Ken Borland

Tens of thousands of people will probably die tragically of Covid in India over the next week, which should give all South African sports fans pause to think as we clamour for the return of spectators to stadiums.

The daily death toll from the pandemic climbed to over 3600 in India this week, with at least 300 000 positive tests per day.

Having been to India three times, it is the country that most reminds me of our poorer communities, the places at the wrong end of the most unequal society in the world, and I cannot but imagine what might happen here if another wave of Covid strikes during winter.

The sudden resurgence of Covid in India has been partly attributed to the government allowing a series of mass nationalistic or religious gatherings, that rapidly became super-spreader events in the populous country.

So one can understand government’s caution when it comes to allowing spectators back into stadiums for rugby or football or any other sporting event. I thought Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa gave a very reasonable explanation on Friday for why there has been no date set yet for the return of fans.

“In terms of fans, we have to look at the codes’ plans from a health perspective. It’s not up to the Minister of Sport, we are not going to decide as individual departments. The National Command Council weekly meeting guides society as a whole, not just one aspect. Our medical advisors are telling us that between May and July there is the possibility of a third wave.

“They say we are facing a storm and we can’t just kill people by allowing them back into stadiums. So each sport has to put together a plan. For example rugby has proposed 50% capacity for the British and Irish Lions tour, which will be looked into. But if the FNB Stadium has capacity of 90 000, that means 45 000 people and how do we ensure that does not become a super-spreader event?” Mthethwa said.

Of course all rugby fans want crowds to be able to watch the Lions matches and recreate the sort of atmosphere that electrified proceedings when Tendai Mtawarira began dismantling the legendary Phil Vickery in the scrums at Kings Park or when Jaque Fourie squeezed over for his improbable try at Loftus Versfeld the last time Britain and Ireland’s finest toured here in 2009.

But is it worth tens of thousands of people dying? Even though SA Rugby’s budget will take a severe knock without crowds, it is not worth mass mortalities.

I would postulate that once spectators are allowed at sporting events again, they will return in their flocks because of how long they have been starved of live action. Perhaps club rugby, generally played in wide open areas, would be a good place to start safely bringing crowds back?

And club rugby will be returning shortly.

It is a level of the game that has been treated quite curtly by some professional coaches, but it was pleasing to hear Bulls coach Jake White, ever the traditionalist, say he will be keeping an eye on club rugby in the Pretoria region to see if there are any hidden gems who have the aptitude for franchise rugby.

He has shown his backing for club rugby by allocating each of his 45 contracted professional players to a club and, if they are not selected for the Bulls, they are expected to play for their clubs (although this won’t apply to the Springboks). White has made a rule that players will wear their club socks once a week at Bulls training and once a month they will come to Loftus Versfeld in their club kit, as well as actually go to their clubs periodically to help with training or social functions.

Resurrecting club rugby as a factory for the professional game would be a great gift for rugby in this country.

South African rugby fans can rest easy that the four Rainbow Cup franchises won’t merely be going through the motions in yet another tournament of local derbies when the new competition kicks off on Saturday, with the massive incentive of a place in the European Champions Cup possibly being up for grabs.

Talks are apparently underway for the winners of Rainbow Cup SA to be given a spot in the 2021/22 European Rugby Heineken Champions Cup. That prestigious and lucrative tournament has prizemoney of about one million euro for the champions – the equivalent of nearly R17.5 million, which would be a huge boost for any of South Africa’s franchises given the constrained economic outlook for rugby in this country.

The Champions Cup brings together the 20 top teams from the three major European leagues – the English Premiership, France’s Top 14 and the Celtic Pro14, in which the four South African franchises are scheduled to appear later this year.

Conquering Europe may be as ambitious a plan as some of astronautics’ efforts to land on Mars but the rewards are great and will be worth the immense planning and effort. One of the things that will be required is larger squads and talks are already underway with SA Rugby for them to increase the 45-player limit for franchise squads.

Bulls coach Jake White is certainly in favour of further expansion into Europe.

“Hopefully something will be formalised because we want to take part in the Heineken Cup. There are massive incentives to play in that tournament and I remember when I coached Montpellier, the French clubs put a lot of pressure on you to qualify for that event. The importance was shown when Leinster played Munster in the Rainbow Cup last weekend and rested 13 players because they have a Champions Cup semi-final this weekend,” White said on Friday.

“Leinster have used 57 players this season in all competitions and so we’ll try and find out from SA Rugby if we can have bigger squads and more money because it’s important we get the same resources as those European clubs. If we lose players to the Springboks and get a couple of injuries, will we be strong enough to compete at three levels – Currie Cup, Pro14 and Europe?”

Covid-19 has dealt South African sports fans a cruel deck of cards, never mind a hand, with the much-anticipated British and Irish Lions rugby tour now almost certainly not happening in this country this year. But there is still something to look forward to with the Rugby World Cup Sevens coming to Cape Town next year.

Megapro, who are the giants of commercial rights and sponsorship sales in South African sport, were appointed as the exclusive sponsorship sales agency by WorldRugby earlier this month and they are busy ensuring they lay on a feast of entertainment. The overriding hope, of course, is that the pandemic has eased to such an extent by September next year that sport would have returned to normal with spectators cramming into the wonderful Cape Town Stadium.

It is reassuring to know that it is a former Sevens Springbok, Steven Hunt, who is spearheading this drive as the sales manager of Megapro.

“It’s a waiting game still for the Lions tour, which is sad because it only comes around every 12 years and we could miss out on the enormous benefits it brings to the country. But the light at the end of the tunnel is the Sevens World Cup next year and there is great excitement around that. Everyone wants to see sport return to normality and the hype of a big event.

“At the moment, putting on big sporting events is weighed down with challenges, but a world cup unites the country and to lose that feel-good factor is the major loss we are currently having. But it’s good to see the professional set-ups moving again, it shows why keeping sport going is so important. The Sevens World Cup could have a very similar impact to the Lions tour,” Hunt told me in their Bryanston offices this week.

High performance sport is like a fire that needs oxygen in order to burn, it needs spectators in order to oxidise and catch alight.

“Professional sport needs spectators, both for the commercial aspects and for the players themselves. It never happened to me in my career that we ever played with no crowds, but it affects the whole life cycle of the game. And Sevens is all about the fans and the fan engagements, the festivities and fun. The whole event lives on that energy.

“Obviously the positive about this Lockdown is that the supporters can’t wait to come back to live events and hopefully they come back stronger. We’re 100% expecting the crowds for rugby to come back bigger, better and stronger. There is still massive value in playing the tournament in an empty stadium though because we will still be putting it in front of the world,” Hunt said.

South African rugby was on an absolute high when Covid struck, having just won the XVs World Cup in sensational fashion in Japan, but now they are in a fight for survival. How long this ‘state of emergency’ for SA Rugby lasts is anyone’s guess because government is ill-equipped to provide many answers or an efficient vaccination programme.

“It’s terrible that the great momentum of the 2019 World Cup has been lost. SA Rugby pushes for answers about when fans can return but there are still none – the numbers could still go up, we just don’t know. And it boils down to WorldRugby whether there will be no spectators or not at the World Cup. Fortunately we have the Cape Town Sevens this year as the last event on the circuit and we can gauge a lot from that.

“The Cape Town Sevens has set massively high standards as an event so we will stick to that formula, keep how that is structured. SA Rugby also had success with the event in George and Port Elizabeth, so the World Cup is in good hands. It’s also the first global event that we have the exclusive rights for, so it is massive for Megapro. It will be a huge success, a top-class tournament, as long as there is no more Covid,” Hunt predicted.

South African rugby may miss out on the British and Irish Lions tour, but hosting the Rugby World Cup Sevens with international spectators will be like getting a kitten for Christmas.

No spectators are going to be allowed at Randpark Golf Club when the prestigious Joburg Open is held there from November 19-22, but there will be plenty of entertainment for golf fans at the club both before and after that with the installation of the new InRange ball-tracking facility at their driving range.

InRange is a system designed by engineers in Stellenbosch who were global leaders in the field of tracking technology for radio telescopes and radar, who turned their attention to tracking the flight of golf balls. The result is not only a package that is used by leading professionals, golf clubs and coaches, but which also has tremendous entertainment value.

Golfers previously going through the motions on the driving range can now track each and every shot and can play under added pressure in the system’s game mode that allows multiple players to compete against each other in contests such as Longest Drive or Bullseye. With four buckets of balls costing less than R400 for a foursome, this sounds like great fun for a group of golfing mates.

The technology is also available on an app, allowing individuals to enjoy the experience at a cheaper cost.

But for the weekend of November 19-22, Randpark will become a place of national importance and closed to the public as the European Tour and their top international golfers arrive to participate in the Joburg Open. As Randpark GC chief executive Francois Swart explained, they simply cannot risk any Covid transmission occurring, especially with South Africa hosting the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and then the South African Open at Sun City on the following weekends.

“It’s very important that the safety protocols are adhered to and we have to manage the bubbles and ensure the safety of the players, not just for this tournament but for the next two as well. I think not having spectators is the better call and unfortunately not even our members will be allowed at the club. It’s the right call because it’s a big investment.

“The players are the ones who have the most risk and if any of them get exposed then they’re out for the rest of the tournaments as well. Not having spectators is normal practice at this time on the European Tour and they have had a lot of input because they have staged big tournaments already this year. They’ve given us valuable insights and I have all the confidence in the world that the Joburg Open will go off beautifully,” Swart told The Citizen.