SARU and SAREO face crucial call after arbitration award favours the Players

NEWS: The South African Rugby Football Union and SAREO face a dilemma, after the arbitration verdict significantly favoured the players’ union, MyPlayers.

The arbitrator ruled that #ALL provincial players must rest for an uninterrupted eight-week period once every 12 months.

Not only does the ruling apply to all players, it must happen at the same time.

Mandisi Tshonti, the GM: Player Affairs Myplayers, told @rugby365com that they are “very happy” with the outcome.

* To read SARU’s reaction to this ruling, CLICK HERE!

However, he was at pains to stress that the Currie Cup competition – scheduled to take place from July to the end of September – can go ahead.

In recent years July and August were reserved as the annual rest period for all the provincial players.

The key is that if SARU goes ahead with the Currie Cup in the current slot, the national body and SAREO must then find an alternative ‘two-month rest period’ for the players.

That could impact the start of the next United Rugby Championship season – scheduled to get underway on September 20.

The dispute came after SARU decided to move the Currie Cup – which had overlapped with the URC for the last couple of years – to a new window between July and September.

There were settlement talks that would have allowed SAREO to ‘rest’ players on an individual basis.

However, in a dramatic about-turn, SAREO insisted on the inclusion of a provision that would allow players to play for up to 20 months without a break.

This resulted in the stand-off and an arbitration hearing that concluded on May 9.

The result was delivered on Monday, and strongly favoured MyPlayers, handing the national body a dilemma.

“The ruling confirmed that the rest period for the players must be all at the same time,” Tshonti told @rugby365com, adding that the eight-week break must happen once a year.

“It is a very positive outcome of the arbitration process.

“It clarifies the crucial principles of what we have always relayed to the employers [franchises and provinces] – it is extremely challenging to provide that rest period if the Currie Cup is played in the middle of that [traditional] rest period.

“This provides a clear start and end to the season.”

The two-month break allows the players to re-energise physically and mentally.

The ruling also means that in all likelihood SARU will have to revisit the decision to move the Currie Cup to the July-September window.

For now, SARU and SAREO must make a call on when they want to apply the eight-week rest period.

“We are not going to be prescriptive about [the timing of] that rest period,” Tshonti said.

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