Eastern Cape Super 14 club rugby tournament organisers have promised clubs that the money set to be distributed will arrive by either Tuesday or Thursday.
This was announced at the launch of the competition at the Border Rugby Union offices at Baysville School of Skills in East London on Friday.
Officials said the timeline for the money to show was about seven business days from last Tuesday’s meeting and the time the funds were transferred by the provincial sports department to the new implementing agent, the Eastern Cape Academy of Sports.
Some of the clubs’ representatives, mainly from Border, questioned when the travel expenses and kits were going to be made available and how the prize money for the tournament would be divided in 2026.
The clubs want to make sure there is no repeat of 2023 and 2024, where teams had to scramble to cover expenses from their own pockets.
It was said that the money was going to be available before the scheduled start of the competition on Saturday.
The start of the Super 14 was delayed by a week, as it was supposed to have begun last Saturday.
The Super 14 is made of leading Eastern Province and Border clubs.
Last week, the provincial sports department opted to channel funds for the rugby tournament through a new middleman, with its former agent, the Eastern Cape Sports Confederation, being probed for alleged maladministration.
The department said it had been waiting for the nod from the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) to complete the investigation into its affiliate, the ECSC, before passing on the necessary funds for the popular tournament.
An amount of R1.1m is budgeted for the Super 14.
To ensure that the competition goes ahead this weekend, it has been decided that the Eastern Cape Academy of Sport will handle the funds for the Super 14.
In a bid to cut down on travelling costs, EP and Border teams will have their own mini top eight divided into two groups.
The group stages will be played over three rounds.
Then the top-seeded teams will meet in provincial quarterfinals scheduled for March 7.
The semifinals will be on March 21 after a week’s break.
The final is on March 28.
Progress from Eastern Province are the defending champions after they beat Border’s Fort Beaufort United in 2025.
The Eastern Province groups are divided into, Group A: Progress, Park, Trying Stars and Hankey Villagers (wildcard), and Group B: Joubertina United, Star of Hope, Brumbies and Jeffreys Bay.
For Border, Conference A consists of Young Leopards, Swallows, Buffs and Old Boys, and the second conference is made of East London Police, FB United, Komga United and WSU Eagles (wildcard).
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