SA Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that it has reached an understanding with Springbok players concerning player matters and recommendations.
These matters were discussed and resolved in a meeting held on Sunday in Gosford (Sydney) between the players; the president of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu), Brian van Rooyen; and the chairperson of SA Rugby’s board, Dr Theunie Lategan.
Van Rooyen confirmed that heading the meeting’s agenda was the current payment structure and associated benefits accruing to the players.
The matters were addressed and resolved, as follows, with a players’ committee consisting of captain John Smit, AJ Venter, Percy Montgomery, Os du Randt, De Wet Barry, Jaco van der Westhuyzen and Breyton Paulse.
Contracting of players: It was agreed that a core group of players will be contracted to SA Rugby exclusively.
Player representation on the board of SA Rugby: It was agreed that the players will nominate a representative who will serve on the board.
Sponsorship and endorsements: No player will be allowed to play with or in gear sponsored by parties other than Canterbury. In turn, SA Rugby will contact the relevant sponsors and negotiate the termination of these agreements while SA Rugby will also indemnify the players against any legal consequences for breaching the affected contracts. SA Rugby will also compensate the affected players for loss of income.
Player appearances: In the interim before the new contracting system starts, SA Rugby will compensate players for appearances.
Top-up payments: It has been agreed that these payments will take place from January 31 2005.
The payment structures currently in place were negotiated on March 31 2004 by a sub-committee consisting of SA Rugby deputy president Keith Parkinson, provincial CEOs Stefan Pretorius (Blue Bulls), Rob Wagner (WP), Johan Prinsloo (Golden Lions), Brian van Zyl (Natal) and Rob van der Valk.
Hennie le Roux, Piet Heymans of the South African Rugby Players’ Association (Sarpa), Mveleli Ncula of Sarfu and Songezo Nayo of SA Rugby and Barend van Graan of Sareo also served on this sub-committee.
This committee recommended to SA Rugby the payment structures currently in place and SA Rugby duly accepted the proposed structure on April 22. SA Rugby subsequently learned that the players were not happy with the structure.
”It is clear that agreement reached by the sub-committee of which Sarpa was a part of did not enjoy the sanction of the players,” said Van Rooyen. SA Rugby did not at any stage hesitate to engage in discussion with the players but was hamstrung by the problems created by hostile elements within Sarpa.
”SA Rugby is pleased to have come to such an positive agreement with the players and that these issues were handled in such an amicable way only goes to show that both the players and SA Rugby have the same goals in mind,” concluded Van Rooyen. — Sapa