Rugby development set for huge boost
Tue, 13 May 2008 15:08
Rugby development in either the Limpopo Province or the Free State will be given a boost in the wake of Friday's Vodacom Cup Final between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
The winner will take home a spectacular prize of R1 million with SA Rugby and Vodacom stipulating that 50 percent of the money must be ploughed back into the game via development projects.
Both Provinces have confirmed that the money will be well invested if they are successful in Friday's eagerly-awaited encounter.
Free State's Manager for Transformation and Development, Dick Jansen, said management had discussed the matter and had indicated that the funds would be utilised in the running of Free State Rugby Academy projects.
"We have a lot of baseline projects that have funding and are running smoothly," said Jansen.
"If we win the Vodacom Cup we would probably use the funds to boost our elite development programmes.
"This will ensure that we bring enough young players through the system at the various levels of South African Rugby Union (SARU) competitions [under-19, under-21 etc] and prepare them for senior rugby," he added.
Jansen described the possible R 500,000 windfall as "money out of the blue."
"It's manna to whoever wins the title because you can do a lot with it. We are excited and hopeful that the guys can do it for us," he said.
The Blue Bulls, meanwhile, have not yet decided how they will utilise the funds should they win on Friday. Union General Manager Johan Schoeman says, however, that if successful, the Blue Bulls Company and the Blue Bulls Rugby Union will take a joint decision on the allocation of the funds.
"The money will be invested into rugby development initiatives as well as into our social responsibility programme" Schoeman confirmed.
