Robert Owen Loftus Versfeld, after which the stadium in Pretoria is named, was a lifetime member of the Transvaal Rugby Football Union.

According to a Lions tale – 120 years of the red and white, Versfeld died of a heart attack at Ellis Park in 1932 when he attended a match between Transvaal and the Free State.

However, due to the underperforming team, the union had a hard time to sell these ideas to businessmen and the intended revenue to fund the stadium never materialized.

It was at this time that the then president Jannie le Roux was ousted by the clubs on 3 September 1984, and in his place came self-made millionaire Dr. Louis Luyt, a former provincial lock forward for the Orange Free State.

Luyt also managed to negotiate a clause stipulating that the rugby union had first right of refusal should Volkskas decide to sell the stadium in the future.

His rationale for this was that the general public preferred to sit on the sides of the field, thus these seats were deemed economically unviable.

After winning the Currie Cup in 1972 for the sixth time, supporters had to wait a further 21 years for the trophy to return to Johannesburg.

Finally however, under the guidance of Kitch Christie as head coach and Francois Pienaar as captain, the side was able to win the Currie Cup in 1993 with a 21–15 victory over Natal in Durban.

As a result of South African sides being uncompetitive in the expanded Super 12 competition, South African Rugby decided to manage their 14 provincial unions as franchises, combining the unions for the Super 12 competition, before splitting up again to compete as 14 separate sides in the Currie Cup.

This caused the franchise considerable administrative problems in forming a united identity between the three provincial teams and their supporters.

Players were also reportedly unhappy about the travel arrangements with the members of the Cheetahs and Griquas often being away from their families for extended periods of time.

The Cats did however have a good spell in 2000 and 2001 when under the guidance of former New Zealand coach Laurie Mains the union managed to recruit several young stars like Joe Gillingham, Cobus Gomes, Rory Kockot and reach the semi-finals of the Super 12, where they lost to the Brumbies and the Sharks respectively.

Midway through 2008, Prof. Jannie Fereirra was replaced by former Lions and Springbok lock Kevin de Klerk as president of the GLRU.

With the rise of the Sharks, Blue Bulls and to a lesser extent Western Province, and the tendency of South Africans to play in Europe, the GLRU had difficulty in keeping their star players contracted.

Some of the players who left the GLRU during the 2000s were: Andre Vos, Rassie Erasmus, Joe Gillingham, Andre Pretorius, Willie Wepener, Ethienne Reyneke, Thinus Delport, Schalk Brits, Wikus van Heerden, Gcobani Bobo, Conrad Jantjies, Gerhard Mostert, Anton van Zyl, Jaco Pretorius, Gerhard Vosloo, Joe van Niekerk, Wayne Julies, Ernst Joubert, Ricky Januarie, with players such as Rory Kockot being lost through the unions youth system.

This opened the door for Willem Alberts and Louis Ludik to join the Sharks for the 2010 season, even though they were also under contract with the GLRU.

In 2009 the GLRU invited former Springbok coach Jake White’s company Winning Ways to conduct an audit of the Union's systems and structures, after which it was recommended that immediate changes needed to be made.

[1] The players threatened to strike in response, and lost their next match to the touring British and Irish Lions, who ran in ten tries to win 74–10.

The Lions finished sixth on the 2009 Currie Cup, losing 6 games by less than 7 points with physical conditioning and defence being a particular focus for their campaign.

In 2011 under new coach John Mitchell, a new style was implemented, and the Lions won their first Currie Cup title in 12 years.

The team had to rebuild again with new players, new head coach Johan Ackermann, new CEO Rudolf Straeuli and President Kevin De Klerk.

The following players have been included so far in the Golden Lions squad for the 2023 Currie Cup Premier Division:[4] Props Hookers Locks Loose forwards Scrum-halves Fly-halves Centres Wingers Fullbacks