South Africa’s oldest provincial rugby competition, the Currie Cup, is still under threat of not taking place this year after the outcome of an arbitration hearing on Monday on the rest period for contracted provincial rugby players.
Advocate Ian Brembridge decided in favour of the South African Rugby Players Association (Sarpa) that a rest period of eight weeks for all provincial players must occur at the same time.
This means that the South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby) must now go and look at a revised window period in which the Currie Cup’s Premier Division and First Division are supposed to be played as this year’s competitions were originally scheduled to be played from July until the end of September.
But with the United Rugby Championship kicking off in September, it puts the mother body under huge pressure.
If the Currie Cup is not played, it could have huge financial ramifications.