User:Freddie2016/sandbox

Test page
This page is 100% a testing spot for me to develop some of the pages on Wikipedia that I would like to publish in the future. I hope to make a few good, quality pages that can be used by other users.

SAFA Second Division
The SAFA Second Division, currently known as ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998-2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 had been sponsored by mobile telecommunications company Vodacom.

Currently it features 144 teams in total, divided into 9 divisions, borderly decided by the 9 geo-political provinces of South Africa: Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West. This means, that each Provincial division contains 16 teams as standard. The winner of each Provincial division qualifies for the annual Promotional Play-offs, where the winners of two streams, will get promoted to the National First Division. In each Province, the two lowest ranked teams by the end of the season, will be relegated to U21 SAB Regional League, which in return will promote two play-off winners from the Regional Championships.

An important rule to note, is that all clubs in South Africa also are allowed to compete with youth teams (U19/U21) and/or a Reserve team in a lower SAFA league. If a club opt to field such teams, the U19 teams will start out at the fifth level in the U19 National League, while U21 teams or Reserve teams will start out at the fourth level in the U21 SAB Regional League. If any U19 team win promotion for U21 SAB Regional League or SAFA Second Division, this promotion is fully accepted. No club are however entitled to field two teams at the same level, and rule 4.6.4 of the SAFA regulations states, that if the mother club play in the National First Division or Premier Soccer League, then the highest level these additional Youth/Reserve teams are allowed to compete, will be the SAFA Second Division. In such cases, where a non-promotable team manage to win their regional division, the ticket for the promotional playoffs will instead be handed over to the second best team in the division.

In the 2010–11 season these promotional restrictions mean, that: Ajax Cape Town U19, Bay Academy, Bid Boys, Celtic Colts, SuperSport T.H. Academy and Mitchells Plain United, were all accepted to play in the league, but without any possibility of further promotion.

In March 2014, the Motsepe Foundation signed a five-year deal for the naming rights of the competition worth 40,000,000 ZAR. Patrice Motsepe named the competition in honour of his late father, Augustine Butana Chaane Motsepe.

Provincial divisions
The 9 geographical provinces of South Africa, each have a local division in the SAFA Second Division. These divisions belong either to the Inland Stream or Coastal Stream, which are used to place the provincial winners into two round robin groups, at the promotional play-off stage by the end of the season. The Coastal Stream comprises: Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape; while the Inland Stream comprises: Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North-West. In previous years, until August 2008, the Free State province belonged to the Inland Stream.

[[File:South African Football Association streams map.svg|250px|thumb|left|Map of the two streams in the SAFA Second Division.

]]

Coastal Stream / Inland Stream
Free State belonged to the Inland Stream in 1998-2008, but was transferred to the Coastal Stream for subsequent seasons.

Promoted teams
In the seasons from 1998–2003, the four best teams from the Vodacom League -determined by annual playoffs among the winners and runners-up of the 9 provinces in South Africa- won promotion for the National First Division. The playoff system divided the teams into an Inland stream and Coastal Stream, where the best two teams from each stream won promotion.

In the seasons after 2003, the number of annually promoted teams decreased to 2. The concept of the playoff system however remained the same, in regards of dividing the teams into a Coastal Stream and Inland Stream, but now of course only to reward the winner of both streams with promotion. Both promoted teams will then finally also meet to play the overall final, where the overall league championship trophy is at stake.

The list below show all the promoted teams, since 1998.

2009-10 SAFA Second Division
The 2009–10 SAFA Second Division season, also known as Vodacom League due to a sponsoring deal at the time, took place in South Africa between August and April. The season was scheduled to begin and end one month earlier than normal, due to the country's 2010 FIFA World Cup preparation. The league is the third tier of South African football, and is divided geographically into five divisions in the Coastal Stream and four divisions in the Inland Stream.

Eastern Cape Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Blackburn Rovers (promoted), African Juventus (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Happy Brothers (promoted), Kokstad Liverpool (promoted).

Free State Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Welkom Real Hearts (relegated), Milan United (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Bubchu United (promoted), United All Tigers (promoted).

KwaZulu-Natal Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Brazil (relegated), Durban Stars (2nd team will disband).

Joining for 2010-11: SAPS Callies (promoted), Gqikazi All Stars (promoted).

Northern Cape Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Namaqua Stars (relegated), Kuruman Rovers (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: North East Celtics (promoted), Ray Madrid (promoted).

Western Cape Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Stellenbosch University (relegated), Briton Stars (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Beaufortwest City (promoted), Jomo Powers (promoted), Ikapa Sporting (relegated).

Gauteng Province


Leaving for 2010-11: FC AK (promoted), Senaoana Blackpool (relegated), Abakah (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Supersport United 2nd team (promoted), Lesedi Shooting Stars (promoted).

Limpopo Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Tebcon (relegated), Bahwiti (relegated), Z. Mathote Elephants (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Blue Rocks (promoted), Maniini All Blacks (promoted), Winners Park (relegated).

Mpumalanga Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Citizen (relegated), York (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Lynville All Stars (promoted), Thabo All Stars (promoted).

North-West Province


Leaving for 2010-11: Sea Rovers (relegated), Bophirima NW Stars (relegated).

Joining for 2010-11: Mamusa United (promoted), Bakubung BK (promoted).

Playoff stage
The nine provincial winners were drawn into a round robin stage. The five Coastal stream teams and four Inland stream teams were put respectively into Group A and Group B. All the playoff matches were played from April 6–12, at two big stadiums in the Mpumalanga region: Themba Senamela Stadium in Mhluzi, Middelburg and Ackerville Stadium in eMalahleni. The respective winners of the two groups, would both gain promotion to the National First Division, beside meeting each other in a last show-off final, where only the champion honour was at stake.

2010-11 SAFA Second Division
The 2010–11 SAFA Second Division season, also known as Vodacom League due to a sponsoring deal, took place in South Africa between the months of September and May. The league is the third tier of South African football, and is divided geographically into 5 divisions in the Coastal Stream and 4 divisions in the Inland Stream.

Eastern Cape Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Young Stars (relegated), Royals (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Free State Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Mangaung City (relegated), Harrismith United (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

KwaZulu-Natal Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Abaqulusi (relegated), Bright Stars (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Northern Cape Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Kakamas Cosmos (relegated), Amalawus (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Western Cape Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Chippa United (promoted), Battswood (relegated), WP United (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Hanover Park (relegated), Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Gauteng Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Real Barcelona (relegated), Lesedi Shooting Stars (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Limpopo Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Karee Young Stars (relegated), Phalaborwa Real Rovers (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Super Eagles (promoted), Davhana Shooting Stars (promoted).

Mpumalanga Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Sivutsa Stars (promoted), Mologadi (relegated), Secunda Stars (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Batau (relegated), Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

North-West Province


Leaving for 2011-12: Oxygen (relegated), Mothupi Birds United (relegated). Joining for 2011-12: Two promoted teams from SAB Regional League.

Provincial winners decided by appeal cases
The first 4 out of 9 provincial winners, were decided without any appeal case being involved, after the last round of Vodacom League in April 2011. For the other five divisions in Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and North-West, the provincial winners were only found by 5 June, after the SAFA disciplinary committee and Sports Court had judged one or several appeal cases in each division. The list below summarizes the final outcome of all those cases.


 * In the Eastern Cape division: An appeal was filed by runner-up Tornado (62p), asking SAFA to deduct FC Buffalo (68p) minimum 6p, for the alleged use of an ineligible player. This appeal was however rejected by SAFA.
 * In the Northern Cape division: The appeal was about the initial 2-2 result, of a match played between the two log leaders Real Madrid (75p) and Steach United (74p). If SAFA had decided to award a "disciplinary defeat" for Real Madrid, then it would have been Steach United to be crowned as divisional winner. The decision however was, to let the result achieved on the playing field stand, and thus Real Madrid managed to win the division with 1p ahead of Steach United.
 * In the Free State division: The first important appeal concerned an undecided match, between the runner-up Botshabelo against one of the other teams in the division. As Botshabelo managed to win their appeal, they gained 3 additional points and thus moved up to become the new winner of the division, ahead of Roses United. At the same time, Roses United however had appealed their 2-1 defeat against Sasolburg Juventus, asking for the result to be changed into a victory for Roses United, due to the match being unfairly abrupt after 75 minutes, when several rugby fans suddenly invaded the pitch. This last appeal was upheld by SAFA, awarding a 2-0 victory to Roses United, and thus they managed to win the division ahead of Botshabelo.
 * In the Limpopo division: After Baroka had won the division by 15p over Winners Park, the runner-up lodged an appeal claiming Baroka had fielded an ineligible player, and thus should be deducted minimum 15 points. This appeal was however rejected by SAFA.
 * In the North-West division: All top-3 teams were each involved in two or three appeal cases. As Soshanguve Sunshine did not win any of their appeals, while the other two teams each managed to win one of their appeals, the log ended at 15 May, with Garankuwa United (63p) as 1st, NW Shining Stars (62p) as 2nd, and Soshanguve Sunshine (61p) as 3rd. Around 31 May, the appeal drama was however reignited, as two of the previously solved cases involving NW Shining Stars, result-wise were reverted to "a pending matter". The two unsolved appealed matches for the team, was a 2-0 win against Oxygen from 16 April, and a 2-3 defeat against Real Stars from 26 February. The Sports Court made a final decision at 1 June, to upheld the result of the first match, and award a new 2-0 result for NW Shining Stars in the second match against Real Stars; as the former result was ruled to be "unfairly achieved". Thus, the arbitration by the Sports Court, had now moved NW Shining Stars up at 65p in the log, which at this point of time meant, that they were now at a position to win the division. SAFA however announced at 2 June, that the team now also was involved in a third appeal. This time it was Soshanguve Sunshine pushing forward a final appeal to the Sports Court, to overrule the initial disciplinary decision by SAFA, for the imposed 0-2 defeat against NW Shining Stars. The case arose after allegations by NW Shining Stars, that Soshanguve Sunshine had fielded an unregistered player (Benjamin Nthethe) in the match between the two log leaders at 19 March, and thus had achieved their victory at the playing field by unfair means. SAFA initially agreed. If the Sports Court decide to nullify SAFAs decision, it will however mean, that the initial win for Soshanguve Sunshine will stand. In that case, Soshanguve will be crowned as the final winner of the division, with a total of 64p in the log, while NW Shining Stars has to settle with only 62p and a second place. If the court settle the case between the two opponents as a draw -i.e. due to disciplinary violations committed by both teams in the match-, then we have a tight situation, with Garankuwa United taking the final win of the division, with 63p and a better goal score than NW Shining Stars. The result of this last appeal was apparently decided at 5 June, with Garankuwa as the new final winner of the division. No references have yet been published to confirm the exact details about the final decision of the Sports Court.

Playoff Stage
At the playoff stage, a round robin format with two groups, comprising respectively the 5 provincial winners from the Coastal stream and the 4 provincial winners from the Inland stream, were set to decide the two promoting teams for the National First Division. A final match to decide the overall Vodacom League champion, will finally also be arranged between the two promoted group winners. The playoffs were planned to take place at 7–12 June 2011 in Cape Town, at the venues Erica Park and Philippi Stadium. Upon inspection of the fields at 6 June, the quality at Erica Park was however found to be inadequate. SAFA therefore decided, instead to organise all matches at Philippi Stadium and the nearby UWC Stadium.

Group A (Coastal)
Match results:

Group B (Inland)
Match results:

Playoff Honours
A number of awards were issued at the concluding ceremony.

2015-16 SAFA Second Division
The 2015–16 SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the SAFA Second Division, the third tier league for South African association football clubs, since its establishment in 1998. Due to the size of South Africa, the competition is split into nine divisions, one for each region. After the league stage of the regional competition has completed, the nine teams are placed into two 'streams', sometimes referred to as the Inland and Coastal streams.

The teams that finish in first place of the stream stage are promoted to the National First Division. They, then compete for an overall title with a substantial prize fund.

Championship
Magesi were awarded a cheque of R1 million for winning the tournament.

2017-18 SAFA Second Division
Source: https://www.mysafa.net/public

=2018-19 South African Premier Division=

The 2018-19 South African Premier Division season (known as the ABSA Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the 23nd season of the Premier Soccer League since its establishment in 1996.

Teams promoted to the 2018-19 South African Premier Division
Highlands Park was promoted from the 2017-18 National First Division without needing to play in the Playoff Tournament.

Top scorers
= 2017-18 Premier League =

Results
= 2017 in rugby union =

This page covers the major events of 2017 in rugby union.

International tournaments

 * 31 May – 18 June: 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in
 * defeated 64–17 to win their sixth World Rugby Under 20 Championship title.
 * took third place.
 * 9 – 26 August: 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland (pool stage in 🇮🇪; knockout rounds and classification matches in )
 * defeated 41–32 to win their fifth Women's World Cup title.
 * defeated the 31–23 to take third place.
 * 29 August – 10 September: 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy in
 * 2017 Cup of Nations

Northern hemisphere national teams

 * 3 September 2016 – 20 May 2017: 2016–17 Rugby Europe International Championships
 * 24 September 2016 – 24 April 2017: 2016–17 Rugby Europe Trophy in, the , 🇲🇩, 🇺🇦, 🇵🇱, and
 * Round Robin: 1st place:, 2nd place: , 3rd place:
 * 3 February – 18 March: 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, 🇫🇷,, 🇮🇹, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
 * Round Robin: 1st place:, 2nd place: , 3rd place:
 * 4 February – 4 March: 2017 Americas Rugby Championship in 🇦🇷, 🇧🇷, 🇨🇦,, the 🇺🇸 and 🇺🇾
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place:
 * 4 February – 18 March: 2017 Six Nations Championship in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, 🇫🇷, 🇮🇪, 🇮🇹, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
 * Round Robin: 1st place:, 2nd place: , 3rd place:
 * 11 February – 19 March: 2017 Rugby Europe Championship in 🇧🇪,, 🇩🇪, 🇷🇴, 🇷🇺 and 🇪🇸
 * Round Robin: 1st place:, 2nd place: , 3rd place:
 * 22 April – 3 June: 2017 Asia Rugby Championship in 🇭🇰, 🇯🇵 and 🇰🇷
 * Round Robin: 1st place:, 2nd place: , 3rd place:

Southern hemisphere national teams

 * 10 – 18 March: 2017 World Rugby Pacific Challenge
 * Champions: Fiji Warriors; Second: 🇯🇵 Junior Japan; Third: 🇹🇴 Tonga A; Fourth:  Samoa A
 * 1 – 15 July: 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
 * Champions: ; Second: ; Third:
 * 19 August – 7 October: 2017 Rugby Championship
 * 2017 Sudamérica Rugby Cup

Northern hemisphere clubs

 * 26 August 2016 – 14 January 2017: 🇯🇵 2016–17 Top League, won by Suntory Sungoliath
 * 14 October 2016 – 13 May 2017: 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup, won by 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Saracens
 * 13 October 2016 – 12 May 2017: 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup, won by 🇫🇷 Stade Français
 * 2 September 2016 – 27 May 2017: 2016–17 Pro12, won by 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Scarlets
 * 20 August 2016 – 4 June 2017: 🇫🇷 2016–17 Top 14 season, won by Clermont
 * 2 September 2016 – 27 May 2017: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2016–17 Aviva Premiership, won by Exeter Chiefs

Southern hemisphere clubs

 * January 30 – April 17: 2017 Varsity Cup in, won by UP Tuks
 * February 9 – April 10: 2017 Varsity Shield in South Africa, won by UWC
 * February 23 – August 5: 2017 Super Rugby season in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and Japan, won by the 🇳🇿 Crusaders
 * August – October: 2017 Currie Cup Premier Division in South Africa, won by Western Province
 * 2 September – 11 November: 2017 National Rugby Championship in Australia and Fiji, won by Queensland Country

Rugby sevens

 * 2 December 2016 – 21 May 2017: 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series


 * Champions: ; Second: ; Third:
 * 1 December 2016 – 25 June 2017: 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series


 * Champions: ; Second: ; Third:

2017 Rugby Europe Men's Sevens Championships

 * Grand Prix Series
 * June 3 – 4: #1 in 🇷🇺 Moscow
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * June 10 – 11: #2 in 🇵🇱 Łódź
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * July 1 – 2: #3 in 🇫🇷 Clermont-Ferrand
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * July 15 – 16: #4 (final) in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Exeter
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * Men's Trophy Tournament
 * June 3 – 4: #1 in 🇨🇿 Ostrava
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * June 17 – 18: #2 (final) in 🇷🇴 Bucharest
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * July 1 – 2: Men's Conference 1 in 🇧🇬 Burgas
 * Winners: (Cup);  (Plate);  (Bowl)
 * July 15 – 16: Men's Conference 2 in 🇪🇪 Tallinn
 * Winners: Saint Petersburg (Cup); (Bowl)

Headlines

 * 13 March – The two Paris-based clubs in the Top 14, Racing 92 and Stade Français, announced plans to merge into a single club, effective with the 2017–18 season.
 * 16 March – World Rugby announced details of a new global rugby calendar taking effect after the 2019 Rugby World Cup and running until 2032. Highlights include:
 * The June Test window will be shifted to July, allowing Super Rugby to conduct an uninterrupted season.
 * The windows for November Tests and the Rugby World Cup will move forward by a week.
 * The new July Test window will include opportunities for "Tier 2" nations, among them Canada, Georgia, Japan, the Pacific islands, Romania, and the U.S., to host tours by Tier 1 national teams. WR stated that the number of annual matches between Tier 1 and Tier 2 national teams would increase by nearly 40 percent.
 * In the years following Rugby World Cups, SANZAAR nations (Rugby Championship participants) will only play two July Tests.
 * 19 March – Racing 92 and Stade Français announced that their planned merger had collapsed following major resistance, including a strike by Stade players.
 * 9 April – Super Rugby organiser SANZAAR announced that the competition would drop three of its 18 teams after the 2017 season. Australia will lose one of its five teams, and South Africa two of its six. The affected unions were to determine which franchises would be axed.
 * 10 April – RugbyWA, the governing body for the sport in Western Australia and operator of the Western Force, one of two Australian sides in danger of being axed from Super Rugby, announced that it had brought legal action against the Australian Rugby Union regarding the process of determining the franchise to be contracted.
 * 10 May – World Rugby announced significant reform of its Regulation 8, which covers international eligibility:
 * From 31 December 2020 forward, the required period of continuous residency in a country for purposes of international eligibility will increase from three years to five.
 * Effective immediately, individuals with 10 years of cumulative residency in a country who are not previously tied to another national team will be eligible for that country as long as they meet the continuous residency requirement.
 * Effective 1 January 2018, a member union cannot nominate its under-20 national team as its "A" side. This means that playing on a U-20 national team will not bind the player to that country at senior level.
 * Effective 1 July 2017, rugby sevens players will not be tied to a national union until either of the following events occurs:
 * They play for a senior national sevens team after reaching age 20.
 * They represent a national team in the Olympic sevens tournament or Rugby World Cup Sevens after reaching the age of majority in said country.
 * 30 June – BBC Wales reported that the Cheetahs and Southern Kings, the two most likely South African teams to be dropped from Super Rugby, would join the European Pro12 competition as early as the 2017–18 season.
 * 7 July – The South African Rugby Union announced that the Cheetahs and Kings would be dropped from Super Rugby.
 * 1 August – Pro12 organiser Celtic Rugby Limited announced that the Cheetahs and Southern Kings would be added to the renamed Pro14 competition from the 2017–18 season forward.
 * 10 November – The 2017 induction class of the World Rugby Hall of Fame was enshrined at a ceremony held at the Hall's facility in Rugby. Inductees were:
 * Rob Andrew,
 * Al Charron,
 * Felipe Contepomi,
 * Phaidra Knight,
 * Fabien Pelous,
 * 15 November – World Rugby announced that France would host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
 * 26 November – The 2017 World Rugby Awards were presented at a gala in Monaco:
 * Men's Player of the Year: Beauden Barrett,
 * Women's Player of the Year: Portia Woodman,
 * Team of the Year:
 * Coach of the Year: 🇦🇺 Eddie Jones,
 * Breakthrough Player of the Year: Rieko Ioane,
 * Men's Sevens Player of the Year: Perry Baker,
 * Women's Sevens Player of the Year: Michaela Blyde,
 * World Rugby Referee Award: Joy Neville,
 * World Rugby Award for Character: Eduardo Oderigo, 🇦🇷
 * Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service: Marcel Martin,
 * IRPA Try of the Year: Joaquín Tuculet, (vs. )
 * IRPA Special Merit Award: Richie McCaw, and Rachael Burford,

Significant deaths

 * 6 February – Joost van der Westhuizen, South Africa international (45)
 * 12 February – Sione Lauaki, Tonga-born New Zealand international (35)
 * 18 February – Dan Vickerman, South Africa-born Australia international (37)
 * 25 February –
 * Lloyd Williams, Wales international captain (83)
 * Elli Norkett, Wales international (20)
 * 11 April – David Perry, England international (79)
 * 20 August – Colin Meads, New Zealand international (81)

= 2018 in rugby union =

International tournaments

 * 27 January 2018 – 3 March 2018: 2018 Americas Rugby Championship
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place: ; 4th place: ; 5th place: ; 6th place:
 * 30 May – 17 June: 2018 World Rugby Under 20 Championship in 🇫🇷
 * Participating teams:
 * Pool A:, , and
 * Pool B:, , and
 * Pool C:, , and
 * 2018 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy

Northern hemisphere national teams

 * 14 October 2017 – 20 May 2018: 2017-18 Rugby Europe International Championships
 * 28 October 2017 – 14 April 2018: 2017-18 Rugby Europe Trophy
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place: ; 4th place: ; 5th place: ; 6th place:
 * 2 February – 8 March: 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place: ; 4th place: ; 5th place: ; 6th place:
 * 3 February – 17 March: 2018 Men's Six Nations Championship
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place: ; 4th place: ; 5th place: ; 6th place:
 * 10 February – 18 March: 2018 Rugby Europe Championship
 * Round Robin - 1st place: ; 2nd place: ; 3rd place: ; 4th place: ; 5th place: ; 6th place:
 * 28 April – 2 June: 2018 Asia Rugby Championship
 * Round Robin - Participating teams:, ,

Southern hemisphere national teams

 * 9 – 16 June: 2018 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
 * Participating teams:, , ,
 * 18 August – 6 October: 2018 Rugby Championship
 * Participating teams:, , ,

Northern hemisphere clubs

 * 18 August 2017 – 14 January 2018: 2017–18 Top League in 🇯🇵, won by Suntory Sungoliath
 * 13 October 2017 – 12 May 2018: 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup, won by Leinster
 * 12 October 2017 – 11 May 2018: 2017–18 European Rugby Challenge Cup, won by 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Cardiff Blues}}
 * 1 September 2017 – 26 May 2018: 2017–18 Pro12
 * 26 August 2017 – 2 June 2018: 2017–18 Top 14 season in 🇫🇷
 * 1 September 2017 – 26 May 2018: 2016–17 Aviva Premiership in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Southern hemisphere clubs

 * 29 January – 16 April: 2018 Varsity Cup in, won by Maties
 * 9 February – 10 April: 2018 Varsity Shield in
 * 17 February – 4 August: 2018 Super Rugby season in, 🇳🇿, 🇦🇺, 🇦🇷 and
 * Upcoming: 2018 Currie Cup Premier Division in
 * Upcoming: 2018 Currie Cup First Division in
 * Upcoming: 2018 National Rugby Championship in 🇦🇺 and

Deaths
= 2018 in rugby sevens =

Deaths
= 2018 in rugby league =

Deaths
=2018 in South Africa=

3 January

 * Mlungisi Bali, 27, Rugby union player (Griffons, Border Bulldogs), stabbing.
 * Keorapetse Kgositsile, 79, Poet and journalist.
 * Lara Kruger, 30, Disc jockey (Motsweding FM) and transgender rights activist.

9 January

 * Gerald Morkel, 76, Politician, Premier of the Western Cape (1998-2001), Mayor of Cape Town (2001-2002).

18 January

 * Lucas Mangope, 94, Politician, President of Bophuthatswana (1977-1994).

19 January

 * Dik Abed, 73, South African-born Dutch cricketer.

20 January

 * Harry Selby, 92, Hunter and Safari guide.

21 January

 * David Pithey, 81, Cricketer.

23 January

 * Hugh Masekela, 78, Jazz trumpeter ("Grazing in the Grass", "Bring Him Back Home") and composer ("Soweto Blues").

25 January

 * Sandy Mokwena, 68, Actor ("Yizo Yizo" and e.tv's "Scandal!").

29 January

 * Clive van Ryneveld, 89, Cricketer (National team, 1951-1958), rugby union player (England national rugby union team) and politician (United Party and Progressive Party).

31 January

 * David Phetoe, 85, Actor ("Generations", "Sgudi Snyasi" and "Cry, The Beloved Country").

12 February

 * Mogau Tshehla, 26, Footballer.

2 April

 * Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 81, anti-apartheid activist and politician.

Louis Brittz
Louis Brittz is a South African singer and songwriter of Christian music, as well as a worship leader. He is also a lawyer by training. He has recorded 13 CD's, which contains self-written songs as well as some well-known praise and worship material from around the world. He sings in his native language, Afrikaans, as well as in English. He is also the CEO of Merchant Music, a South African record label that records, markets and distributes music.

Louis is married to Hettie, and they have three children, Idalise, Pero and Simoné.

Retief Bruger
I want to make a page for Retief Burger, South African gospel singer

= Eskom =

What are a Sandbox? ~