New SA Rugby agreement tackles player workload in 12-month rugby season

The South African Rugby Industry Collective Agreement (SARICA) will set minimum employment standards and protections for professional players and their clubs.

The agreement has been negotiated by SA Rugby, MyPlayers, which represents the players, and the South African Rugby Employers' Organisation (SAREO), which represents the unions and franchises.

It comes as South African players face a demanding schedule, with many balancing a club season aligned with the Northern Hemisphere window, the Southern Hemisphere Test schedule and the Currie Cup.

Under SARICA, players will have 12 non-contact weeks in each contract year. Five of those weeks are annual leave, with three required to be taken as one uninterrupted block.

The other seven non-contact weeks can include additional annual leave, bye weeks, injury rehabilitation, travel or parental leave.

The agreement also provides for medical scheme benefits, income replacement insurance for disability and catastrophic injuries, concussion and head injury management, rest and workload provisions, and protections around annual leave and the off-season.

It also establishes a framework for player numbers and team salary caps.

âœIt 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,❠said Ettienne de Lange, chairperson of SAREO.

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

Eugene Henning, CEO of MyPlayers, added: "Load management â- of training and playing â- 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.

"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.

"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."

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