SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees
Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
and
The Rugby Championship
The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...
competitions in
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from its member unions.
It was formed as SANZAR in 1996 as a joint venture of the
South African Rugby Union
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...
, the
New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...
, and the
Australian Rugby Union
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
. From the 2016 season, its name was changed to SANZAAR following the inclusion of the
Argentine Rugby Union as a full member of the organisation.
History
Tri-Nations and Super 12: 1996
SANZAR was formed in 1995, shortly after rugby's move to professionalism, to counter the threat of Australia's
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
, a new
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
competition that offered large salaries to players.
SANZAR proposed the
Super 12
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
, an annual provincial competition with teams from all three countries, and the
Tri Nations Series
The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...
, an annual competition between each country's Test teams. This concept was developed by
Queensland Rugby Union
The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union within the state of Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia.
The QRU was founded in Brisbane in ...
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Terry Doyle,
[ ]New South Wales Rugby Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered t ...
CEO David Moffett
David Moffett (born 17 April 1947) is a businessman who has been the head of Sport England, New Zealand Rugby, Australia's National Rugby League, and the Welsh Rugby Union. Moffett has been involved in New Zealand politics, serving briefly on ...
and Australian Rugby Union
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
CEO Bruce Hayman.[ Rian Oberholzer was the first CEO of SANZAR.
SANZAR's proposals were under serious threat from the World Rugby Corporation (WRC), a company formed by lawyer Geoff Levy and former Wallaby player Ross Turnbull. Both wanted a professional worldwide rugby competition funded by ]Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...
, who had already developed professional cricket. At one point the WRC had a majority of the All Blacks and Wallaby teams signed up to their competition. However, the South African Rugby Union told the Springboks players that they would never play for their country again if they committed to the WRC, and they remained with the SARU. Most of the All Blacks then followed them, and finally the Wallabies did too.
To fund the competitions, SANZAR looked to News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
, who was the Super League's broadcaster, eventually being offered $555 million over 10 years for worldwide television rights.
Expansion to Super 14
In 2002, a proposal to expand the Super 12 to fourteen teams, supported by Australia and South Africa, was vetoed by the New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...
.[ This led to calls for the Australian and South African teams to withdraw from the competition,][ but the partnership continued and the issue was revisited before the end of the original 10-year broadcasting deal.
For the 2006 season, SANZAR agreed to expand the Super 12 competition with two new teams and to increase the number of Test matches played in the Tri-Nations.][ Licences were granted for franchises based in Bloemfontein and Perth,][ creating the ]Cheetahs
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
and Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...
teams for the expanded Super 14 competition.
The SANZAR partnership was tested in 2007 after New Zealand removed its top 22 players from the Super 14 competition,[ and South Africa's removal of players from the Tri-Nations prompted calls for the ]Australian Rugby Union
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
to cancel future matches against the Springboks.[
]
Potential South African departure
In 2009 there emerged concerns that South African Rugby Union
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...
might opt to break away from the alliance over a dispute about the proposed plan to expand Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
to fifteen teams in 2011, voicing its support for the concept generally but disagreeing over its length and format. On 6 May 2009, however, ARU Chief Executive John O'Neill warned that the South Africans would be the real losers, missing out altogether and potentially losing players if they went ahead with the split. "The joint venture must remain intact", he urged. "I have dealt with the South Africans for years in business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
and sport
Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...
. Part of their DNA is to take it to the brink. There's a moment when they will realise they have taken it far enough."[ On 20 May 2009, SANZAR announced it had reached agreement on a new deal involving all three nations beginning in the 2011 season.][
]
The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby: 2011
The deal for 2011 to 2015 included:[
* Super Rugby expanded to 15 teams, and split into three conferences, each with five teams and based in one of the three nations. The four current Australian teams would be joined by a new team in the Australia conference; this license was later awarded to the ]Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...
.
* At the same time, the regular season expanded to include 16 matches (8 home, 8 away) per team, with each country playing a double round-robin within its home conference, and playing single matches against four teams from each of the other conferences.
* Super Rugby taking three weeks off in June for the mid-year Tests.
* The play-offs expanded to six teams, with the conference winners joined by the three non-winners with the most competition points without regard to conference affiliation. The two conference winners with the most competition points received a first-round bye in the play-offs.
* The Rugby Championship
The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...
opening each year in South Africa, and concluding with the two of the three Bledisloe Cup
The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...
matches between Australia and New Zealand that fall within the Rugby Championship. This allowed Springboks to be released early for their domestic competition, the Currie Cup
The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...
.
Super Rugby to Argentina and Japan: 2016
Further expansion was agreed in 2015 to include the Argentine Rugby Union as a full member of SANZAAR from 2016.[ Three additional teams were included in the Super Rugby competition, one each from South Africa, Argentina and Japan. Two regional groupings were formed: the Australasian Group, with five teams in the Australian Conference and five teams in the New Zealand Conference and the South African Group, with six South African teams, one Argentinean team and one Japanese team split into a four-team Africa 1 Conference a four-team Africa 2 Conference.]
While a Japanese team has been invited to participate in the Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
competition from 2016, Japan was never a member of SANZAAR. 2020 was also the Sunwolves team's last year in Super Rugby competition.
In 2017, the Australian Rugby Union was rebranded to Rugby Australia
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
.
See also
*World XV
A World XV is a rugby union team organised on an unofficial, ''ad hoc'' basis and typically composed of invited players from various countries. Several World XVs have been arranged by various bodies, often to take part in celebration and testimoni ...
Member unions
References
External links
Official SANZAAR Super Rugby website
SANZAAR broadcasters by territory
{{The Rugby Championship
Joint ventures
Super Rugby
The Rugby Championship
Sports organizations established in 1996