Andy Capostagno RUGBY
The first time anybody mentioned cost was when the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) suggested that it could not afford the extra camera(s) required to assist the “tellyref”. Until that moment the Super 12 was the competition where size mattered and money was no object.
Now Australia wants not one, but two new franchises, South Africa would need another for purely equitable reasons and the first thing that people think of when they assess the possibility of a Super 15 is: how much will it cost? The question is really this: will it be an arm and a leg or will it be much more – the soul of the game?
Money has been at the root of the most publicised rugby court case for many a year. But the judge in the AJ Venter case suggested in his summation that, while the Golden Lions could match everything put on the table by the Natal Sharks, they could not add to the pile the Durban lifestyle. In other words, a trip to the Valley of the Waves at Sun City every once in a while does not compare to the real waves and considerably warmer water of the Indian Ocean.
It is worth noting what Venter turned down for the pleasures of life in Durban: R600E000 a year salary, plus R5E000 per game played, another R5E000 for a win and R2E000 for a draw. Last year Venter played 16 games for the Lions (the Cats paid separately for the Super 12), including the Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup finals which carried extra incentive bonuses.
Only two of those 16 games were not won. Therefore, in addition to his R600E000 salary, Venter earned a further R80E000 for the 16 games he played and another R70E000 for 14 wins. So last season the Lions paid him R750E000 and he rewarded them with ceaseless excellence in every game he played so that, in the eyes of most critics, he was the player of the season.
In the world of professional sport what Venter earned last year amounts to peanuts. But in the world of South African professional sport it is plenty. More than Hansie Cronje earned for captaining the national cricket team, much more than Lucas Radebe earned for captaining Bafana Bafana, although a trifling amount compared to what Radebe earns for playing for Leeds United.
Consider something else: Rassie Erasmus followed Venter from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg and, due to his status within the Springbok team, signed a rather more lucrative deal with the Lions. Last year Erasmus, like Venter, earned R750E000 from the Lions, but in his case the money was not quite so hard earned. A combination of injuries and national call-ups meant that last year Erasmus played not a single game for his newly adopted province.
Erasmus marks the top end of the Lions wage scale and Venter the middle. Let us postulate that the Lions had approximately 30 players on contract in 1999, even though a total of 48 played at least one game. The wage bill alone must have been around the R15-million mark, leaving aside win bonuses.
Now ask yourself: how long can this go on before even the wealthiest union bankrupts itself?
The constant wave of player movement in the South African game is not just about lifestyle choices. In many cases it is simply that unions cannot afford the cost of top players. Why would such Free State icons as Os du Randt and Naka Drotske choose to move to the Bulls for this season? It is not because they wish to swap the wide open spaces of their home provinces for the joys of Pretoria. It is because Free State can’t afford to keep them.
Money is not coming in through the turnstiles in sufficient amounts to support the structure of domestic rugby. The Lions won everything last year, but their average crowd was less than 15E000 people in a stadium which can hold 75E000.
The reason is urban decay. The fact that Ellis Park is in the centre of Johannesburg used to be to its benefit. Now that the traditional supporters of Transvaal rugby wouldn’t be seen dead in the centre of town, the stadium owners have a problem.
This Friday the stakeholders meet to discuss the future of Ellis Park, the stadium which hosted the 1995 World Cup. It is not a rosy future and the Lions may decide to sell it to the highest (or the only) bidder and build a new, smaller one, further north.
Whether it can afford to do that and still pay its players is an interesting conundrum. Despite what the government might say and despite the enormous revenue generated by the Super 12, we live in impecunious times.