FILE - A legal battle is brewing with three Cape Winelands clubs looking to ditch Western Province for Boland.
Image: La Motte Wanderers / Facebook
Three rugby clubs in the Cape Winelands, including the current third oldest active club in the country, have asked SA Rugby to intervene after Western Province blocked a cross border move away to Boland.
La Motte Wanderers Rugby Club in Franschhoek, Cloetesville Rugby Club in Stellenbosch and Paarl Rugby Club have had formal requests to play their club rugby in neighbouring Boland denied by the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU).
La Motte has been playing in the WPRFU’s Metro League, while Paarl Rugby Club once competed in the top division.
Paarl, one of the oldest rugby clubs in the country, sent out a letter to the WPRFU on January 29 saying that they will no longer be taking part in the union’s competitions and no longer want to be affiliated with it. According to the letter, Paarl Rugby Club state that they are unhappy with the lack of support for the club, as well as the lack of proper playing facilities in the Drakenstein Municipality.
Paarl are currently playing in the Boland Social League as a non-affiliated club. But their wish is to be a full member of Boland before the start of next season.
La Motte and Cloetesville, on the other hand, applied for full affiliation with the Boland Rugby Union in November 2024, a move approved by the club’s management and community.
Boland Rugby Union then accepted both La Motte and Cloetesville at their AGM in November 2024. Both clubs were invited as a full members to the February 2025 members’ meeting.
However, the WPRFU has opposed Cloetesville and La Motte’s affiliation with Boland, citing geographical boundaries.
But while La Motte got full affiliation status with Boland, they had been fighting for the better part of 10 years to be a full affiliate member of Western Province, and are very surprised that the union doesn’t want to let them leave.
Rugby in Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl fall under Western Province, despite all other sports in the region playing under the banner of Boland. However, formerly disadvantaged schools in Paarl and Franschhoek play in Boland, while the former Model C schools such as Paarl Boys’ High and Paarl Gymnasium play their rugby under Western Province.
To make matter more complicated, La Motte’s neighbouring clubs Wemmershoek and Dennegeur RFC are affiliated to Boland. Franschhoek Rugby Club, however, is playing in Western Province.
After making their intentions clear, Paarl and La Motte were summoned on March 19 to a meeting with the WPRFU on March 20 at the Paul Roos Markotter Longroom. Paarl declined the invitation because of the short notice, but La Motte agreed to meet, hoping their situation would be resolved.
However, the Franschhoek club claim they were “bullied” and “steamrolled” in the meeting, which according to them, had no agenda. At the meeting Danny Jones, General Manager Amateur Rugby WPRFU, informed them that their request to move to Boland has been denied.
“La Motte is appalled by the unethical manner the meeting was run, no attendance register, no agenda, and it was insisted by Mr. Danny Jones that no recordings will be allowed of the meeting,” the club said in a strongly worded statement after walking out of the meeting.
La Motte then wrote to SA Rugby to intervene in the matter, but it was referred back to WPRFU and Boland to sort out La Motte’s affiliation.
On March 25, the WPRFU sent a letter to La Motte saying that, after consulting with Boland, La Motte must stay with Western Province. The letter also said that this would be communicated with SA Rugby.
But La Motte has rejected the letter and has referred the matter back to SA Rugby. A spokesperson at SARU House confirmed that the letter was received.
Boland, who accepted La Motte as an affiliate, doesn’t seem to want to step on any toes. But La Motte has also sent them a letter to acknowledge the decision that was taken at the AGM.
Paarl Rugby Club confirmed that they have also sent a letter to SA Rugby as well, saying that the club will likely cease to exist if they aren't allowed to play their rugby in Boland.
Both Paarl and La Motte have also said they would be seeking legal advice.
“We played in the top division for a long time before players got paid. But now the top players go play in Cape Town for the club who can reward them,” said Paarl chairman Polla Maritz.
“We also lost out on the young talent, as WPRFU decided to change the rules for young players going to study at places like Stellenbosch. “So they had to be registered for a Maties Rugby Club even if they only played in the hostel leagues. After that we struggled and went down in the WP leagues.”
“There are lots of guys who stay in Paarl who play their rugby for Boland clubs. So why can’t we also do that? Logistically it would be much better for us.”
In the meantime, the players at the La Motte Rugby club find themselves in limbo and haven’t been able to play a single rugby match despite the season already kicking off.
“We had a great pre-season since January, but we are still just training. Some of the boys have played friendlies with other clubs just to get some game time,” said Carlo van der Westhuizen, coach and treasurer of La Motte.
Van der Westhuizen says they have encountered many problems playing their club rugby in Western Province over the last few years, with the team not being able to get promotion from the Metro League as one of the issues.
“We played in the Metro League and there is no promotion, we’re stuck there. Most times we play clubs who only field one team on a weekend, while we have two or three teams,” Van der Westhuizen added.
“Clubs don’t arrive for matches, even at their own grounds. This is frustrating for the players, who train the whole week to be ready.”
IOL Sport reached out to the WPRFU and Jones to comment on the matter earlier in the week, but no response has been forthcoming.
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