When did that happen? Could've sworn I saw Norths playing the Jets last weekend at North Sydney Oval...

sorry mate had not realised the bears were out of the big league i apologise we do not get any coverage of rugby league i only found the web sites the other week. as for the racism in league it is amazing that the rl guys have entertained these white guys in joburg, there again it was the english barla and the british army, hopefully the oz students will ave realised what is going on here, and we can get a constitution drawn up allowing the game to flourish and be shared amongst the whole of south africa, it would be terrible for league if it got the racist tag, as apart from the rhinos, the game certainly is not in general seen as racist or classist.

South Africa is a socially very complex place and anyone developing the game there would need to take into account its complex cultural, social and racial diversity and history. One cannot simply go for the country as a whole. There needs to be a strategy targeting certain towns/areas, and which 'people'. Geographically South Africa is still quite socially, economically and racially segmented. There are (I use the racial labels that were developed during apartheid but still commonly used today)
* towns/regions predominantly populated by 'white' people,
- some that speak Afrikaans as a first language, some that speak English
* townships populated by 'blacks' who speak native African languages like Xhosa (all over SA?), Sesotho (mostly in the north), Zulu (mostly in KwaZulu-Natal)
* towns or townships with predominantly 'coloured' people (people of mixed ethnicity who speak Afrikaans and English)

The majority of clubs listed on the SARL website seem to be based in and around Gauteng province, which used to be comprised of the former Transvaal province (whose main city is Johannesburg, the economic centre of the country and biggest city) and Northern Transvaal (whose main city is Pretoria, the capital). Some are based in Mpumulanga, once Eastern Transvaal. Some of those clubs east of Johannesburg are based in farming or mining towns, places like Brakpan, which is home to the Currie Cup Rugby team the Valke (or Falcons in English).

The key point is that it seems most of the player base is of white Afrikaner extraction. Its great that Afrikaans people are showing interest in RL, and plaeyrs generally be well suited to the game with their size and strength. However, there seems to be barely any black or coloured players in SARL, even fewer than in Rugby, and RL could provide a better vehicle than RU for to allow black/coloured players to use their skills and athleticism.

If RLIF, SARL or new parties were going to target development in black or coloured communities, they might avoid the stigma associated with Union that some black players feel. One potential possibility is the Eastern Cape province - it has the biggest base of black Rugby Union players in South Africa but isn't yet represented by a team in the Super 14 or Currie Cup First Division - though this could change by 2013 if the Southern Kings are eventually admitted to Super 15 expanded to a Super 18.

RL Development Officers could target this region, and SL could get under SARU's nose to encourage the Kings or former Southern Spears personnel to form a SL franchise. OTOH, somewhere like Soweto seems untapped, but one problem could be poor infrastructure and substandard facilities.

bladder, Cape Town would be a great place for a pre-season game, perhaps an exhibition game like the South Sydney Rabbitohs (Australian NRL club, owned by actor Russell Crowe) vs Leeds Rhinos (English champions) game in Florida, or the World Club Challenge. Staging the WCC on a February summer's night at the brand new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town would be stunning, and far better than the current match in Northern Engish winter. For an exhibition, maybe teams like Sydney Roosters, Melbourne Storm or in the UK, Super League teams London Harlequins or Wales' Celtic Crusaders might be encouraged to come to play a game, as they have small junior bases. Roosters and former Storm recruitment manager just recruited SA Schoolboys RU fullback JP Du Plessis from a Joburg schools carnival.

very good posts. dont worry about the pommys we convicts are very rascist towards the pommys lets just take origin to south africa and be done .the jewel in the rugby league crown

very accurate observor, i could not agree more with you when you talk about the eastern cape being a major target area for league. it only needs a couple of rl guys to take time out and do a few school clinics and grow the game from say under 12 yrs. the biggest mistake league has made in its efforts in south africa is turning all its attention on never wozer thirty odd year old rugby union guys, look to the future is what i say, when cape towns efforts were assassinated, people do not realise that many of the colored players who had taken part in league went on to touch rugby league, league could use the touch rugby league, to promote itself, but i still say the cape is the city tailor made and waiting for league to come in maybe a club like rabittohs could do worse than check it out and think about an acadamy of rugby league for the region, it would go with my bar

Rugby Union in South Africa goes out of its way to stop any development dead.


They close playing fields.

They threaten players if they even try Rugby League.


It just will not work there. Outside of say the NRL going over and spending money hand over fist, playing regular games over there (And by that I mean at least 4 games a year!) and putting all the development money they have into that country, it wont work.

not quite sure where you got that info from freak, but league is and allways has been welcome in the cape. our last fixture in 2004 against barla conference side shaw cross sharks, had several premier 1 league teams including hamiltons , wp police, and goodwood, begging us to play at their grounds. our big problem is the south african rugby league in joburg, they are the ones stopping the cape playing through their petty jealousy we dont need australian clubs or british clubs we need tv exposure otherwise you just get top star players from nrl or superleague in the flesh walking about town as unrecognised nobodys, if they were regularly seen on the box that is a different story then people would wow. so that is the first issue in my mind get the game on sa tv. secondly league needs a strong man to monitor what is happening in south africa not just a tas bateira who gets hidden in a joburg hotel for two nights and read bedtime stories, without even checking if these imaginary teams they boast of really do exist no it needs a trouble shooter in who wont take any crap, and thirdly that rhinos team need to be made play against that cape town team there is traditional rivalry anyway and the games will be fierce the fixture must happen call it what you want but it can only result in better quality players in sa forget touring nrl sides we want to play them for real. maybe the odd exhibition game and the world club challenge make sense

why not a few sa teams in the nrl playing in it like super 14

why not changa whynot?

nrl could bring in 2 SA teams and a perth , nz wellington team aswell . change the name to IRL international rugby league. or SRL southern rugby league