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Thought this one would have made it on here already but can't see it (apologies if it's posted anywhere else!)
SANZAR a laughing stock if it snubs Melbourne for 15th Super licence
Greg Growden | October 21, 2009
Sanity or sheer stupidity. That's what today's SANZAR board meeting to decide whether Melbourne or Port Elizabeth will be the home of the 15th Super team will come down to.
Logic demands that Melbourne wins the licence for a multitude of reasons; the most crucial being that the 15th team is playing in the Australian conference from 2011. For an organisation to even consider having a team from the other side of the world based in an Australian conference shows there is something seriously wrong at the core of the SANZAR alliance. And the threat that this issue will go to arbitration because SANZAR board voting protocol demands a unanimous vote just amplifies the point that this mob has to get its act together, or change its structure quick smart.
If commonsense was applied, today's meeting, being held in Brisbane, should last just seconds. Six hands go up for Melbourne, none for Port Elizabeth, and the board members would have achieved their objective of making a decision in the best interests of SANZAR.
Anything else, and SANZAR will be the laughing stock of world sport. How can anyone seriously argue the Southern Kings franchise should be preferred to Melbourne?
Apart from the enormous logistical problems if the Southern Kings were involved in a conference with the four Australian teams, there is the basic argument of numbers.
South Africa already have five Super teams to Australia's four, and if it is so important for the South African Rugby Union to continue to kowtow to its national government by pushing for this predominantly black team, then get rid of another.
The South Africans have already muttered that if the Kings don't play in the Australian conference, they will have to find a spot for them in their own conference, and so promotion and relegation will be required. That will more than likely mean a Super team from the veldt will have to go, which is probably why the South Africans are jittery. Maybe the Afrikaners are putting even more heat on the South African rugby officials.
But that is not the problem of Australia or New Zealand. It is something the South African authorities have to sort out, rather than throwing it in the laps of the other two SANZAR partners. It is high time the South Africans thought about something apart from their own narrow-minded interests.
Adding to the Melbourne push is that it is also time the three countries had the same number of teams, while the eagerness of the broadcasters towards the Melbourne bid makes it even more compelling. It is known the broadcasters are interested in boosting the TV rights if Melbourne is involved.
So do the South Africans want to snub their nose as this extra revenue?
This has even prompted one of Australia's SANZAR board members, John O'Neill, to ponder last week that South Africa could unveil something new at the meeting, including possibly a cheque from the South African Government to compensate for the loss of broadcasting revenue and the greater amount of expense if the Eastern Cape team is involved.
If this happens, and SANZAR considers accepting such a inducement, it would be a major blight on the southern hemisphere game.
And all of Australia should sincerely hope the South Africans at last come to their senses. A fifth team would help solve some of Australian rugby problems. It will provide more professional spots for local players, and at last right the wrong when the Western Force in 2004 were awarded the fourth Australian franchise ahead of the far more worthy Victorian bid. He still hasn't got over this! After 5 years you think he'd have built a bridge!
Then the Australian Rugby Union didn't have the guts to take on AFL in its heartland. Now it does.
It would also end this ridiculous folly being pushed by the lunatic fringe for the return of the Australian Rugby Championship. Will someone tell this misguided faction that from 2011 the expanded Super season will go from March to August, with the Tri Nations to follow. When do they want to play it? Christmas Day?
First we have D-day, with SANZAR this afternoon showing whether it is a professional outfit or a farce.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...891816800.html
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