'Global season won’t happen without compromise'
SPOTLIGHT: Compromise will be essential if rugby’s long-discussed global calendar is to become a reality, SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said, as debate continues over how to align the northern and southern hemisphere seasons.
The push for a global season has intensified amid growing concerns over player welfare, with professionals still caught between overlapping club and international commitments and being denied a genuine off-season.
Earlier this year, Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus suggested that the Rugby Championship be rescheduled earlier in the year to align with the Six Nations.
The subject was further discussed at World Rugby’s Shape of the Game conference in London last week.
While the talks were viewed as a credible attempt to reshape the calendar, no firm resolution has yet been reached.
“I think everybody understands that we need a global season for various reasons,” Oberholzer told reporters in Cape Town.
“If you look at player welfare and proper rest time for professional players, and to give leagues a fair opportunity to have their players available, it becomes very important.
“It also helps national teams not to worry about World Rugby’s Regulation 9 releases or non-Regulation 9 matches. A global season would bring clarity.”
The main stumbling block remains the long-standing north-south divide. The northern club season runs deep into the southern summer. The Rugby Championship runs into the northern off-season, while South Africa’s best players are required to straddle both systems.
“We can’t have a global season if nobody is willing to sacrifice something,” he stated.
“Everybody will have to give something up in the way they are used to doing things.
“The Six Nations might have to shift. We might have to move the Rugby Championship closer to that window. We all agree in principle – but when it comes to the nitty-gritty of who moves and what we are willing to change, that’s where it becomes difficult.
“The best scenario for us is a calendar with a window for international rugby, then a window for the leagues, and then another international window. The challenge is fitting that into 365 days.”
Oberholzer also stated that one has to take into consideration the commercial aspect.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s play the Rugby Championship in the Six Nations window,’ but what will the broadcasters say? There are many factors to consider.
“You almost have to start with a clean sheet of paper and see if everything can fit.”
A World Rugby working group is exploring options, with clarity hoped for by 2027.
