New agreement sets minimum standards for South Africa’s professional rugby players

Professional rugby players and their employers in South Africa have agreed a new two-and-a-half-year collective agreement covering employment conditions across the domestic game.

The South African Rugby Industry Collective Agreement (SARICA) was negotiated by MyPlayers, which represents professional rugby players, together with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and the South African Rugby Employers’ Organisation (SAREO).

SAREO represents South Africa’s provincial rugby unions and franchises.

The agreement establishes a common framework of employment regulations and protections for professional players and their employers. It applies across the game, from the Springboks to age-group teams and development players attached to unions.

“SARICA is the foundation on which all rugby players are contracted,” said Ettienne de Lange, Chairperson of SAREO.

“It ensures minimum standards of remuneration and employment for professional players, both men and women and is the default document for any player entering the profession.

“It regulates all areas of professional play from the Springboks down to age group teams and development players at unions.”

Alongside standardising minimum remuneration, the agreement sets out provisions dealing with player welfare, training and playing workloads, annual leave and periods away from contact rugby.

A minimum of 12 non-contact weeks must be included in every player’s contract year. Five of those weeks are annual leave, with three required to be taken consecutively, in line with applicable World Rugby guidelines incorporated into SARICA.

The remaining seven non-contact weeks can consist of further annual leave, bye weeks, injury rehabilitation, travel periods or parental leave.

Eugene Henning, chief executive of MyPlayers, said managing workloads was particularly important in South Africa because the rugby calendar operates throughout the year.

“Load management,of training and playing, is one of the cornerstones of player welfare and particularly complex in a South African rugby season that runs for 12 months.

“SARICA reflects that with regulations that are founded on World Rugby’s identification that individualised load management is the ‘gold standard’ approach to player welfare and recommends its implementation where possible.”

Henning said the agreement also enabled employers to monitor the demands placed on players during both training and matches, as well as ensuring that the required non-contact periods were observed.

“The employers ensure we can meticulously measure the load in training and playing of all players, as well as the provisions of non-contact weeks,” said Henning.

Although professional rugby is played in South Africa in every month of the year, Henning said the workload of its players was often lower than that of players in countries with a single, clearly defined off-season.

“Professional rugby is played in South Africa every month of the year. However, thanks to the excellent and professional work of the employers’ high-performance departments, the load profile of our players is frequently lower than that of players in other countries with a uniform close season.

“We have learned how best to manage the 12-month season and have updated the regulations in this agreement to provide the best possible outcome for players, against the framework of the South African playing calendar.”

Rian Oberholzer, chief executive of SA Rugby, said SARICA was intended to balance the interests of players, employers and the wider South African rugby industry.

“SARICA balances the interests of everyone in the industry. It sets minimum employment standards, setting remuneration and benefits standards, ensuring player welfare to ensure that professional rugby in South Africa is run consistently and fairly.”