Sport Industry

SA Hosting of Lions Series Back on the Table

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The British and Irish Lions plan to tour South Africa this year after rejecting contingency options of staging the matches elsewhere.

The possibility of switching the tour to Britain and Ireland or hosting it in Australia had been raised as the Covid pandemic continues to hamper sport.

However, the Lions hope to press ahead with the original itinerary.

“The board’s intended position is for the tour to go ahead as scheduled ,” said Lions Chairman Jason Leonard. “We acknowledge that there is a significant amount of work still to be undertaken to deliver a robust Covid-19 countermeasure plan to ensure a successful, safe and uninterrupted tour.”

Mark Alexander, SA Rugby President, admitted that the original schedule, which includes five warm-up matches against provincial teams, an invitational side and second-string South Africa A before the three Test series, could be changed.

“There are serious financial implications for SA Rugby, should the event take place without any supporters in attendance, and we cannot ignore that in our considerations,” he said.

It is not yet known whether, as with this year’s Tokyo Olympics, overseas supporters will be barred from following the tour.

Australia put forward a bid to host the matches in January, underlining the ability to play in front of capacity crowds in a relatively Covid-free environment.

“We have run out of runway on the UK option, so the agreement that is in place is South Africa have an obligation to host the tour if they can, and we have an obligation to go there and tour,” said Rugby Football Union boss and Lions board member Bill Sweeney. “There is a lot of work to be done now. The statement is just the start of the process. All of the negotiations around the players that are going to be in the squad and making sure of the safety of the players to go to South Africa. All that work has to be done, so it is not a small undertaking.”

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