Natal used their financial muscle to take control of the Sharks Super 12 franchise for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
The Natal Rugby Union on Monday announced that a meeting of the regional board of the Sharks Joint Venture decided that the Durban-based union should acquire the franchise for the remaining two years (2000 and 2001) of the agreement.
The Natal Sharks reportedly paid their partners in the Sharks Super 12 region, Eastern Province and Border, R800 000 each to part with their rights. This move is sure to irk the supporters of Eastern Province and Border, already livid about the composition of the Sharks Super 12 squad.
This is an unprecedented move in South African rugby and already there is concern in other unions that the financially strong unions like Western Province (Stormers) and the Lions (Cats) could follow suit in an effort to secure all the home games in future. There has already been much unhappiness about the fact that the Boland Kavaliers and South Western Districts Eagles have insisted that they each host a Stormers home game.
The Lions contingent in the Cats squad and coach Laurie Mains last year also tried unsuccessfully to have all their home games at Ellis Park instead of having to stage a few at Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.
According to the statement released by the Natal Rugby Union, all the Sharks' home Super 12 games for the 2001 and 2002 season will be played at The Absa Stadium Durban. "The Sharks 30-man Super 12 squad will include at least two players from both Border and Eastern Province. These players will be selected after consultation with the respective coaches of these two unions.
"Natal Sharks (Pty) Ltd will have the ability to appoint the coach and team management for the Sharks Super 12 side. The Sharks Joint Venture Board will continue to function and will meet in order to make policy decisions."
Brian van Zyl, chief executive of Natal Sharks (Pty) Ltd, expressed his satisfaction with the NRU's acquisition of the Sharks franchise. "I have welcomed this decision and look forward to working closely with Rudolf Straeuli and his management team in an effort to improve the Sharks' performance in the Super 12 in 2001."
Eastern Province president George Davids and Border chief executive Syd Laubscher on Monday said financial considerations were the main reasons for agreeing to the deal. It is believed Eastern Province only made R400 000 profit the last time they hosted a Super 12 game - half of what Natal are offering them now.
Davids said Eastern Province and Border would still be represented on the Sharks board. "Most of the administration work is done up there anyway and it makes much more sense if they run things in Durban. The selection panel is going to stay the same.
"Sarfu would never have agreed to it if we had changed the structure completely to give Natal sole control of the board. I must emphasise that the right to stage a home game was never taken away from us. If we want to host a game again next year we simply apply for it and the same applies to Border."
Davids said the financial implications of staging a Super 12 game were a "helluva consideration". "I don't think we would have been able to make the amount of money Natal put on the table. They upped the offer considerably and it wouldn't have made business sense to kick it out. It was a decision taken by the Eastern Province executive and I'm happy with it."
Davids said the fact that Sarfu will revisit the Super 12 structure in two year's time also played a role in their decision to enter the contract with Natal. "Our agreement will run for only two years and after Sarfu have reconsidered the structures things will probably change. Previously we didn't have a guarantee that we will have a player in the squad, but now we are assured of at least two players in the squad," he said.
The losses suffered by the Sharks Joint Venture last year also enticed Eastern Province to give the Sharks control. "Last year we had a joint venture and the region made a helluva loss. We had to pay in one-third, as did Natal and Border. As we all know the Sharks haven't done too well and it was a substantial amount of money we had to cough up."
Laubscher admitted the Border executive expects the decision to cause some dissatisfaction amongst its supporters. "Most of the public realise that the costs of staging a Super 12 game is exorbitant and that our stadium is just not large enough to host such a game profitably. Two years ago we hosted the Hurricanes here and hardly broke even.
"We are still in the process of building the union and the only way to assist us in doing that is to sell the game," Laubscher added. "We have been through that experience and we gave our supporters a game, but the fact of the matter is that the stadium is just not big enough. Our capacity is between 11 000 and 12 000 and that's not enough to cover the costs of staging the game."
Laubscher said Border are happy with the deal and that it's a bonus that they are guaranteed a minimum of two places in the Super 12 squad. "We never had guys in the Super 12 squad of the Sharks. Now our players will realise they don't have to go to the bigger unions to get Super 12 exposure. They can stay here and still get the opportunity."
He said they are quite prepared to deal with the expected flak about the deal. "We can still offer our people Test matches against smaller unions which we have been promised every second year. The Test against Canada was a big success and hopefully there'll be more in store."