https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/53903033
South African Pro14 side Southern Kings' future is in doubt after their board suspended the team for the rest of 2020.
If they do not return for the 2020-21 campaign, the Pro14 could be reduced to 13 teams.
They will finish the coronavirus-disrupted 2019-20 season having played 13 of 14 scheduled games.
But Kings' chairman Andre Rademan said "hard, financial realities" meant their season could not continue.
He added: "We now have time to consider what is the best way forward for rugby in the Eastern Province in this fluid and financially challenging environment."
Rademan is part of a board brought in by SA Rugby in June to oversee an organisation that has struggled financially.
In a statement confirming the end of their season, Kings said they had "voluntarily withdrawn the team from participation in any planned domestic rugby competitions in 2020" following an urgent meeting on Monday,
Rademan said: "Following several weeks of interrogation of the Kings' financial state of affairs we were left with a straightforward choice.
"We could opt to field the Kings in the domestic competitions mooted by SA Rugby for the sport's post-lockdown resumption if we so wished.
"If we did so, it would require additional loans to the Kings or extra investment from the shareholders to the tune of R6.5m (£295,000), which would add to the organisation's existing substantial debt.
"However, as there was no contractual requirement for the Kings to resume short-term participation in the Guinness Pro14 competition, because of air travel restrictions, and as the Kings had no other commercial commitments to honour, the most prudent decision was to withdraw.
"This may not be a popular decision, but in the current circumstances it is the right decision."
Kings' board say shareholders SA Rugby and Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU) backed their move.
"This is obviously very disappointing news for the players and management who, like all rugby professionals, were desperate to resume playing," said Rademan.
"But the board believed that further investment in 2020 with zero commercial return would be reckless in the extreme."
Rademan said uncertainty over future cross-border and inter-hemisphere rugby competitions, along with uncertainty caused by the impact of Covid-19 on travel, would help determine Kings' long-term future.
He added: "As a board we had been considering further short-term contracts to see the squad through to the end of the year.
"But it became apparent that we would, for want a better phrase, be throwing good money after bad in the current global environment."
Southern Kings gooooonnnnnneeeeeee (possibly)
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Carter's Choice
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So much for South African Rugby being made of money, and the SARU funding NZR and RA with their mythical TV money. They're stone cold broke.
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Carter's Choice
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When the Celtic unions voted to admit the Kings and Cheetahs into their successful Pro12 comp, did they know that the SARU were dishonest, corrupt and useless, and that the teams that they were bringing in were broke and shite?
I think they were hoping it would lure the big teams like the Sharks and BullsCarter's Choice wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:10 pm When the Celtic unions voted to admit the Kings and Cheetahs into their successful Pro12 comp, did they know that the SARU were dishonest, corrupt and useless, and that the teams that they were bringing in were broke and shite?
I'm not sure there is much to see here, beyond a prudent board of directors not wishing to incur debts the company can't pay back. If a second wave closes down re-starting competitions world wide, proper corporate governance will likely require more teams to suspend operations. Think of it as capitalism doing that which parochialism otherwise prevents - cutting poor teams from the competition.
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OomStruisbaai
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The Kings have a very strong schoolboy structure and the biggest black player producers for South Africa.
The ANC and government should invest in them.
The players will kniel.
The ANC and government should invest in them.
The players will kniel.
Nonsense. They need to be financially viable. Anything that relies on government assistance (like they already have done) will fail.
Keep on keeping on.Sards wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:49 amI think they were hoping it would lure the big teams like the Sharks and BullsCarter's Choice wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:10 pm When the Celtic unions voted to admit the Kings and Cheetahs into their successful Pro12 comp, did they know that the SARU were dishonest, corrupt and useless, and that the teams that they were bringing in were broke and shite?
Springboks, Stormers and WP supporter.
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Carter's Choice
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Are the Kings the first team in history to drop out of two different Leagues?
When did that happen?Carter's Choice wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:10 pm When the Celtic unions voted to admit the Kings and Cheetahs into their successful Pro12 comp, did they know that the SARU were dishonest, corrupt and useless, and that the teams that they were bringing in were broke and shite?
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OomStruisbaai
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They dropped out of three.Carter's Choice wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:49 am Are the Kings the first team in history to drop out of two different Leagues?
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OomStruisbaai
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It could have been my second team, but politics and poor administrators have destroyed the Kings. Worst of all is that we've got a goldmine of talent in that region that is going to waste.
Springboks, Stormers and WP supporter.
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average joe
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Yank was a kings supporter.
No surprise there.
They could have been a well supported team. As Oom said, they represent the breeding ground of black rugby which is something all Bok rugby fans can get behind. But that opportunity is long gone. May as well bring back Eastern Province rugby.
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OomStruisbaai
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Eastern Province and specially Border or Amathole as they are called nowadays.
Will be sad to see the Cheetahs also gone.
Sadly both this franchises are very important breeding grounds for SA Rugby.
Anyway the way the cookie crumbles nowadays we wont have a structure between school rugby and provincial levels. Varsity Cup is getting more important now.
I also think that there wont be international franchise tournaments. Maybe in the UK but not elsewhere with the corona virus.
https://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/super ... 243b78ea89
I am sure that their sustainability was mentioned when they were constituted.CAPE TOWN – The Eastern Province Rugby Union and SA Rugby have decided to liquidate the financially troubles Southern Kings.
In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, SA Rugby said the decision was taken with the Pro14 franchise R55m in the red and with no income expected for the remainder of 2020.
The Eastern Cape-based franchise have become the victims of the coronavirus pandemic that has affected sport around the globe.
“The hard fact is that the Kings are insolvent, with significant debts and zero assets and it would have been reckless of the board to continue to trade,” said Kings chairman Andre Rademan.
“Its continuation would have required loans from the EPRU and loans additional to the R45m that the company already owes to SA Rugby.
“In the absence of any rugby in 2020, and without any guarantees as to income prospects for 2021, it would have been financially irresponsible of the shareholders to have pumped in further funding.”
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander added that extending additional credit to an insolvent entity at a time when the rugby industry was required to make a saving of R1.2bn to stay afloat this year was not an option.
“The history of the Kings has been one of expectation and anticipation but unfortunately the parallel story of commercial failure couldn't be wished away any longer,” said Alexander.
“The debts the organisation has accumulated over the years are considerable and in the current environment the only certainty was that they would grow.
“The membership of SA Rugby has invested heavily in the Kings project but it is now time for a re-examination of what is the appropriate and sustainable pathway for rugby in the Eastern Province.”
