Tremendous changes for South African Rugby League
Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:39 am
There has been a tremendous amount of changes overall in South African Rugby League with a new national board, a new constitution and a new format to the national club championships. Rugby league is played in the summer months in South Africa, with the season starting early September and lasting through to late March the following year.
SARL will launch a slightly modified National Club Championship in the 2012/2013 season. The season kicks off in early September and the first round will consist of "derby style" games between the regional clubs in the 6 main regions (Gauteng North, Gauteng East, Northwest, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Free State). Teams from the developing regions (Limpopo and Eastern Cape) will play in one of the 6 main regional competitions. Provision is also made for selected clubs from the targeted regions (KwaZulu Natal and Northern Cape) to play in some match days as a means to start introducing the new clubs to competitive rugby league.
A total of 36 clubs will compete in the first phase Derby Competition. The format will be a points-based competition with each team playing the other teams in the province at least twice. To ensure maximum crowd attendance, three to four games will be played at a stadium in a match day. Each club in a region will get an opportunity to host a match day. All the clubs in the region will play at the match days.
After the first phase Derby Competitions, the clubs will proceed with the second phase Cup Competition. The top eight clubs (one from each region, plus 2 wildcards based on points and performance) will proceed to a First Division Cup Competition and compete in a Super Eight Knock Out competition known as the Rhino Cup. The second placed teams in each region (plus 2 wildcards) will play in a Second Division Cup Competition called the Protea Cup. The remainder of the teams will compete for points in the President's Cup. Each region will also pick a representative squad for the season at this stage.
There are two breaks in the competition, one mid season break in the competition over the Christmas holidays and a two-week break middle February. The Representative Competition's first two rounds is played on either side of the Christmas break and the third round will be played in the February break. The Representative Competition Final is played two weeks after the conclusion of the Cup Competitions.
In the second season of the National Club Championships the regions will be expanded to 7 regions and the third season to 8 regions, thereby negating the wild card picks. This system ensures that each season the top performing clubs gets to play in the second phase Cup Competitions.
The competition has certain challenges in the vast distances that some clubs need to travel to participate in the sport (it can be as much as 300 miles within a region). In addition the strength of rugby union also plays a role, especially now that rugby is almost played all year round. However, this only presents opportunities for South African Rugby League to present something different and more exciting with the match days.
As the National Club Championship is aimed at senior players, a secondary competition will be started for age group teams. Initially this competition will be run through the tertiary institutions in South Africa focusing on students. From there is will expand into a club-based national championship.
Development at youth level is also critical to the growth of the sport, and to make sure that the club structures remain strong, the youth development programs will be channeled through the club structures in a system very similar to Europe where you play age group sport at different clubs. The age group matches will be played at the same match days as the senior National Club Championships
http://forums.rugbyleagueplanet.com/index/
SARL will launch a slightly modified National Club Championship in the 2012/2013 season. The season kicks off in early September and the first round will consist of "derby style" games between the regional clubs in the 6 main regions (Gauteng North, Gauteng East, Northwest, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Free State). Teams from the developing regions (Limpopo and Eastern Cape) will play in one of the 6 main regional competitions. Provision is also made for selected clubs from the targeted regions (KwaZulu Natal and Northern Cape) to play in some match days as a means to start introducing the new clubs to competitive rugby league.
A total of 36 clubs will compete in the first phase Derby Competition. The format will be a points-based competition with each team playing the other teams in the province at least twice. To ensure maximum crowd attendance, three to four games will be played at a stadium in a match day. Each club in a region will get an opportunity to host a match day. All the clubs in the region will play at the match days.
After the first phase Derby Competitions, the clubs will proceed with the second phase Cup Competition. The top eight clubs (one from each region, plus 2 wildcards based on points and performance) will proceed to a First Division Cup Competition and compete in a Super Eight Knock Out competition known as the Rhino Cup. The second placed teams in each region (plus 2 wildcards) will play in a Second Division Cup Competition called the Protea Cup. The remainder of the teams will compete for points in the President's Cup. Each region will also pick a representative squad for the season at this stage.
There are two breaks in the competition, one mid season break in the competition over the Christmas holidays and a two-week break middle February. The Representative Competition's first two rounds is played on either side of the Christmas break and the third round will be played in the February break. The Representative Competition Final is played two weeks after the conclusion of the Cup Competitions.
In the second season of the National Club Championships the regions will be expanded to 7 regions and the third season to 8 regions, thereby negating the wild card picks. This system ensures that each season the top performing clubs gets to play in the second phase Cup Competitions.
The competition has certain challenges in the vast distances that some clubs need to travel to participate in the sport (it can be as much as 300 miles within a region). In addition the strength of rugby union also plays a role, especially now that rugby is almost played all year round. However, this only presents opportunities for South African Rugby League to present something different and more exciting with the match days.
As the National Club Championship is aimed at senior players, a secondary competition will be started for age group teams. Initially this competition will be run through the tertiary institutions in South Africa focusing on students. From there is will expand into a club-based national championship.
Development at youth level is also critical to the growth of the sport, and to make sure that the club structures remain strong, the youth development programs will be channeled through the club structures in a system very similar to Europe where you play age group sport at different clubs. The age group matches will be played at the same match days as the senior National Club Championships
http://forums.rugbyleagueplanet.com/index/