The Lions Rugby Company has just released and press release explaining the drastic cut in contracts claiming that the process is an involuntary process forced by a decision to reduce professional players.
What the release does not state is that this decision is a SARU's decision and is forced upon the rugby unions due to the current desperate financial status of SARU.
Already this year the smaller unions' grant from SARU has been cut drastically forcing them from professional run unions into semi-professional unions not being able to meet all their commitments regarding salaries and league games.
The Currie Cup, supposedly the premier local competition reduced to a single round farce. With foreign competitions who does not cater for junior competitions preferred.
The cut of the 2019 u/19 Currie Cup followed with the number of school-leaving boys receiving contracts almost immediately halved. From 2019 we will see the loss of several talented players as well as late bloomers as the unions will have no option to contract only the schoolboy superstars.
One can not help asking when SARU will accept responsibility for the well being of South African rugby as a whole. Maybe in a not too distant future after they have sold the SARU head office and they are forced to have general meetings on the beach will they realise their responsibility to South Africa.
