Damn, Damn, Damn!

Jan, Jan, Jan, the refrain of the song about Player 23, has been has been blasted into our subconscious in the course of the rugby season but now the IRB has gone and blown him out of the water!

Some may say thank goodness because Jan and Elton were becoming gratingly irritating and others, of a more political persuasion, will gather up their race cards and say we told you so, but the official authorization of Player 23 is a bummer for his creators Vodacom.

The cellphone network operator has committed masses of funds, from the making of the ad to the paying of airtime and the creation of a dedicated website, to pushing the Player 23 campaign and now a committee meeting in an office in Dublin and a simple Press release has undone it all.

Player 23, according to a decree from the International Rugby Board, has become an official part of a rugby match-day line-up; thus stripping Jan, Elton and Sipho, who knows the latter character might have been in pipeline, of their preferred number!

Vodacom, in a hastily-penned response, have tried to recover the situation by humorously trying to point out that the IRB were recognising what they knew all along, right down to including some quotes from the virtual Jan and Elton, that the fan was a crucial part of a rugby team.

“We created Player 23 as a way of celebrating the fans and bringing them closer to the game,” said Enzo Scarcella, Vodacom’s Managing Executive for Marketing putting on a brave face to hide the annoyance he and his colleagues must surely have felt at watching an expensive advertising campaign go up in smoke.

“We are delighted that the rugby fan has been recognised to the extent that there will be thousands of Player 23s in the stands, and a real Player 23 on the field. The IRB’s move has to be arguably the ultimate recognition of the power of the fans seen in any sport.”

Vodacom’s much-hyped promotion was about “1 – 8 the forwards, 9 – 15 the backs, 16-22 the bench and 23 You, the Fan” but since July 28 squads can consist of 23 players to make way for an additional frontrow forward in an effort to cut down on the frequency of the “uncontested scrums” rule being invoked.

Vodacom’s Jan has the look of an out-of-shape prop so he might get away with the 23 but Elton definitely does not fit the bill. Player 23 is dead so long live… Player 2?.

Ah well you win some you lose some. Radio 702 was on while I was tapping out this column and John Robbie, after having been invited to participate in the pro-am, found an angle to give the Telkom PGA golf tournament at Centurion some publicity by talking about how to get tickets – unfortunately he called it the Vodacom PGA Pro-Am!