r/springboks Flair Up! 1d ago

Greatest Rivalry Tour If the Greatest Rivalry tour proved anything, it’s that South Africa needs to host the Rugby World Cup again.

​The atmosphere over the past few weeks has been unbelievable. Looking at sold-out crowds packed into world-class venues like Ellis Park, Cape Town Stadium, and FNB Stadium it’s impossible to ignore the reality: rugby culture hits differently here.

​World Rugby made a massive mistake passing on 2023 and 2027. Watching the All Blacks and Boks tear into each other on South African soil in front of electric crowds just showed the world what a global tournament here would feel like.

​Bring the World Cup back home. We are more than ready.

Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

u/betapen Flair Up! 1d ago

Something Something money

u/Cyber-Soldier1 New To Reddit 1d ago

WR is as corrupt as FIFA.

u/dingo_zol Flair Up! 1d ago

A real shame man.

u/HeikoSpaas Flair Up! 1d ago

the players also wanna earn...

u/Only_One_Kenobi referee (MO Level 2) 20h ago

A very small percentage of world cup money actually ends up in the hands of the players

u/ExitCheap7745 Lions 1d ago

I don’t get the point that everyone seems to make about WR making money. They make the majority of money from TV revenue. Whether that’s in the US or RSA doesn’t matter.

u/betapen Flair Up! 1d ago

Selling tv rights in USD or AUD vs ZAR, makes a difference income for world rugby.

Also the ability of the host nation to back the $300m guarantee needed. Its ultimately the "reason" it went to France and not us.

Also, we have less resources to bribe the judges.

u/Lonely_Advance7973 1d ago

The rights wouldn’t be sold in the currency of the host though surely? Save for time zone, they’re effectively location independent

u/HitchikersPie Swing low 1d ago

The ticketing revenue is a rather considerable proportion of the money WR makes iirc

u/Lonely_Advance7973 1d ago

Yeah agree that’s a legitimate point reason that makes SA less viable. But I was asking about TV rights

u/HitchikersPie Swing low 1d ago

Oh you're actually in the golden spot for TV rights, European timezone gets the most for World Rugby...

Current bids for future World Cups include:

  1. Spain - Euro timezone, growth market, and easy access for rich euro market
  2. Japan - Rich market, growth market
  3. Argentina + Chile/Uruguay/Brazil - Growth market

Looking at it like that I can see why they'd be favouring the Spanish for the next RWC, but it's also by far the least established nation so would be hard to say.

u/tortoisewarfare Flair Up! 22h ago

The guarantee is the elephant in the room.

WR are cash poof compared to FIFA, ICC, IOC etc. As the game gets more expensive, the more money they need to generate.  Its not nice,but its the biggest stumbling block 

u/HeikoSpaas Flair Up! 1d ago

world cup is still very relevant. any paycut matters

u/dededarzar 1d ago

It’s never going to happen.

After France stole 2023 with their bribes to the west African rugby unions, SARU said they won’t do it again.

u/Deep_Development3814 Flair Up! 1d ago

Excuse the ignorance but how do “west African rugby Union’s” come into this when no west African countries have participated in recent RWCs

u/greenplasticgun 1d ago

And deny France their god given right to host their fifth? How dare you.

You may have seen me make this joke the whole weekend on every comments section ever.

u/JarlBorg101 Flair Up! 1d ago

I still can’t believe we weren’t given the 2023 World Cup despite being the most competitive bid

u/Cyber-Soldier1 New To Reddit 1d ago

We deserved to host that. But hey at least we won it.

u/Rehsifchips Flair Up! 1d ago

Didn’t offer the temptation to the right pockets!

u/Grungan Flair Up! 1d ago

As a lurking kiwi on this sub, it is an absolute must! You guys have put on a real show this tour (let’s forget about the disappointing attendance URC games due to bad pricing)… The country lives and breathes rugby and the world loves it! Also it gives us a chance to straighten the record from ‘95… My old man after all these years is still bitter about that one…

u/Responsible_King_427 Flair Up! 1d ago

World rugby has already said they won't ever let us host again because they cant milk it for enough money from the domestic ticket sales.

u/No_Control8566 Flair Up! 1d ago

Yes, the mid week All Black games showed how soft ticket sales would be for the smaller games.

u/Responsible_King_427 Flair Up! 1d ago

Different angle but same outcome.

There isn't enough money in it for them.

Although I would argue that watching the Sharks get annihilated by the ABs is different from watching countries represent themselves at the highest level of tournament play.

u/CommentMaleficent957 Flair Up! 1d ago

No dobut South Africa loves rugby more than any other country, in your stadiums you create a great atmosphere.

Unfortunately I don’t think world rugby care that much about the love of the game.

u/cyre_7 Flair Up! 1d ago

I completely agree, we showed what we can do in 2010. We still have the stadiums and the infrastructure and all that is needed to host a RWC. Our image might be tarnished be the international media but that does not mean the governing body of the WRC cannot at least, at least, bring SA into consideration by visiting and do some ground work.

u/Hot_Engineering_1046 Flair Up! 1d ago

Yesssss please

u/LiamNeesonsIsMyShiit Flair Up! 1d ago

I think a RWC in SA would sell a lot more domestic tickets than WR anticipates. Plus it's cheap for internationals to visit, and in a good timezone for European viewership. Don't know if there's ever been a better time to host it here given how expensive things have gotten in other countries, and how much attention rugby gets from SA audiences.

u/Environmental-Bit-50 Flair Up! 1d ago

This weekend is Soweto really gave of 2010 "Phillip" vibes. we are so ready to host again.

u/bogan5 18h ago

I suspect South Africa is in the same boat as New Zealand in future. You're going to have to keep winning world cups away from home. The only Southern Hemisphere world cups will be Australia hosting every 20 years or so.

u/BrittaniaBricks 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 a Rose among the Rooibos 12h ago

As a Brit, you guys deserved 2023 over France, however as an outsider looking in, the whole 'ongoing situation' isn't a great thing for travelling fans, I imagine the 2027 Cricket World Cup will be the litmus test if the infrastructure from 2010 can still hold up.

I imagine the next SH World Cup after 2027 will be in Argentina/Uruguay/Chile.

u/reditanian 🤜🏼🤛🏼 11h ago

The details vary, but t he situation was pretty well ongoing when we hosted the Football World Cup, and from what I’m told that went quite well.

u/sciencekiller333 Flair Up! 4h ago

What do you mean by 'ongoing situation"?

u/BrittaniaBricks 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 a Rose among the Rooibos 2h ago

That outside of a few CBDs and very rural towns you can't walk anywhere, the rolling blackouts (though I have heard that Eksom has gotten their shit together a bit more in the last year) and outside of flights, the only main public transport being the taxis (with metrorail & BRT being at best sketch).

u/yaaveragenzbloke Flair Up! 20h ago

We can’t have the hosts food poisoning their opponents at the games biggest stage 👀🧐🤮

u/Few-Letterhead-371 Flair Up! 10h ago

World Rugby won't allow it there most importantly it's very expensive to host it , would be very cool to bring it back to South Africa they deserve it as current world cup winners 🏆

u/bigjandals Flair Up! 6h ago

Might have to play a few nights games

u/Fearless_Guard_552 Flair Up! 1d ago

I'm down, just no more flybys.

u/Only_One_Kenobi referee (MO Level 2) 20h ago

We cant guarantee security. And as others have said, money.

If you're listing world class stadiums though, you have to add Mbombela

u/Hung-kee Flair Up! 21h ago

Having visited SA I’m a huge advocate for the country but the crime statistics aren’t favourable to a bid. You’d have lots of vulnerable tourists unaware that certain roads are no go areas, and these people would be walking targets. There would need to be a sustained decrease in crime I’d imagine to make a persuasive argument.

u/mmphil12 Flair Up! 20h ago

South Africa have hosted multiple world events including the Soccer world cup without incident.

u/pewpew26 Flair Up! 15h ago

That was in 2010, security and infrastructure, unfortunately, have deteriorated since then. You’ve hosted G20 in 2025 but visiting nations have specialized security for their personnel. BRICS was hosted in 2023. I love visiting South Africa and she could be the crown jewel of the world. To pretend it is not dangerous and your average tourist does lot do their due diligence, it would be irresponsible to host a major international sporting event.

u/mmphil12 Flair Up! 9h ago

Security hasn’t deteriorated. Millions of tourists visit this country every year. Are you aware South Africa is hosting the Cricket World Cup next year? How did that happen?

u/Ancient_Sound_5347 Flair Up! 9h ago

According to the US Embassy in South Africa a total of 358,333 American citizens,356,080 UK citizens and 256,878 German citizens visited South Africa in 2025.

u/Mundane-Hornet-82 New To Reddit 1d ago

Our country is not safe enough... that has been the reasoning for years. We cannot protect our own citizens and tourists, how are we going to protect others?

u/mmphil12 Flair Up! 20h ago

How many times does this need to be said to naysayers like yourself that this country has hosted multiple world events including the Soccer world cup without incident? Millions of tourists visit this country every year and the overwhelming majority visit without incident.

u/[deleted] 11h ago

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u/mmphil12 Flair Up! 9h ago

We didn’t lose the Rugby World Cup because of security. Fact. What is factual is we’ve hosted multiple world events without incident. Millions of tourists visit this country. Those are facts.

u/[deleted] 5h ago

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u/mmphil12 Flair Up! 5h ago

I’m glad we can agree that tourists visiting this country is safe.

u/ichosehowe 4h ago

You fucking coward, post this on your main account an not on a 2 day sock puppet account. 

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/assfly83 1d ago

And that's just in the scrums

u/Ho3n3r Flair Up! 1d ago

I get your point, but we held an even bigger world cup in 2010 when stats were similar.

u/MayContainRawNuts 🤜🏼🤛🏼 1d ago

And how many international rugby tourists were part of those 70?

u/StorminSean Flair Up! 1d ago

Well, there were 23 these past 2 weekends.

u/MayContainRawNuts 🤜🏼🤛🏼 1d ago

I call 5 points an attempted murder at best, and even that is only a light revenge for the 17 on day 1

u/StorminSean Flair Up! 22h ago

That’s fair.

The boks were definitely murdered in the first one.

u/springboks-ModTeam New To Reddit 21h ago

This post is not related to the Springboks or South African rugby. Posts are considered by their content not their titles.

u/Perenara1 Flair Up! 1d ago edited 1d ago

They don't like it when you bring it up even though the statistics don't lie

u/Lonely_Advance7973 1d ago

“They” don’t like it when you bring up statistics without important context - as in, were those murders in tourist hubs?

u/koos_die_doos Flair Up! 22h ago

To people who live in cities where there are maybe a couple of murders per week in the worst part of town, that distinction doesn't matter as much as you believe it does.

I emigrated to Canada in 2009, since then I've lived in the same small'ish town, and there has been three murders in that time.

Toronto has approximately one murder per week, half of which is gang related.

If you think the exact location of violent crime matters to people living in such places, you really need to work on understanding that South Africans have adjusted significantly in coping with the crime situation.

u/Lonely_Advance7973 22h ago

I’m not naive to how our country is seen abroad - of course it’s far more dangerous than other countries and is seen as such.
I am well aware of how locals have adjusted to a weird way of living - I actually don’t need to “work on it”
But I also think foreigners somewhat understand this weird reality too - record tourist numbers prove that

u/koos_die_doos Flair Up! 22h ago

If you really understood, you wouldn't even mention that the murder happened outside of tourist areas.

I'm coming to visit my family next year, at least half of my conversations about the trip are centered on the crime situation. If South Africa had a better crime rate, today's tourism would be peanuts compared to what can be realized.

u/Lonely_Advance7973 21h ago

You clearly didn’t read anything I said, username checks out

u/koos_die_doos Flair Up! 21h ago

You think record tourism numbers matter to the IRB when they can make more money elsewhere without the risk of tourists getting killed?

Personal attacks when your argument doesn't pan out is a tactic of many people on the losing end of a discussion, I guess it tracks here.

u/Lonely_Advance7973 21h ago

The World Rugby report which recommended SA as 2023 host (the last time they bid), did exactly that so i do think they’d care

u/Perenara1 Flair Up! 1d ago

If you want a real example "Bo-Kaap, Cape Town — 5 August: a 35-year-old man was shot and killed on Voetboog Street. Cape Town Central SAPS opened a murder investigation. Bo-Kaap is a well-known tourist area close to central Cape Town" here's the link to the article. That was 2 days before the All Blacks Vs Stormers game.

u/Delicious_Star_4232 Flair Up! 1d ago

It isn't great but calling Voetboog street part of the "well known tourist area" is a stretch.

It's essentially a service road at the bottom of signal hill.

Wale street (1km away) is where the Bo-Kaap museum is and where all the tourists go for the colourful houses.

I could also be very selective for France and by extension, crime in Paris for when they hosted the WC.

The 70 murders a day stat is boosted by more dense informal areas where nobody would go even close to to watch a game or stay in accomodation.

u/Perenara1 Flair Up! 1d ago

"1km away" wow such a crazy stretch

u/Delicious_Star_4232 Flair Up! 1d ago

I was pointing the location distance out because it's a totally different part of the Bo-Kaap

The area tourists go has good visibility and so does majority of the walkable city.

No city is without crime

But like I watched the Stormers Vs NZ game at DHL stadium which is 3.9km away from this "murder hotspot" and we all walked from the stadium through town to get to our cars and it's fine.

There are parts of CPT you obviously avoid and any local or Uber driver or whoever would happily tell tourists that - just like most countries big cities.

u/mausmumblingmoon Team Aimee 1d ago edited 1d ago

The point has been made that statistics without context and cherry picking certain incidents doesn't reflect reality. Does South Africa have a high crime rate - yes. Do we have a terrible murder rate (disproportionately affecting women and lower income groups) - yes. Should visitors be aware of these things and take appropriate steps to secure their belongings and safeguard themselves - yes.

Did the overwhelming majority of the record-breaking 10,5 million tourists who visited our country in 2025 (https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=19362) enjoy an awesome holiday and make it home alive - also yes.

Edit to add just a few quickly Googled examples for my last point:

https://www.timeout.com/cape-town/news/sa-celebrated-in-the-telegraphs-best-countries-on-earth-list-072125

https://sundayworld.co.za/lifestyle/international-travellers-give-south-african-tourism-a-glowing-review/

https://briefly.co.za/world/africa/252351-sa-flies-flag-african-country-worlds-20-beautiful/

https://businesstech.co.za/news/property/831474/the-south-african-city-named-best-in-the-world-for-the-seventh-time-in-a-row/

u/Perenara1 Flair Up! 20h ago

We don't know exactly how many tourists are murdered in South Africa. SAPS records murders, but its published national crime statistics don't have a separate category showing how many victims were tourists.

We know tourists have been murdered because SAPS sometimes identifies them in individual cases. For example, SAPS reported that a German tourist was shot and killed near White River in October 2022, and that a 74-year-old German tourist was murdered in Limpopo in February 2024.

The Stats SA article saying 10.5 million tourists visited South Africa in 2025 doesn't tell us how many were murdered or became victims of crime. It mainly reports tourist numbers, where they came from, their age and sex, why they visited and how long they stayed.

So you can't use the 10.5 million figure to claim that none were murdered or that they all had safe or enjoyable trips. A list made from news reports and individual SAPS reports should only be treated as a minimum known number, not the true total.