2020 might have denied sporting fanatics a big part of their everyday lives: sport, but 2021 is quickly shaping up to becoming one of the more memorable sporting years for South Africans. South African Rugby Union CEO Jurie Roux has recently announced that one of rugby’s biggest events, the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa, is still on schedule to take place next year despite the ever growing threat of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
This, of course, follows the news about the Tokyo Olympic Games being moved to next year – and now the Lions Tour has just been added to the 2021 calendar.
“I can talk about the British and Irish Lions for a really long time. After the Rugby World Cup, it’s probably the biggest thing in rugby and we get the opportunity to play them only once every 12 years,” said the SARU boss.
“The most important thing at this stage is that the tour is going on. There may be a date change, but we are able to manage that. We’re very excited to welcome them to South Africa, but also about a completely different commercial model – we basically tore up the textbook and will share revenues, logos, IP and commercial value with the Lions.
“This is something that will come in very handy in a post-Covid-19 world in terms of the revenues it will create for us, and it will also help us to operate as a going concern going forward. The British and Irish Lions play a three-match Test series against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa every four years, meaning they visit each country after 12 years.
“Every time they’ve visited South Africa, the last two times in 1997 and 2009, the Springboks were world champions and 2021 will be no different. They will be coming with revenge in mind after the Boks won the 2009 series 2-1 with scores of 26-21; 28-25 in favour of the Boks in the first two Tests before the tourists won the dead rubber 28-9.”
Registration tickets for the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa is still open at www.lionstour2021.co.za.
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