SA Rugby has confirmed a new two-and-a-half-year South African Rugby Industry Collective Agreement (SARICA), negotiated between MyPlayers, SARU and the South African Rugby Employers' Organisation (SAREO).
The agreement sets uniform employment standards across professional rugby in South Africa, covering players from Springbok level down to age-group and development players at unions, and applies to both men and women.
Beyond standardised remuneration, the agreement covers comprehensive medical scheme benefits, income replacement insurance for disability and catastrophic injury, concussion and head injury management, rest periods and workload management, a contracting model governing player numbers and salary caps, and annual leave and off-season protections.
A key element is a mandated minimum of 12 non-contact weeks per contract year. Five of those constitute annual leave, three of which must be taken as an uninterrupted block in line with World Rugby guidelines. The remaining seven weeks can be drawn from additional annual leave, bye weeks, injury rehabilitation, travel periods or parental leave.
MyPlayers CEO Eugene Henning pointed to load management as the agreement's cornerstone, noting that South Africa's 12-month playing calendar makes individualized load monitoring especially complex. He said the updated regulations reflect World Rugby's identification of individualized load management as the gold standard for player welfare.
SAREO Chairperson Ettienne de Lange described SARICA as "the foundation on which all rugby players are contracted," while SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said the agreement "balances the interests of everyone in the industry."