/ 27 October 2005

Springbok contract dispute remains unresolved

The emergency Springbok contract talks between South African Rugby officials and the South African Rugby Players’ Association (Sarpa) in Johannesburg on Thursday failed to deliver a favourable resolution, but a players’ strike was not a viable possibility.

Another round of discussions is planned for Cape Town on Friday afternoon at which all parties will be aiming for a swift fix to the current problem areas.

”A strike is not possible in the foreseeable future. If we did go that route then there are a number of procedures we must go through before declaring strike action,” said Sarpa CEO Piet Heymans.

”It takes time to get those right so a strike is not really viable. We would want to avoid getting to that stage in any case,” he said.

The Boks depart on their three-Test tour of Argentina, Wales and France on Sunday and Heymans was hopeful the situation would have been resolved by then.

”I hope we can reach agreement before the weekend. A number of outstanding issues will need to be addressed on Friday.”

Heymans and former Bok centre Hennie le Roux (Sarpa president) will again meet Andy Marinos and Christo Ferreira — SA Rugby managing director Johan Prinsloo is also expected to be present after missing Thursday’s meeting — to try and iron out the disputed areas.

”The Boks are relocating to Cape Town on Friday afternoon, so we need to be close to them in order to facilitate a speedy resolution, if we need to consult.” – Sapa