Cape Town - The Stormers and their supporters could be greeted by a picket line on Saturday ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) match against the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium.
Club representatives and administrators of the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU), which is under administration from SA Rugby, will be protesting at 12pm on Saturday (the game kicks off at 2.30pm) in their bid to ask the national governing body to end the administration of the union.
They are also calling on SA Rugby to axe Rian Oberholzer, the current administrator, and to give control back to the clubs.
WPRFU was placed into administration by SA Rugby back in 2021 when it was on the brink of financial ruin.
Certain clubs are upset with, among other things, the prospect of Newlands being sold and only generating income now rather than something which can sustain the union in perpetuity.
"We call on all rugby lovers in the Western Cape to show their disagreement with what Saru, through Rian Oberholzer, is doing and to come to Cape Town Stadium both to claim their rights and support our champion team, the Stormers," a statement from the disgruntled group said.
"A failure to raise our voices now will be devastating to our clubs, our players and our children who see community rugby as the alternative to drugs and crime!”
Oberholzer, though, pushed back and said on Tuesday that it's a free democracy and people have the right to protest. But that the WPRFU clubs will, at the end of the day, have the final decision about things like the sale of Newlands.
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"We have to take the offer to the general council (which is the clubs) and they must decide if they want it," Oberholzer said.
"The general council owns the stadium and the equity (stake in the Stormers). To make a noise now serves no purpose. The process is far from being something to protest about.
"We (as administrators) haven't done anything that has not been decided by the general council. They decided on the move to Cape Town Stadium. It was never the decision of the administrator to sell Newlands Stadium, it was not my decision to sell the equity stake.
"It was the council's decision, I'm (only) finishing what they decided."
IOL Sport