The South African Rugby Players Association (Sarpa) on Monday warned that strike action could not be discounted in the wake of recent comments attributed to SA Rugby Football Union’s president Brian van Rooyen.
”A strike is always a possibility,” said Sarpa chairperson and former Springbok centre Hennie le Roux on Monday.
”We will try to avoid it at all costs obviously, but if we make no headway then we will have to weigh up our options. In two weeks time we will be better placed to make a clear call on the matter,” said Le Roux.
Following the uproar sparked by Van Rooyen’s comments at the weekend — implying that the Springboks are greedy and do not deserve their salaries — Sarpa stepped in and threatened to flex its muscles.
Sarpa has considerable support among South Africa’s professional rugby players and Le Roux believes that if circumstances deteriorate to such an extent that a strike is called, the players would back the call.
”We will have to gauge from the players, but I think they would be willing. After all it would hopefully benefit them. That said, we (Sarpa) are here to benefit SA rugby as a whole and sometimes a strike is not always right,” said Le Roux.
One of the main issues involves five Springboks — Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Richard Bands, Danie Rossouw and Derick Hougaard — apparently being promised contracts for 2004 by then coach Rudolf Straeuli.
”One has to be careful when being quoted in the media. There are labour issues at play here and as far as we are concerned the players have legitimate claims.
”Some of those players disregarded offshore options on the basis of the offer from Rudolf,” said Le Roux.
”At the time he was still Springbok coach and heavily involved in contract negotiations.”
Van Rooyen responded that the Springboks who were complaining were greedy. He said the Boks earned an average minimum of R500 000 each for playing Test rugby last year.
”What for?” he is reported to have said. ”The kind of rugby they produced was not only a disappointment for us, but for the public as well.”
Van Rooyen was quoted as saying that a Springbok could earn as much as R2-million in a season.
”Most Boks earn about R750 000 from their province for the year. Then Sarfu pays each player (except for the Sharks) R30 000 a month if they play in the Super 12 competition. Then there’s an extra R825 000 in their pockets if they play in all 11 Tests this year.”
According to Le Roux, top Springboks — ex-skipper Corne Krige and senior player Joost van der Westhuizen for example — could earn ”just under R2-million”, but that was for an exclusive group, while the lowest paid Bok earns ”between R800 000 and R900 000 a year”.
”I would guess the average is somewhere between R1,2-million and R1,5-million,” added Le Roux.
A meeting between Sarpa and SA Rugby is scheduled to take place in Cape Town on Tuesday, where the Sarpa delegation is expected to ask for a seat on the board of SA Rugby.
”We were promised a position on the board on January 6 this year, but have not yet been included. We want official recognition and haven’t been able to have input in the important decisions taken in the past couple of months.
”I sincerely hope sanity will prevail. Obviously we will be addressing the contract issue as well, but this meeting was in place before this issue became apparent.” – Sapa