SANZAR

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
SANZAR
160px
SANZAR logo
Formation 1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Type International sport federation
Headquarters Sydney, Australia
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Official language
 English
CEO
 Andy Marinos
Website sanzarrugby.com

SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) is the body which operates Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in Rugby Union. It is a joint venture of the South African Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Australian Rugby Union, formed in 1996.

SANZAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from its member unions. Argentina officially joined the Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on 23 November 2011.[1] The Argentine Rugby Union will become a full member of SANZAR in 2016.[2]

<templatestyles src="Template:TOC limit/styles.css" />

History

Tri-Nations and Super 12: 1996

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Created shortly after rugby's move to professionalism in 1995, SANZAR's two products were the Super 12 (now Super Rugby) and the Tri Nations (now The Rugby Championship). This concept was developed by Queensland Rugby Union CEO Terry Doyle, NSW CEO David Moffett and Australian Rugby Union CEO Bruce Hayman. To fund the competition SANZAR looked to News Limited, eventually being offered $555 million over 10 years for worldwide television rights. Rian Oberholzer was the first CEO of SANZAR.

Expansion to Super 14: 2006

By the addition of two teams, SANZAR agreed to expand the Super 12 competition for the 2006 season and to increase the number of Test matches played in the Tri-Nations.[3] Licences were granted for franchises based in Bloemfontein and Perth,[4][5] creating the Central Cheetahs and Western Force teams for the expanded Super 14 competition.

The SANZAR partnership was tested in 2007 after New Zealand removed its top 22 players from the Super 14 competition,[6] and South Africa's removal of players from the Tri-Nations prompted calls for the Australian Rugby Union to cancel future matches against the Springboks.[7]

Potential South African departure

In 2009 there emerged concerns that SARU might opt to breakaway from the alliance over a dispute about the proposed plan to expand Super Rugby to fifteen teams in 2011, voicing its support for the concept generally but disagreeing over its length and format. On 6 May 2009, however, ARU Chief Executive John O'Neill warned that the South Africans, would be the real losers, missing out altogether and potentially losing players, if they went ahead with the split. "The joint venture must remain intact," he urged. "I have dealt with the South Africans for years in business and sport. Part of their DNA is to take it to the brink. There's a moment when they will realise they have taken it far enough."[8] On 20 May 2009, SANZAR announced it had reached agreement on a new deal involving all three nations beginning in the 2011 season.[9]

The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby: 2011

The new deal for 2011 to 2015 included:[9]

  • Super Rugby expanded to 15 teams, and split into three conferences, each with five teams and based in one of the three nations. The four current Australian teams will be joined by a new team in the Australia conference; this license was later awarded to the Melbourne Rebels.
  • At the same time, the regular season expanded to include 16 matches (8 home, 8 away) per team, with each country playing a double round-robin within its home conference, and playing single matches against four teams from each of the other conferences.
  • Super Rugby taking three weeks off in June for the mid-year Tests.
  • The play-offs expanded to six teams, with the conference winners joined by the three non-winners with the most competition points without regard to conference affiliation. The two conference winners with the most competition points receive a first-round bye.
  • The Rugby Championship will open each year in South Africa, and conclude with two of the three Bledisloe Cup matches between Australia and New Zealand that fall within the Rugby Championship. This will allow Springboks to be released early for their domestic competition, the Currie Cup.

Expansion to Argentina and Japan: 2016

Further expansion was agreed in 2015 to include the Argentine Rugby Union as a full member of SANZAR from 2016.[2] Three additional teams were added to the Super Rugby competition, one each from South Africa, Argentina and Japan. Two regional groupings were formed: the Australasian Group, with five teams in the Australian Conference and five teams in the New Zealand Conference and the South African Group, with six South African teams, one Argentinean team and one Japanese team split into a four-team Africa 1 Conference a four-team Africa 2 Conference.[10]

While a Japanese team has been invited to participate in the Super Rugby competition from 2016, Japan is not a member of SANZAR at this stage.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=SANZAR&oldid=3706094"