Covid-19: SA Rugby aims to safeguard its future
The economies will be achieved by reduced expenditure caused by the cancellation of competitions, cuts in other operational budgets and in salary reductions.
The rugby industry has agreed to a wide-ranging plan to cut between R700-million to R1-billion from its budget over the next eight months to ensure the post-Covid-19 viability of the sport through an Industry Financial Impact Plan (IFIP).
Also raed: Covid-19: SA Rugby confirms cancellation of Currie Cup, SuperSport challenge and more for 2020
The plan has been agreed to 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 (ISP) 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.
Also read: All bets are off. Lockdown has ‘devastating impact’ on horseracing
“Many businesses find themselves in a fight for survival and rugby is no different,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby.
“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.”
Roux said that the salary reductions had been agreed in principle by the collective and were now being communicated to those affected before final approval through the various governance channels of SA Rugby, MyPlayers, Sports Employees Unite and the individual unions.
“Our income is tied to the playing of professional rugby and without matches we potentially don’t have any income,” said Roux.
“We don’t know when we will be able to resume the season so have had to budget against a range of scenarios.
“This IFIP 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-wise and personal level, but without these measures we wouldn’t have much of a sport to return to.”
The IFIP is scheduled to run until the end of December in the first instance.
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za)
