2014 Varsity Sports season launched
ROSEBANK - “Community spectatorship is important for the development of sports at varsity level.”
This was according to former Springbok rugby captain and now CEO of Advent Sport Entertainment & Media, Francois Pienaar, who spoke at the launch of the 2014 Varsity Sports season in Rosebank on 3 March.
Varisty Sports is a high-performance competition platform that enables qualifying South African universities to compete against one another in six different sporting codes.
According to Pienaar, when the competition began seven years ago the aim was to help the country’s top university talent develop and has, since then, seen many of their rugby players progress to play for national teams.
Initially the competition introduced South African universities to Varsity sevens rugby and Varsity beach volleyball but recently also launched athletics, women’s hockey, soccer and netball.
“The competition has since then grown in leaps and bounds and the television figures have grown tremendously,” he said.
He acknowledged the universities’ contribution to the brand as one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of Varsity Sports.
“Varsity Sports is a partnership between the varsities, the athletes and sponsors,” said Pienaar.
“I find that we don’t celebrate our success often enough. The purpose of this competition is not only to celebrate the institutions participating but also to offer the individual athletes the opportunity to be noticed at a higher level,” he said.
Pienaar said sport brings all people together.
“Sports permeate through culture, language and race, and thus Varsity Sports should be used as a tool to bring communities together to celebrate the success of their athletes and local varsities,” he added.
Wits University and the University of Johannesburg are two of the institutions participating in the competition.
