Gayton McKenzie says he’s ‘gonna fight very hard’ for at least one Bok game to be broadcast to everyone

Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks, are loved by South Africans; however, not all the country’s citizens can see them play due to accessibility issues.

The difficulty of watching the Boks is twofold: one, the ticket prices are expensive, and two, most South Africans don’t have DStv Premium, which broadcasts Bok matches on the pay channel Supersport.

“One of them [Bok games] must be shown,” said Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, speaking at the launch of Boktown, the Castle Lager fan parks across the country where South Africans can watch the reigning world champions.

The launch was in Johannesburg on Friday.

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Broadcasting rights

Rugby matches are not shown on the state broadcaster, the SABC, because they don’t have the rights.

Last year, in collaboration with SA Rugby and McKenzie’s department, SuperSport had a once-off agreement to give the SABC the rights to broadcast the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match between the Springboks and the All Blacks at Ellis Park.

“The guys at SARU [South African Rugby] have been helpful, I must say,” said McKenzie, adding that he is grateful to SA Rugby and Castle Lager for ‘bringing rugby to the people’.

“But I can promise you I’m gonna fight very hard that at least one of the games should be shown for everybody to see,” promised the minister.

“We must also be honest that players and the sport benefit from having their rights; players get paid more – so we need to find that balance,” McKenzie said.

“We’re not saying show all the games, but sooner or later government will have to make sure that the people see all the games by investing money in sport,” expressed McKenzie.

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Expensive tickets

The Boks won the 2023 World Cup, and last year South Africans got to watch them live as champions after that opportunity was missed following their triumph in 2019, which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year’s Bok home games quickly sold out due to the high demand of seeing Siya Kolisi and the rest of the team in action live.

In Cape Town alone, people paid as much as R4,000 for a standard ticket to the Boks’ clash against New Zealand on the black market last year.

According to SA Rugby, tickets for this year’s match against the Wallabies in Johannesburg are priced from R525, but they were sold out swiftly. The remaining tickets range from R1750 to R3,500.

For the Barbarians game next weekend in Cape Town, a person in the business lounge will cough up just under R6000 to watch the Boks. There are still some tickets available, but the cheapest is R950 in the lower tier level.

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Fan parks

Speaking to The Citizen, Springbok player Morné van den Berg said fan parks like the one launched on Friday are incredible for the vibe.

“I’ve been at a few fan parks and it’s really an amazing experience. You get together with basically one home that the Springboks are gonna win and play some good rugby,” shared the scrumhalf.

‘Boktown’, which was launched on Friday, will see screenings across the country where those who don’t have tickets or DStv Premium can watch the game.

The Boks’ 2025 tour opens on Saturday, 28 June, at Wanderers Oval, Johannesburg, where supporters will gather to watch the Springboks’ first-ever clash with the Barbarians on South African soil.

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