[imagesource: World Rugby]
I can remember exactly where I was when Joel Stransky slotted that drop goal in 1995.
What followed was pure, unadulterated joy. The same can be said for our 2007 and 2019 triumphs (day 921 of 1 449 as world champions), but there was something special about winning a tournament held on South African soil.
It looked likely that we would secure hosting rights for the 2023 Rugby World Cup after a long and expensive bid, but we were royally screwed over at the last minute by Rugby Africa, which voted in favour of France.
World Rugby has confirmed Australia as the 2027 host. Brendan Nel, writing for New Frame, reports that it appears that the US will host in 2031.
What’s worse, and what holds water when explained, is “the realisation that the current world rugby champions will likely not host a World Cup again”:
It’s simple. The tournament is the Holy Grail of income for World Rugby and while sentimentality and romanticism may dictate that a team which has won three World Cups be in line to host it once again, the reality is that it is a cash cow – and cash cows go where the money is. South Africa isn’t that place…
Rian Oberholzer, who ran the 1995 World Cup bid and has decades of experience in this field, being involved in the 2010 Fifa World Cup and 2027 ICC World Cup bids too, can’t see South Africa putting together another successful bid.
“I can’t talk on behalf of SA Rugby, of course, but when we won the 2023 World Cup bid and politics overturned it, there was already a massive financial commitment that the South African government had to make to ensure we had a successful bid… I don’t think our government would ever put that sort of money in again for a major event.”
With 2027 and 2031 all but locked in, the next potential tournament to bid for would be 2035.
By that time, even stadiums purpose-built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup would require sizeable investments to bring the infrastructure up to speed with what is required to host a major tournament.
Given all of the other areas that require government spending (Eskom, SAA, 100-metre high flags, and so on), funding a bid and improving stadiums is well down the list.
This is why Oberholzer says the failed 2023 bid wounds are still raw:
“We said to each other at the time, this is probably the last time we will get to bid. It will only get more and more difficult to get a successful bid over the line after that.”
“…After Covid as well, where will the money come from? There are so many challenges at the moment and unless you have the support of the government, you will never be able to compete with international countries who deal in euros, pounds and dollars.”
France essentially bought support for their 2023 bid, offering smaller voting countries greater funding than we could muster.
As sad a realisation as it is, we’ll be the only country with a 100% success rate of winning World Cups that we host.
Small mercies.
1995 remains arguably the greatest Rugby World Cup of all time and will be remembered for our nation-uniting victory as well as the exploits of a certain All Black winger.
Jonah Lomu would have been 47 today. Rest easy, big man:
This article was first published by New Frame.
[source:newframe]
