Is the Community Cup all that?
The build-up to the inaugural Community Cup is now in full swing, with SARU on Wednesday announcing that the new tournament – created to help sustain and improve open club rugby in South Africa – will have a big name sponsor in the form of Cell C.
With excitement building, I could not help but wonder whether the new addition to the rugby landscape would improve the club game in South Africa, or whether the tournament will create an even bigger chasm between the top tier clubs and those not competing on the grandest of stages.
As pointed out in an article written last year (The professional side of the amateur game), the amount of money being invested into the top clubs around the country is polarizing the club rugby landscape. With the top clubs being able to recruit the top players, there is little way for the smaller clubs to compete.
The question then is this: Will the new Cell C Community Cup promote the interests of club rugby in general, or only those of the select few clubs fortunate enough to participate?
The answer, to me at least, is that the polarization will continue. The gap between the haves and the have-nots will become greater, and it will become increasingly difficult for open clubs who do not participate in the Community Cup to compete in their local leagues against those who do.
The financial boost the tournament will provide for these clubs will prove difficult to compete with. The top players will find the lure of nationwide exposure (as well as the financial incentives) difficult to pass up, which will inevitably lead to the have-nots losing players to the haves.
If not managed properly, this could lead to a system where the top club from each league would be damn near impossible to dethrone, a situation which would not be healthy for club rugby in general.
The continued persistence of the wild card entries, which we have seen in the past with in Club Champs, is another bone of contention. While I do not for one moment suggest that previously disadvantaged clubs should be excluded from initiatives such as the Community Cup, I do not see how this develops the game in any way.
The previously disadvantaged clubs will inevitably recruit from their neighbors, weakening other previously disadvantaged clubs in the process. These clubs are also often not on par with the bigger clubs in the league, which could lead to big scores, as we have seen at Club Champs in the past.
One such club, Raiders (Lions Union), recently played a warm-up match against Varsity Cup newcomers Wits. They lost heavily (60-19), and with Wits losing badly to Shimlas in round one of the Varsity Cup, I am fearful of their participation against top class outfits.
While there may be many issues to the tournament, many reasons as to why it might not be in the best interests of all clubs in South Africa, there is one why it is.
And the reason is simple: It is a start. It is a stepping stone in the right direction, and while a tournament structure which would benefit all clubs would be difficult to find – and damn-near impossible to implement – I am still excited at the prospect of club rugby gaining in popularity.
As I boy club rugby was all I knew, it is where my passion for the game started, it was the start of a journey that would afford me the opportunity to see the world, to learn the lessons of life.
And I love it.
Club rugby is finally being put on the high pedestal it deserves to be on. It has, through the hard work of all those involved in community rugby, begun to regain the respect and awe of those on the outside.
Club rugby is alive and well, and it is on the way up. Let’s just hope that this initiative will benefit club rugby as a whole, not just a collective of fortunate, well financed clubs.
I could not agree more with you. The gap will only get bigger and bigger. I think it will create a situation where a national club competition will be created with second and third tier regional clubs playing each other.
So you are suggesting that the top clubs would perhaps not play in their regional leagues anymore, but rather only on a national level, while the smaller clubs play in the leagues as they currently do? A club system like the one we see in Europe?
Im not suggestion that is what must happen, I think it will happen. In 5 years time the Varsity Cup and Community Cup might be bigger TV wise than it is now. Why would a player go play for a club that is not in either of those 2 and thus receive no chance to be on TV. I would actually suggest a system similar to what college sports in America has, but that might require a longer post.
Well get cracking, would like to see what your thoughts are!
Right, where do I begin. All 14 unions have top league of clubs teams that consist of say 12 teams. These teams play 1 game vs each other. Then during the year they can schedule 9 other games vs teams from across the country. Varsity cup and community cup can run as normal and count towards the 9 games for those teams. This will give all teams the chance to play some national games that will improve their prestige.
At the end of the season a playoff will take place. The top team from each of the 14 leagues automatically gets in. Then the next 18 teams, which will be selected based on their results over the year by an independent committee. These 18 teams will be selected on the strength of their schedule, wins and margin of victory.
You then have 32 teams that will play playoff rugby to determine the winner.
It might sound a bit complicated but the playoff system creates so much excitement and the 18 teams that will be picked creates so much discussion you cant help but love it.
If anyone knows what March Madness is, you will know exactly what im talking about.
I typed out a very long reply and now its missing
Sorry Charl, system sent it to spam for some reason.
Good article and I concur re observations re Com Cup. Clubs should be catagorized as either being “Elite/Commercial” or “Social/Amateur”. First-mentioned fully pro and to be recognized as such clubs need to meet a certain criteria re financial status, facilities, no of players, etc. Last mentioned totally amateur; no ‘salaries’ to players and the like. Lots to debate. Regards!
Correct. The other problem is that as things stand at the moment, in the WP Super League A for example, 4 of the 10 teams in the league compete in either the Varsity Cup or the Community Cup (2 in each). How are the other 6 clubs supposed to compete against them in terms of finances and players? Will we this year see a system where the two varsities and Durbell fight for the title, and the other clubs battle it out for 4th place? Scary scenario.
Nice debate guys and great site – I like the passion for the club game. Let’s see how things pan out…
I am a bit curious about which teams will play in this newely found competition. Where can I go to find a list, and aside from that, with most large cities playing host to a number of clubs, how are the clubs chosen for this tournament.
Hi Seabelo
The participating clubs are comprised of the top ranked non-university team in each of the 14 provincial unions across the country. These 14 teams will be joined by the Limpopo champions (Noordelikes), as well as 5 “wild card” teams. These wild card teams are awarded participation rights by SARU, and are clubs which stem from a previously disadvantaged background.
SARU Community Cup – automatic qualifiers:
Blue Bulls – Pretoria Police
Blue Bulls Limpopo – Noordelikes
Boland – Villagers Worcester
Border – Old Selbornians
Eastern Province – Despatch
Free State – Bloemfontein Police
Golden Lions – Roodepoort
Griffons – Welkom Rovers
Griquas – Sishen
KZN – College Rovers
Leopards – Rustenburg Impala
Mpumalanga – White River
SWD – Evergreens
Valke – Brakpan
Western Province – Durbanville-Bellville
Wild Cards:
African Bombers (Eastern Province)
Bloemfontein Crusaders (Free State)
Raiders (Golden Lions)
Roses United (Boland)
SK Walmers (WP)