Do the SA super XV sides suffer from disenfranchisement like the Welsh regions?

Just a quick question, and thought this the best place to get an answer.

Do the SA super XV sides suffer from disenfranchisement like the Welsh regions?

I notice that the Stormers are moving closer to being Western Province, in terms of strip over the last few years, but cover a larger area. Are fans of the likes of Boland Cavaliers annoyied at this and boycotting the franchise?

I think that there are a number of parallels between the SA sides and the Welsh regions, yet the super XV sides (to my limited knowledge) appear to be well supported.

What did SA do right to bring the fans on board? or did they? Could the same be applied to Welsh rugby?

I guess that the Stormers are doing would be similar to Dragons moving closer to the Newport strip (rather than away from it as they have been doing), and I could see if they did this there would be uproar?

With the population of the Cape town metropolitan area approaching 4m (higher than the entire population of Wales), is it any wonder they are well supported?

The size of SA in terms of distance between towns and population means Franchises can thrive in a way they just cannot in Wales. It makes sense for Stormers to appeal mainly to Western Province fans, that is their main catchment area - yet at the same time they can cherry pick the best players from elsewhere in the "region".

I think the difference is one of scale.

WP are one of the big teams in SA and as Cape Town is a big city, they have a large rugby supporting population already and so it makes sense to see the kit resembling the the WP one.

The issue in Wales I think is that they were never getting 40k to club games in the first place (like the Stormers do) and so if a couple of 1000 people didnt turn up one day out of protest it would make far less difference than at the Dragons.

Its also worth pointing out in terms of scale that Western Province itself is probably about the size of England, so arguably not many Boland fans turn up each week for some super Xv action.

But then why don't Boland Cavaliers fans call for games to be moved about the area?

Ok Boland Cavaliers have a small stadium, but maybe a different stadium in the area, the same was as there are calls for Ospreys or Dragons to move games around the region?

Not just using Stormers and Boland, we could use nearly any SA super XV side.

I don't think the SA fans really worried about the Franchises being formed, because of the fact that the Bulls were still Pretoria based, the Sharks still Durban based etc nothing really changed, the only difference was that each Franchise would have a feeder province that would be milked for talent come Super XV.

But the fact is these players have all migrated to the Frnachises even for Currie Cup, very few are still contracted outside of the Frnachises.

In fact the only one I can think of is Willie le Roux from Griquas.

So no, the Frnachises made little difference in the grand scheme of things, they might as well just be the Provincial teams. By the way, it is only the Western Province that actually has a different branding "Stormers". The others are still the same branding.

Kingshu wrote:Do the SA super XV sides suffer from disenfranchisement like the Welsh regions?

Probably not, unless they're all mental in South Africa as well.

LondonTiger wrote:With the population of the Cape town metropolitan area approaching 4m (higher than the entire population of Wales), is it any wonder they are well supported?

The size of SA in terms of distance between towns and population means Franchises can thrive in a way they just cannot in Wales. It makes sense for Stormers to appeal mainly to Western Province fans, that is their main catchment area - yet at the same time they can cherry pick the best players from elsewhere in the "region".

But white population is only 4.5million in the whole of south africa and the black and coloured population mainly support football.

Yes they are in a similiar position ot us but i can't se how, all of there teams have great crowds and followings. The sharks are a very dominent team and i would put my money on them to win this season super rugby.
However I can't see why the likes of Habana, Ruan Pienar, Juander Kruger, Shalk Brits, Francois Louw, BJ Botha, Heinke Van der Mewe, Alistair Hargreaves, Ashley Johnson moved away.
Also with rumours of players like the du plesis brothers and and Zane Kirchner
A lot of the players above are still internationals and first choices.
We are a small counrty ad are not getting the ebst of crowds at the moment but south africa are a massive country with big crowds = doesn't make sence to me.

In NZ we have had the regions for awhile now so most of the disenfrancisement has settled. We're a younger country so the long term isolation and hatred between towns isn't as strong.
While most games are played in the major city of the franchise there are occasional games in secondary cities. This keeps the fan base happier. In fact I am off to watch a game next week in one of the secondary cities that gets 1 Super game every second year. Its a 2/3 hour bus ride away.
They have also tried to change the relationship with the city and the Super team. So the Wellington Hurricanes became the Hurricanes etc. Also you don't have to play for a province in the Hurricanes catchment area to play for the Hurricanes anymore.

Overall its because the NZRFU manage the ABs and the Super teams on behalf of all the rugby clubs in NZ so they aren't fighting each other.

At the start though did fans feel that The Hurricanes were really just Wellington? Or too Wellington focused? Did say Hawke's Bay fans say (at the start) that Wellington Hurricanes are just Wellington, and I'm not supporting them?

If so how did they bring the fans round?

Dropping the Wellington/Auckland etc etc. Or was it never really a case as Hawke's Bay had an imput into the running of the Hurricans so were never truely left out?

Will Hurricanes' Investment Ltd Partnership, possible turn fans away slightly as the other unions have less to no input?