Spears Application against SA Rugby due out on Friday 4th August 2006

udge Dennis Davis this morning declared that he will deliver judgment on Friday the 4^th August next week, following the criminal appeals. The Judge heard the Spears closing arguments last Friday from Advocate Geoff Budlender, and declared that he would provide a ruling as soon as possible, because of the significance of the case to rugby, a national asset, as well as the importance of the franchise to the people of the Eastern Cape, a territory of some 400,000 square km.

The Spears brought an urgent application against SA Rugby to have the rights granted to them, on the 8^th June last year, by SA Rugby’s President Council and SA Rugby Board, restored.

Norman Arendse SC and Advocate Budlender, representing the Spears, asked the High Court for an order for immediate relief, for the re-instatement of the Spears in the Super 14, for 2007 and 2008, that the Spears exclusion from the 2006 ABSA Currie Cup be declared unlawful and for the Spears and SA Rugby to craft a remedy for the compensation to the Spears, which would be for the benefit and interests of rugby and that SA Rugby continue their obligations to the Spears through till December 2006.

The Southern Spears legal counsel, showed the court “five smoking guns” drawn up and issued by SA Rugby, as irrefutable evidence of an agreement and clear understanding of the rights granted to the Southern Spears by SA Rugby on the 8^th June 2005. These were:

1. An agreement drawn up by an attorney, instructed by SA Rugby, on the 8^th June 2005 following the Presidents Council resolution.

2. A memo from SA Rugby’s Chief Financial Officer Basil Haddad to the SA Rugby directors on the 3^rd November 2005 that there is a commitment to the Spears of a minimum of R3m and that the balance would be made up by sponsors.

3. The 2^nd December 2005 ratification by the SA Rugby Board, of the 8^th June Presidents Council resolution.

4. The Franchise Participation Agreement drawn up by SA Rugby Pty Ltd with the 6 South African Super 14 franchises, which the Spears signed on the 7^th February 2006.

5. A 10^th March 2006 letter from SA Rugby’s GM Legal Affairs, Christo Ferreira, declaring that, “the decisions taken by the Board on the 2^nd December have not been amended or deviated from and it is obvious that they will be implemented in 2007”.

The Southern Spears CEO, Tony McKeever has proposed that, rather than disrupt the 2006 ABSA Currie Cup, consideration should be given to the staging of a Super 14 competition format, that would apply from 2006-2010, starting with a round of exhibition games (Home & Away) in 2006, between the Spears and the top five rugby unions, as they fall out of the ABSA Currie Cup advancement to the final and that these games finish end November 2006. Thereafter from 2007-2010 SA Rugby can implement the competition format for a Super 14 relegation and promotion series.

The rationale behind this, is that the television broadcast rights can be sold to a broadcaster, as well as to a presenting sponsor, by SA Rugby, to help underwrite development and the relegated Super 14 side and that this format can be applied on annual basis to the relegation and promotion games in the Super 14 series, to develop a brand of creative running rugby, to grandstand new talent and skills.