Currie Cup to kick off as scheduled amid groundbreaking new SA rugby calendar

The agreement was brokered following arbitration of a dispute relating to mandatory rest periods for players. The arbitrator ruled that the players' terms and conditions of employment required all contracted players to rest simultaneously for eight weeks. He also ruled that such rest periods were not contracted to take place within each 12-month cycle.

This cast doubt on the possibility of accommodating the Currie Cup in the current season so as not overlap with the United Rugby Championship.

However, the new deal - scheduled for final sign off on Thursday - acknowledges that a compulsory, industry-wide eight-week shutdown is impossible to accommodate in a South African playing calendar that straddles the hemispheres.

The South African Rugby Employers' Organisation (SAREO) and MyPlayers (the professional rugby players' organisation) have agreed that accepting a 12-month season - while embedding player welfare strategies - was the optimal way to address an internationally unique match-scheduling challenge.

As a result, the Currie Cup Premier Division will kick off as scheduled in the first weekend of July in a revamped format, while the First Division will spring into action from this weekend with three matches scheduled for Saturday.

The new deal agreed provides for:

- Structured, individualised eight-week rest periods for all players with formal notice periods when such breaks are to be taken;Adoption of World Rugby player load guidelines which are in finalisation;

- Maintenance of a strict, individual player load monitoring programme;

- Broadened scope for the Joint Committee on Contracted Players' Safety and Welfare and utilisation of the Emergency Committee to ensure effective implementation of the new arrangements and;

- Adjusted travel arrangements for Vodacom URC/EPCR teams from 1 July 2025.

"This has been a very fruitful process, and the outcome is that we have collectively faced up to the realities of our post-COVID calendar and come up with a solution for a problem unlike any other sport that I am aware of," said Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby.

"Every sport, everywhere has an off-season, but we have found a way to balance the equation of maintaining our competition schedule to drive revenues for 12 months of the year, while securing player welfare. We might have had to go through an arbitration to help concentrate minds, but the result is a good one.

"The importance of player welfare was never in doubt. The challenge was to find ways to accommodate all needs. I'd like to thank MyPlayers and SAREO for constructively working their way towards this solution."

The Premier Division of the Carling Currie Cup kicks off on the weekend of 5/6 July and will reach its climax with the final on 21 September. The competition will be staged over one-and-a-half rounds, followed by two semi-finals and the grand finale.

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