The iconic 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa will always hold a special place in the history books, but despite this successful and memorable occasion from three decades ago, there is no indication that the tournament will return to Mzansi.
Despite the fact South Africa has become renowned for its capability to host epic sports events – such as the famous 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup – the rugby showpiece has not returned to SA.
SA Rugby formally – but unsuccessfully – made a bid to host the 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 events, and after that last failure in particular, it is now more out of reach than ever before.
The 2023 bid was hugely controversial considering the Rugby World Cup Limited board had unanimously recommended to the World Rugby Council that South Africa host the tournament before some nefarious behind-the-scenes lobbying saw the council make a U-turn and vote for France.
The 2027 and 2031 World Cup tournaments will be hosted by Australia and the USA respectively, while Spain – quite strangely – is reported to be the early favourites to win the 2035 bid.
A report last week from the Times also stated that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE were preparing a joint bid to host rugby’s showpiece event in 2035, with such financial clout in those regions undoubtedly having a major influence on such a probability.
Rugby World Cup out of reach for South Africa
In another report on the matter, a top rugby boss has apparently acknowledged that South Africa simply can’t afford to host the RWC in the current financial climate.
“I don’t think South Africa can compete financially to host the World Cup anymore,” the rugby boss told Rapport.
“The World Cup is the only real revenue stream for World Rugby, so they will always go where the big money can be made.”
It is another clear indication of a shift in the power balance based on revenue and earnings.
“We took some big strategic decisions a few years ago to go men’s and women’s in Australia and the same in the US,” World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin told The Times.
“And we’ve now go to think about the balance and whether we bring 2035 [men’s] and 2037 [women’s] back to Europe. It’s almost like a regional rotation. We’ve never had that discussion strategically in World Rugby before but that’s probably the way the discussion has got to go.”
For South Africa to host the World Cup again, the government would need to make a big financial commitment, while millions would need to be spent on stadium upgrades.
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