Rugby fans across the country will be given a voice for the first time in the selection of winners in the SARU Rugby Player of the Year Awards, SARU announced on Monday.

The public will be asked to cast their votes in six of the 16 categories – including the top three awards of Player, Young Player and Team of the Year categories – as part of a major revamp of the SA Rugby Awards.

Media, coaches and players will also have a major say in determining the outstanding players of the season in a range of categories and competitions. Public polling for the top Award, South Africa’s Rugby Player of the Year, opened today (Monday, October 1) with the awards due to be announced at a gala event on November 1 in Cape Town. A fan and a friend who vote during the process will be randomly drawn and invited to the awards.

SARU CEO Jurie Roux said: “We wanted to give rugby fans a voice in the game – and a loud one at that – and the SARU Player of the Year Awards are an ideal place to do that.

“Supporters have strong opinions on who should win and this move is probably overdue. Now fans will be part of the selection process.”

Roux said that the fans’ vote would count for 50 percent of the final tally alongside the vote of the rugby media, who had exclusively decided on the winners in recent years. Fans and media will decide the marquee awards of Player of the Year; Young Player of the Year and Team of the Year Awards, as well as Springbok Sevens and SA Under-20 Players of the Year and SuperSport Try of the Year.

The public will make their vote for the top award on SARU’s Facebook page. Go towww.facebook.com/springboks and vote on the specially designed app on the page. Rules of the competition and terms and conditions are available on that page.

The voting mechanisms for the other five categories are by e-mail and start on Tuesday, October 2. The closing date for the competitions is October 17, whilst more information is available on the SARU website –www.sarugby.co.za.

The public are encouraged to send their nominations to [email protected] and vote in the following categories:
– Young Player of the Year
– Team of the Year
– Springbok Sevens Player of the Year
– SA Under-20 Player of the Year
– SuperSport Try of the Year

The coaches will now exclusively decide the best players in Vodacom Super Rugby, Absa Currie Cup Premier and First Divisions and Vodacom Cup competitions. They will also choose the Coach of the Year and share responsibility for choosing the Referee of the Year with the Rugby Referees’ Society.

“We reviewed the awards with a view to making the decision-making responsibility more reflective of all the game’s key role-players,” said Roux. “Therefore, the senior coaches who coach in the tournaments will choose the best players in those tournaments and the rugby media and public will have the greatest say in the general categories.

“The awards are a major event on the rugby calendar and involving the fans and coaches more directly will add to their prestige.”

Roux said that a number of fans would be selected from those who voted to attend the awards.