Player demand booms as Mzansi Rugby League builds towards 2027 professional debut

Newcomer the Mzansi Rugby League is exceeding expectations ahead of its planned launch in 2027, according to league co-founder and chief commercial officer Calvin Smith.

The privately owned 16-team professional rugby union league is forging ahead despite the distraction of a legal battle against SARU and players’ union MyPlayers, with Smith revealing that their new player welfare and safety framework was launched this week, alongside the MRL Development Partner Programme, which rewards schools, universities and amateur clubs that produce professional talent within the MRL ecosystem.

He said the number of players that had already signed up for MRL trials – set for June 2026 – had also caught them by surprise. 

The MRL is positioning itself at the bottom of South Africa's professional rugby structure by offering employment opportunities to jobless players, coaches, referees and medics. It says it will pay players between R15 000 and R30 000 a month.

“We’ve made really good progress, a lot quicker than we expected or anticipated,” Smith told Independent Media Sport.

“The Development Partner Programme ensures that the communities and schools, rugby clubs and varsities are rewarded for helping to develop those players. In a nutshell, a player comes into the league after leaving school, for example, and is signed by the Vaal Meerkats. After a season or two he then transfers to the Durban Hyenas for R600 000. 10% of that transfer fee, which in this case is R60 000, will go to the development partner that player has chosen. 

“If, after a few years, that player is then transferred overseas for R4m, 15% of that international transfer will go back to that development partner. So, the entire time that player is in the MRL and moved within the MRL, that development partner will earn money. For us it’s just to ensure that the places that helped develop that player are rewarded. And they can put the money back into their rugby systems.

“From our perspective we’re not here to disrupt the  ecosystem at all. We are merely a place for players that have been left out of the system for whatever reason and are no longer in contract,” Smith insisted.

He said the ultimate measure of the league’s success would be in players who managed to graduate form the MRL to established unions in SA and elsewhere. 

While the trials are more than six months away, the window is open and players can register to take part – for a fee of R899.

“We set our target for trial registrations and we have exceeded those registration numbers,” Smith said.

He said while this was a surprise, the number of players signing up for the sponsored trial programme, where the trial fee would be covered – players with provincial and national age group or senior experience – was even more so.

“We are finding so many players who have provincial backgrounds and have played provincial rugby who are signing up because they aren’t in contracts. It’s not saying that the South African system isn’t keeping talent but realistically there are only a certain amount of opportunities and that’s where we’re coming in.”

Smith revealed that successful trialists will be invited  to a MRL combine – in the mould of the scouting combine for NFL draft-eligible college players in the US – where the 16 clubs’ coaches will evaluate the rugby talent on offer ahead of the draft pick.