SA Rugby starts desperate fight for survival

SA Rugby has begun a desperate fight for survival as it embarks on delicate negotiations on pay cuts in a bid to cut its budget by between R700m and R1bn over the next eight months.

Hard bargaining behind closed doors is on the cards before SA Rugby announces how big the cuts will be for professional players, as Covid-19 continues to bite deep into pockets.

SA’s professional  players have been caught in the middle of what could become a bitter cost-cutting feud.

SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said salary reductions had been agreed to in principle by a collective of parties involved in talks.

Roux said the pay cuts were being communicated to those affected before final approval through the various governance channels of SA Rugby, MyPlayers, Sports Employees Unite and the individual unions.

It is expected players will have to swallow a 40% cut as Covid-19 continues to affect the Guinness Pro14 and Super Rugby tournaments, which have been suspended indefinitely.

With both leagues brought to a standstill, revenue streams have dried up and Roux has begun talking of belt-tightening within the rugby industry.

The industry has agreed in principle to a wide-ranging plan to implement the budget cuts over the next eight months to ensure the post-Covid-19 viability of the sport, through an industry financial impact plan.

SA Rugby said a plan had been agreed in a united strategy formulated in discussions including representatives from all stakeholders,  including SA Rugby, provincial unions, players and rugby industry employees.

The plan incorporates the industry salary plan, which will see a united and collective approach towards salary reductions.

The economies will be achieved by reduced expenditure caused by the cancellation of competitions, cuts in other operational budgets and in salary reductions.

“Many businesses find themselves in a fight for survival and rugby is no different,” Roux said. “We face an extremely threatening crisis and we had to take united and decisive action to address it head on.

“I’d like to commend the employees, players and the unions for the collaborative and realistic way they have approached this crisis.

“We are all in this together and we all quickly agreed that we have to equally contribute to the solution.

“Our income is tied to the playing of professional rugby and without matches we potentially don’t have any income.

“We don’t know when we will be able to resume the season so we have had to budget against a range of scenarios.

“This financial impact plan has been formulated against a worst-case scenario, where we are not able to resume play for the rest of the year.

“It means we face a major belt-tightening exercise on a sport-wide and personal level; but without these measures we wouldn’t have much of a sport to return to,” Roux said.

The plan is scheduled to run until the end of December in the first instance.  

There are reports the players’ organisation, MyPlayers, wants SA rugby players and coaches to be given the option of cancelling their contracts after accepting salary cuts.

The draft clause would give players and coaches 60 days to get out of their contracts if they received an offer from another club.

One report said SA administrators opposed the clause because they fear several top players could be lost to overseas clubs.

Australia’s professional rugby players have taken a 60% pay cut  as the sport battles the “devastating” shutdown.