DESPERATELY SEEKING MISS SUPER 14

South Africa is blue! No, I'm not referring to the colour of our lips as we snuggle up under our blankies to fend off the first serious cold weather of winter. Tomorrow is the Super 14 Final, and it's The Blue Bulls versus The Chiefs. Provincialism has been set aside, and tomorrow the entire country will be putting it's weight behind the local team from up north.

With the incredible marketing budget that the Super 14 league has at it's disposal, I'm amazed that no-one has thought of staging a Miss Super 14 pageant yet. Pageants are experiencing a revival in Australia and New Zealand, and I'm convinced that a Miss Super 14 pageant will attract all the leading pageant girls in those countries, as well the leading pageant contestants in South Africa.

Rugby and pageants have a history in South Africa. The Miss Toyota Rugby pageant was held annually from 1975 until 1996 over the Easter Weekend at the Toyota Club Rugby Championships in Durban. Each of the participating clubs would stage a preliminary event, and the eight preliminary winners would then compete for the Miss Toyota Rugby title on the Saturday night prior to the rugby final on Easter Monday.

A look at the list of contestants reveals that a number of the "regulars" on the pageant circuit during that period considered the pageant a major title, and a large number of them even competed in the Miss SA pageant. Although I don't recall if any winners of the Miss SA title ever competed, I do know that a number of girls that made the Top 5 at Miss SA did.

To ensure fairness, each of the 14 teams in the Super 14 league would have a representative on the panel of judges. Each judge would then simply be required to rank the contestants from 1 to 14 without awarding "scores" in each of the competition segments. Naturally, each of the judges would be required to place the contestant representing his/her team first.

The winner would officiate at the Super 14 Final and would be the poster girl for the league for the year. Given the success of the recently concluded Miss Bollywood IPL SA pageant, I'm certain that a Miss Super 14 pageant would be just as popular.