OPINION: Free State sport to slip further into despair after Knights relegation

Free State sport is set to slip even further into despair after the Knights were relegated from the top division of franchise cricket in the country as the local 2022/23 cricket season culminated with the Dolphins lifting the CSA 4-Day trophy on Wednesday afternoon.

With the struggles of Bloemfontein’s top rugby side, the Cheetahs, over the past few years due to them being ejected from what was the Pro14, now the United Rugby Championship, sport in the region is set to dip to a new low with the relegation of the Knights to the CSA second division.

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The Cheetahs have struggled without international franchise rugby and have been unable to attract top talent to the union, although they did manage a pull off a major coup when they brought back ageing stars Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar to the union.

However both those players are on their way out, and there is no one able to fill the massive shoes that they will leave when they do decide to hang up their boots.

The same is now set to happen to the Knights who face an exodus of their top players who will surely be looking for greener pastures, including new Proteas star Gerald Coetzee who is reportedly moving to the Titans, as well as Migael Pretorius and Raynard van Tonder.

Dismal two seasons

The Knights find themselves in this position after two dismal seasons in the recently restructured CSA franchise and provincial competitions.

At the start of the 2021/22 season CSA expanded their first division to eight teams, where previously it had been six, while also bringing in a promotion/relegation system, which would see the bottom side on a combined log drop from the top division to division two after two seasons.

It was expected that the two new first division sides, the North West Dragons and the Paarl Rocks (Boland) would find the going tough to adapt to the top tier, but after two seasons the Rocks finished a commendable fourth on the combined log, while the Dragons finished seventh.

This left the Knights dead last and has now led to their relegation, with the top side over the past two seasons in division two, the Tuskers (Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland), now moving up into the top division.

In two seasons the Knights have finished bottom of the T20 competition and fourth, second from bottom of the four day competition and third from bottom, while in the one day cup they finished fifth and sixth, with their combined total of 13 points five adrift of the Dragons on the combined log.