Blog Posts

Sportaccord Snubs Rugby League for the 3rd Time

10/26/2017

By STEVE MASCORD

RUGBY League has again been rejected for membership of global body Sport Accord in a major blow to the game’s hopes of international expansion.

League has already twice been turned down for recognition. The new chairman of the body, Patrick Baumann, confirmed the snub in an interview with aroundtherings.com.

“The three federations have done a lot of work in trying to fullfill the criteria. We are very appreciative of that,” Baumann was quoted as saying. “The reality is that unfortunately they are not at the end of that process.” “The criteria that SportAccord has in it statutes are very strict. So we can’t just close one eye and one ear and move ahead with them.

“Each of them have different topics that they have to work on and we are going to help with them. But right now it [membership] isn’t possible.”

There is so far no information on what area rugby league fell short in. Sport Accord has a congress planned for early April and it was widely anticipated rugby league would gain acceptance then.

Sport Accord will consider granting some federations “observer status” if there are no “rivalry issues”. It’s fair to say there is some rivalry between rugby league and rugby union, which played a role in blocking the last application for membership.

Without Sport Accord recognition, rugby league is locked out of government funding in many countries and players are left with insurance issues.

Also, rugby union can continue to claim jurisdiction over league in places like the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Italy.

Commonwealth 2018 Brisbane Australia

5/14/2017

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SARL MATCH OFFICIALS AND COACHES TO ATTEND M/O AND COACING COURSES IN AUSTRALIA 2017

4/19/2017

South African Rugby League received a grant from the RLIF and APRL to send a SARL Match Official and a Coach to Australia to attend a Refereeing and Coaching course in Sydney. One of the biggest challenges in SARL is that we do not have the ability to certify our Match Officials and Coaches due to the fact that we do not have the funds available to accommodate a moderator from Europe or Australia to do the necessary accreditation.
With this opportunity to attend the courses in Australia we know that the two members will be successful and come back with the necessary accreditation to make sure that all our Coaches and Match officials in South Africa are on the same level and have the necessary certification.
The two members who will represent SARL in Sydney during the first week in May 2017 are Jean Coetzer (level one Coach) and Willie Fereira (Match Official spokesperson). We wish them the best of luck and we have faith that you will come home and with your knowledge gained contribute towards a more professional M/O and Coaches core.

Wizards sends 4 Players to the UK

3/13/2017

The current management team of Wizards are determine to grow the game in the Cape. One of our strategies is to create pathways for young men to better themselves to transform our communities through LEAGUE, and counter the drug and gangster problem. Through my engagement on social media with Luke Garnett, the founder of Global Rugby League academy, we have decided to send 4 boys over to play and study abroad in the UK. We are cognisant this is a risk as we have not been over there but we have been tracking the progress on social media – and these boys have the resilience to survive anything

The program include the following

They will play for a club for 12 months
They will have to enrol in an education program
They will have gym membership
The will do RFL accredited coaching and referee courses
They will train with PRO and semi clubs…

SARL appoints new CFO - Johan Hatting

3/7/2017

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Johan Hatting has joined the management team of South African Rugby League. Johan has his own auditors firm in Pretoria an is prepared to take time of his busy schedule to assist SARL as Chief Financial Officer. The Board of SARL are exited to have Johan on board and wish him all the best in this position and we look forward to work as a team towards our common goal.

Commonwealth 2018 Management Team Announced

3/6/2017

SARL have again been invited to participate in the 2018 Commonwealth Games – Festival for Rugby League that will be hosted in Australia.

The previous Commonwealth Games was held in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland and an Under-19-side was send to present South Africa. The 2018 Commonwealth Games Federation have decided that the age-limit for this forthcoming Festival for Rugby League will be upgraded to Under-23 age-limit.

The Festival for Rugby League will be played on the Nines-concept whereby 9 players will take the field (similar to the 7s of Union Rugby) with 4 rolling interchanges.

The core SARL Tour Management Team have now been selected to start initial preparation for the Festival to take place on the 22 – 24 February 2018. Hosting venues on the Australian Gold Coast will be identified in due course by Rugby League International Federation (RLiF) and the Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) Festival Committee.

The key objective for the tour management team in the preparation stage will be to-

Gain Sponsorships
Visit all SA-provinces to identify & screen potential Rugby League players for final selection to this high pace Nines-concept.

SARL U/23 Touring Management Team:

Fanie Bredenhann have been elected to coordinate the 2018 tour-process.
As senior coach Hendrik (Drikkies) Mulder will manage the coaching team with Jean Coetzer (assistant coach) & Addie de Witt (trainer) in preparation for the Games.
A big “add-on” to the squad will be the services of doctor Frans Erasmus that will assist in the endeavor to ensure that the selected players will be in good physical & healthy condition on and off the pitch.

SARL Representative Team

Kobus Botha (SARL President) & Frans Parsons (SARL CEO) will represent the SARL Board.
Nigel Goos, as SARL International Development Officer (based in Brisbane, Australia) will assist in matters related to international based-SA-players.
Deo Botha will be manage the media pre and during the Festival.
A SARL Match Official will be identified at a later stage to join the representative team to Australia to represent the SARL MOs.

For enquiries, please contact-

Fanie Bredenhann
2018 SARL Tour Coordinator
M: +27 (0)83 677 2111
fbredenhann@deloitte.co.za

Panthers wins Provincial Final - 2017

2/12/2017

The Mpumalanga Panthers has beaten the Northern Bulls in the Jan Prinsloo Cup Final on Saturday18-16.

This is the 2nd Consecutive year that the Panthers wins the Cup.

Click HERE for Gallery

SARL Meets with Mr. Farnaud the French ambassador

2/8/2017

On Friday the 3rd of February 2017 Dr. Frans Erasmus,SARL Board Member and Frans Parsons, SARLA CEO had the privilege to meet with Mr. Farnaud the French ambassador in South Africa. The function was to promote France for the 2024 bid for the Olympics. The evening was based around a worldwide photography competition where all the winners were exhibited.

During this sport evening we had the opportunity to discuss rugby union as well as Rugby League with the ambassador. He is very keen on both codes and the forthcoming Springbok tour against France later this year sparked a conversation where the possibility for a league test series against France was discussed.
We planned this for 2018 and the ambassador will set up a meeting with us to introduce us to all the relevant role players. This was a great opportunity for SARLA. " It is imperative that we build relationships with foreign Embassy's in South Africa to enable SARL to develop the game in South Africa and assists with awareness of the code of Rugby League in South Africa Frans Parsons the CEO of SARL said."

First for South African Sports and RUGBY LEAGUE is leading the way

2/8/2017

The SARL board has granted its blessing to the Western Cape to form a Khoi Indigenous team, a first for South African sport. The Rugby League fraternity in the Western Cape recently met with the Koranna False Bay Council and South Africa’s very first Indigenous team was born.

The indigenous team will all be descendants of the Khoi (as per the current Government terminology, the current coloured people of Cape Town) who were the inhabitants of the Cape before the Europeans arrived on our Shores. The Khoisan people of the Northern Cape are descended from two different tribes. An amalgam of the original San hunter-gatherers and the later-arriving Khoi-Khoi, they the Khoisan culture lives on through some of the most compelling rock art on Earth.

What makes this unique, is that Rugby League has recognised that there are cultural differences within South Africa and is embracing it. “This will help us to understand each other, it must be seen as a celebration of the Khoi culture”, says Denzil Watson, Vice President of SARL.
The team will be launched on 4 March 2017, when the charges of Evan Geduld, Head Coach of the Indigenous team, will meet the South African Rugby League Sables in an unofficial test down in Cape Town. As per Mr Geduld, this will be an opportunity to grow the game amongst the Khoi community and he is looking forward to the match-up with experience boys from the North of the country.
Article by Denzil Watson

Bears Win the Rhino Cup

1/29/2017

An Extract from the Bears Facebook Page:

Bears takes the 2016 troffee after a sucessful season under captain Marcelle Viljoen.
Bears against tuks at Grizzlies Pretoria
Half time - Bears 8 tuks 10
Full time - Bears 24 tuks 14
A big thank you to all our players, fans and supporters

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