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Online petition launched for 2022 Lions tour

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

A petition has been created online to postpone the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa to 2022 and avoid the series being moved to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Rising Covid-19 cases in South Africa, in conjunction with a new variant of the virus, have made it unlikely that the world champions will host the Lions as planned this summer. 

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One of the alternatives is to host the series in the UK and Ireland, but that has already faced stiff opposition from those that feel it diverges from the tradition of the Lions tour. 

This petition has therefore been created on change.org by Mark Gardner titled Keep the Lions Tour in South Africa – Postpone to 2022 and DO NOT switch to UK and Ireland. It has been signed by more than 1,400 people so far. 

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Lawrence Dallaglio rewatches the 1997 second Lions Test in the company of RugbyPass

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Lawrence Dallaglio rewatches the 1997 second Lions Test in the company of RugbyPass

“Covid-19 will almost certainly prevent the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour from taking place in the host country of South Africa,” Gardner wrote. 

“We are petitioning for the home nations of England (RFU), Scotland (SRU), Ireland (IRFU) and Wales (WRU), who collectively make up the British and Irish Lions board, and South Africa (SA Rugby) to do the right thing by agreeing to switch the Lions tour to 2022, placing this before the needs of their own country’s proposed summer tours. The Lions requires only 36 players from across the four home nations.”

“A well-documented UK-hosted replacement series in July 2021 not only dilutes the rich touring history of the Lions, it denies South Africa’s fans, stadia, businesses, and whole tourism infrastructure the opportunity to host, impress and benefit from the 30,000 fans expected to follow the world’s most passionate invitational touring team.

“UK tour operators, independent travelling fans, airlines and businesses that exist and rely on this outbound tourism would face substantial pressures on losses through commitments made to this date. Britain’s surging Covid rates offer no guarantee that matches on UK soil would provide access to fans, thus opening the potential of Test games held behind closed doors.

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“What makes the Lions special, what makes the Lions unique is the power it has to tempt 30,000+ passionate rugby fans from across Britain and Ireland to embark on a sporting pilgrimage to the opposite side of the globe. Help us reach 30,000 signatures to present this compelling case to keep the Lions in South Africa in July and August 2022 and NOT a watered-down alternative that focuses only on revenue for a select few beneficiaries.”

Postponing the tour carries plenty of complications itself relating to the 2023 World Cup and the tours that have already been organised for each competing country. Discussions are ongoing as to what will happen with the Lions tour, with the decision likely to be announced in February.

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Tom 20 minutes ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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