The lengthy speculation about whether the 2021 British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa will go ahead or not is about to be ended by World Rugby – if a ‘leaked’ itinerary about a UK-hosted Lions Tour has not already ended it prematurely.
With South Africa being one of the most hard-hit countries by the coronavirus, combined with the country’s slow pace in dealing with the virus – an issue which has prolonged the process of sporting fans being allowed back in stadiums among other issues – has put the Lions Tour to the country under threat for a while now.
With several traditional major sporting events having already been victims to the pandemic in recent months – the Comrades Marathon being sensationally cancelled for two consecutive years comes to mind here – the Lions Tour looks set to follow suit as another major sporting event falling victim to Covid-19 in our country.
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World Rugby vice-chairperson Bernard Laporte said a decision on whether the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa will go ahead will be made at the end of March. And considering that fans in the country are still not allowed in stadiums, one thing has become clear: whatever the final decision is going to be, it will not include South Africa as a host of the prestigious tour.
Very few sporting events are bigger than the Lions Tour and it’s a shame that the pandemic is about to deny the country of hosting the rugby spectacle – which comes around every 12 years.
It will certainly be the biggest impact the pandemic has had on South African sports.
This writer had suggested a postponement of the tour to next year as the best solution. This would give SA Rugby and the country a chance to properly prepare to welcome the Lions to ensure the tour still takes place on African soil. But logistics and behind-the-door politics are likely to throw that option out of the window.
What World Rugby is likely going to announce is that a decision to take the tour to the UK has been settled on. This is after a ‘leaked’ itinerary of the tour was made public knowledge in recent days, which includes the surprising addition of a fourth test as opposed to the traditional three the Lions always play whenever they visit the Southern Hemisphere.
Despite additional information on the itinerary stating that it was not confirmed, it’s widely understood that the document is legitimate. Should this be the case, SA Rugby’s finances are set to receive a welcome boost but the country’s economy will lose billions of rands that events of this magnitude tend to generate.
But the saddest part perhaps is that rugby lovers in the country will have to wait another 12 years to experience the juggernaut which is the British and Irish Lions.
Add 12 years to your age right now and it should give you a better perspective of just how unfortunate these turn of events are likely to be.
Local rugby supporters have their say on the tour taken to the UK
Cyril Lehong (Caxton freelancer and former Boksburg Advertiser sports writer)
It’s one of the saddest things to happen to our rugby in a long time. The fact that we have had the Currie Cup just recently tells me that we are capable of hosting the Lions. Of course, there would be no fans due to Covid-19 but it’s not like they can guarantee that they will have fans in the UK either.
Kudzi Gladman (Makopano Boksburg Rugby Club player)
I think the move to the UK is unfair for a few reasons, the sentiment being chief above all. We wait for a very long time for this and to move it diminishes the whole idea of tradition that we have gotten used to. The argument of Covid-19 doesn’t even hold water because the UK was equally if not more affected by the pandemic. It is untraditional, a great robbery to southbound British and Irish Lions supporters and Springbok fans. SA Rugby needed the tour to boost back confidence in rugby as a few stakeholders are on the fringe of whether rugby should or shouldn’t resume. I think since everyone thinks it’s okay to just drop tradition, I will be for the first time supporting the Springboks, well I’m African after all.
Ockert van Schalkwyk (SuperSport rugby commentator)
I think they should postpone until next year. Rather just focus on the normal year-end tour to the UK by South Africa. This British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa is highly regarded and steeped in tradition and a massive revenue generator for tourism in general and SA Rugby.
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