JOHANNESBURG - The Varsity Cup is the ultimate example of an idea managed correctly to become a self-aware brand that promotes itself.
Are you paying attention Saru? Are you, PSL administrators, at your HQ in Parktown, taking notes? Every Monday night, beginning in February, our TV screens flicker with images of healthy crowds at university stadiums across the country. Last year 16 000 supporters crammed into Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch to watch Maties take on Pukke in the final.
Kick-off for the corresponding football final, in September last year between TUT and UJ, was delayed by a half-an-hour such was the press of supporters to get into the ground.
Admittedly, the product on offer is not necessarily of the highest quality - but that will change as it continues to develop - but there can be no doubt that the brains trust behind Varsity Sport has grown the core idea into a juggernaut.
Of course, these tournaments already have several built in advantages - they have a ready made audience in the student body for one. This convocation is now a decade strong and, moreover, has what every brand dreams of - a positive emotional attachment to their sides. The support-base is growing every year and is made up of individuals who will, once they have left their tertiary institution behind, remain loyal to their respective varsity teams.
Here, you see, is the blueprint to develop and manage sporting brands in this country. There, for all to see, is an answer to the transformation question and the mechanism in developing new players and exciting talent from across the entire spectrum of South Africa.
So why, oh why, does it seem like the administrators of our professional sporting codes are not following its example and only cherrie-picking the fruits of Varsity Sports’ labour?
You need only look to the confused planning of the Currie Cup and the underwhelming administrative support of the NFD, to shrug your shoulders and ponder this question.
Both these competitions should be an integral part in developing their respective sporting codes. In a saturated sporting calendar, however, they are made to compete with Super Rugby, the PSL and a fistful of other international distractions. If managed properly, they could be so much more.
Why not schedule matches on Monday, Thursday and Friday nights when local sports content is at a minimum for these tournaments? Why not have the Currie Cup compete on Sundays where it can own its slot and avoid fixture congestion? The emotional attachment to these teams are already ingrained into the public. Now make it an event to be seen at and to experience. Give it a chance to succeed or fail. Punt the initiative wholeheartedly and without reservations.
It’s short-sighted - by all the stakeholders, from administrators to their broadcast partners - not to explore these options.
As the Varsity Cup has shown, people are hungry for sport and it is only through thinking out of the box and approaching it with a professional slant, that their voracious appetite can be sated.