following:
- Structured, individualised eight-week rest periods for all players with formal notice periods when such breaks are to be taken.
- Adoption of World Rugby player load guidelines, which are in finalisation.
- Maintenance of a strict, individual player load monitoring programme.
- Broadened scope for the Joint Committee on Contracted Players’ Safety and Welfare and utilisation of the Emergency Committee to ensure effective implementation of the new arrangements.
- Adjusted travel arrangements for Vodacom URC/EPCR teams from 1 July 2025.
The
original award cast doubt on the possibility of accommodating the Currie Cup in
the current season so it does not overlap with the Vodacom United Rugby
Championship.
The Premier
Division of the prestigious competition will kick off as scheduled in the first
weekend of July, while the First Division will spring into action this weekend
with three matches scheduled for Saturday.
“This
has been a very fruitful process, and the outcome is that we have collectively
faced up to the realities of our post-Covid calendar and come up with a
solution for a problem unlike any other sport that I am aware of,” said
Rian Oberholzer, the CEO of SA Rugby.
“Every
sport, everywhere, has an off-season, but we have found a way to balance the
equation of maintaining our competition schedule to drive revenues for 12
months of the year while securing player welfare.
“We
might have had to go through an arbitration to help concentrate minds, but the
result is a good one.”
Oberholzer added:
The importance of player welfare was never in doubt. The challenge was to find ways to accommodate all needs. I’d like to thank MyPlayers and SAREO for constructively working their way towards this solution.
The GM of
Player Affairs of MyPlayers, Mandisi Tshonti, said: “This agreement
revolutionises the South African playing calendar as it makes provision for
non-stop professional rugby.
“It
ensures the commercial engine can keep delivering by giving broadcasters and
sponsors an optimal opportunity to partner with SA Rugby and the competing
unions while player welfare has been enhanced.”
The Premier
Division of the Carling Currie Cup kicks off on the weekend of 5/6 July and
will reach its climax with the final on 21 September.
In an
exciting new feature, the competition will be staged over one-and-a-half
rounds, followed by two semi-finals and the grand finale.
The eight
teams are divided into two pools of four each by virtue of last year’s
standings.
Pool A will
consist of the Toyota Cheetahs (No 1 ranked last year), Vodacom Bulls (4), DHL
Western Province (5) and NovaVit Griffons (8).
Pool B sees
the Hollywoodbets Sharks (ranked No 2), Airlink Pumas (3), Fidelity ADT Lions
(6) and Suzuki Griquas (7) grouped together.
Teams will
play home and away matches within their respective pools, plus a single round
of games against sides in the opposite pool.
The two-top
ranked teams in each pool will progress to the semi-finals on 14 September,
with the two winners set to battle it out for the famous Currie Cup in the 21
September final.
Meanwhile,
the remaining six provincial sides – the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers, Valke,
Leopards, Phangela SWD Eagles, Eastern Province and Border – will compete
against each other in the Carling Currie Cup First Division, with five rounds
of league games scheduled.
The opening
round is this weekend, with semi-finals scheduled for 20 July and the final for
27 July.
Recent Comments