CAPE TOWN – Organisers of the Varsity Cup on Wednesday reiterated that they are keeping in close contact with all stakeholders, especially with the possibility that sport may not be able to take place in the remaining calendar and academic year.
In the latest update on www.coronavirusmonitor.co.za on Wednesday, 4 996 Covid-19 infections were reported nationally, with a total of 93 deaths.
Should no sport take place in the remaining calendar, the Varsity Cup Board has agreed to the following decisions:
* The 2020 FNB Varsity Cup, FNB Varsity Shield and FNB Varsity Young Guns tournaments will be declared incomplete. There will be no overall winner awarded in any of the competitions and the trophies will remain with the 2019 winners.
* As FNB Madibaz had already achieved an unassailable log points tally on the combined FNB Varsity Shield log of 2019 and 2020, they will be promoted to the FNB Varsity Cup.The decision is in line with the current Varsity Cup Bye-Laws which states that “The team that ends top of the Varsity Shield Log in 2020, based on the combined log of 2019/2020, will be automatically promoted to the Varsity Cup for the 2021 season” (Bye-law 6.1.1).
* There will be no team relegated from the FNB Varsity Cup Competition and no promotion/relegation match between the FNB Varsity Cup and FNB Varsity Shield Competitions. There will also be no promotion/relegation match between the bottom Varsity Shield team and the USSA contender. Therefore, there will be 10 teams in the Varsity Cup for 2021.
* The university, other than the member universities currently participating in the FNB Varsity Cup and FNB Varsity Shield, who is ranked highest at USSA, at the sole discretion of the USSA Executive Committee, will be automatically promoted to the Varsity Shield for the 2021 season. This will bring the total number of teams in the Varsity Shield to seven (7) teams.
* The new member university must meet all Varsity Cup MOI stipulations.
* Following the 2021 season, the bottom two teams in the FNB Varsity Cup will be automatically relegated to the FNB Varsity Shield and the bottom team in the FNB Varsity Shield will be automatically relegated. This will bring both competitions to eight (8) teams each for the 2022 season and onwards.
* The Varsity Cup Board will hold a special general meeting ahead of the next board meeting to vote in the necessary bye-law amendments to allow for the changes that have been agreed to by the Board.