Sanzar must call SA’s boycott bluff
12 Feb 2012
South Africa’s five existing Super Rugby franchises have threatened to pull out of the competition in 2013 – if six South African teams are not accommodated. MARK KEOHANE says Sanzar needs to call their bluff.
Once again the tail is wagging the dog. Once again Saru’s leadership is being shown as pathetic and without bite.
Oregan Hoskins, the greatest of disappointments as a leader, needs to stand tall and dismiss the threats of the five South African regions. He won’t and the regions will continue to hold the national governing body to ransom, when it should be the other way around.
Rapport newspaper’s sports editor Rudolph Lake wrote of a meeting between the five regions, a meeting sanctioned by Saru, in which they would look at solutions to the Kings’ entry into Super Rugby in 2013. The same regions, whose leadership had unanimously accepted the Kings’ 2013 entry more than two years ago, now feel the need for crisis meetings, in which the only solution is to accommodate six South African teams.
Now comes the threat that all five South African regions will boycott the tournament if they don’t get their own way. Any proper leadership will tell you they have no option but to play in the tournament. If they don’t they are in breach of existing contracts, they lose their primary source of income and they won’t have a region, let alone players.
It makes for a dramatic headline. It sounds spectacular. But there is no way they should even be in a position to make such a demand.
Sanzar’s board members should be laughing at South African administrators who are nothing but an embarrassment with their insular agendas and motives.
On Sunday the City Press sports section was led by an expose of the Golden Lions Rugby Union’s finances. Leading Media24 investigative journalist Jacques Pauw reveals that the Lions liabilities exceeded assets by R46.6 million in 2007, by R49.6 million in 2008, by R63 million in 2009 and by R73 million in 2010. It shows the Lions owing R38 million to Absa for an overdraft facility, R18 million to businessmen Robert Gumede and Ivor Ichikowitz, R14 million to Saru, R5 million to former coach Dick Muir, R6.8 million to the Leopards Rugby Union and R4.5 million to the Pumas Rugby Union.
Who are the Lions to threaten a boycott of the tournament?
Hoskins confirmed to Lake he had received a letter from the five regions with the threat of the boycott and that he was ‘shocked and disappointed’.
Come on, Regan. Show some leadership. You can’t always be shocked and disappointed. Sending the letter to the other nine provinces for input is also not about leadership, but more denial.
If the five ‘traditional’ provinces don’t want to play in Super Rugby, then kick them out and play the next five. Forget about provincial identities and focus on the players. The players will move to where the playing opportunity is.
The five traditional unions, among them the cash-strapped Lions and Cheetahs, have no position of strength when it comes to Super Rugby participation.
The bluff to force an expansion of Super Rugby from 15 to 16 teams and six South African teams should not be tolerated within Sanzar. If SA does not play ball, as per the agreed Sanzar deal and broadcasting arrangement, then Sanzar and the broadcasters should sue Saru and the respective regions/provinces.
What we are seeing here is how administrators in South African rugby have always conducted their business, be it by bullying or bluffing. The threat to withdraw should be a threat from Sanzar to kick them out.
Hoskins, in his time as Saru president, has never made a hard decision to show he is in charge. He has failed transformation and failed at everything that requires a decision and potential confrontation.
Don’t expect this situation to be any different, although I’d like to think those wizards in New Zealand and Australia have slightly more business acumen and a bigger set of balls to tell South Africa’s traditional five to F-off and stop their shenanigans.
Saru should have dealt with who falls out long before they gave the Kings the OK to play in the 2013 tournament. If it is on historical performance then the Lions must go. And if you look at their finances they should have gone ages ago.
307 Comments
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12 Feb 2012, 20:01 pm
Where is transformation.
12 Feb 2012, 20:02 pm
@David-244:
Ja neh – nothing wrong with passion for your team, its what makes us strong.
12 Feb 2012, 20:03 pm
Oops sorry
12 Feb 2012, 20:04 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-213:
Ekstralong Balsack and Allblacksaregods are one and the same guy, albeit the only two we know, of a lot of extra people living in ET’s head
12 Feb 2012, 20:04 pm
@Transformation-246: according to other sauces the debt owed to SARU was settled in 2010 so those numbers quoted may be wrong or right …. depending on which sauces you like.
12 Feb 2012, 20:04 pm
@PissAnt-232:
regional franchises twak.
a nz franchise has won 1 of the past 5 years of superrugby.
sure, it took a lot longer for sa sides to come up to speed but the sharks, bulls and recently stormers are top half if not top 6 sides now.
12 Feb 2012, 20:07 pm
Haha the real hero here is **** Muir. How he deserved his millions is a million dollar question!
12 Feb 2012, 20:07 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-256:
And what has it done for their rugby as a collective? How has their model assisted their national coach and the All Blacks given their limited player numbers and being at the arsed end of the world?
12 Feb 2012, 20:07 pm
@PissAnt-242:
Yes. So the question is, how many Lions fans are sitting at home rather than filling Ellis Park due to the Lions bad management over the last few years.
And now compare that to the number of PAYING bums on seats that the Kings will be able to draw to the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, should they become successful.
Then compare the total revenue that is being lost and we will be able to calculate which of the two franchises makes the most sense, from a purely commercial perspective.
I reckon the Kings could consistently get maybe 25000 people to a Super Rugby game, once they are up and running and have big name players. Maybe even 30 000. But those 30 000 will probably be paying about 50% of the ticket price that a Lions fan would pay, if he went to Soccer City – which can probably draw 40 000 fans weekly, if the Lions were performing to their potential.
So that’s 30 000 x say R60 for the Kings compared to 40 000 x R120 for the Lions.
And that’s simply due to the higher disposable income and larger group of high earners in Jo’burg than in PE.
Financially, it makes more sense to sort out the mess in the Lions management, than to give the Kings free entry into Super Rugby.
12 Feb 2012, 20:10 pm
“Blacks will soon be the richest segment of SA society”
And in the same comment you preach that we should deal with reality. Your posts are increasingly obnoxious and narrow minded and this takes the cake. How can you live in a country and know nothing of what goes on? Or are you not capable of understanding simple logic? Tell me, if all yobs are yips and all yaks are yobs does that make all yips yaks?
The richest INDIVIDUALS in SA may well soon be “blacks”, whether that is currently the case I very much doubt. If you take that to mean that “blacks” will soon be the richest segment of society as a collective how do you respond to the fact that the poorest INDIVIDUALS in SA are, always have been and probably always will be “blacks”? Does that make them simultaneously the poorest segment of society? Get your head out of your backside. Race in this country is a side issue and if people like you continue to dispute that then yours bigoted beliefs will become self-fulfilling prophecies.
12 Feb 2012, 20:14 pm
@PissAnt-238:
sorry, but you can’t put a unions history and repetative mismanagement down to superrugby inclusion.There are always examples of sides playing well above themselves.
the bulls have won the most cc titles even though I think they were the last union to form long before superrubgy ever started. Even going back to 1998 the bulls beat the bok-laden wp in the cc final?
and in 2005 the cheetahs beat the bok laden bulls?
How did the EP do, did they even win a title in their history?
holy cow, even griqua-land west won CC titles?
my point is that superrugby inclusion is no gaurentee to success on the field or success financially.
12 Feb 2012, 20:17 pm
Amazing how all the arguements in here scream emotions , yet not one really offers a solution?
A simple fact is if the KIngs played Super rugby next year they would be the laughing stock of Rugby, Not because they are clowns but because they are just so far off the pace it is scary.
I know we all discussed this about 2 years ago already, yet till now wer have seen nothing from SARU to plan their way into Sper Rugby, We have seen the KIngs just start to gain a little momentum just to fall apart again as is the case now. YES THE KINGS WILL NOT BEAT ANY OF THE 5 SR UNIONS.
Now surely the Kings being guarenteed a sspot in Super Rugby by SARU should be guided and assisted at lower levels first? If systems and Finances are in place then surely knowing the future plans they should be playing VC in Super Rugby time and then CC? And if their player base is good enough over about a 3 year period they could maybe have been close to being ready , and even if they came last would atleast be some kind of oposition?
Right now however there still is no plans to rectify this, no plan for their inclusion at all accept stupid promises that can only lead to harming SA Rugby that already is close to being the laughing stock of world rugby.
Yes, the KIngs region deserve to be in Super rugby as all other provinces do get some form of representation, the EC does not, but for heavens sakeafter their long poor history of late , surely 1 million times more effort and thought should have gone into this???
And right now the Kings are going nowhere fast as all they see is a guarentee in terms of entry, but in terms of being realistic competitors? they are 5 years behind, and then only will they get their if they play in the bigger leagues.
12 Feb 2012, 20:18 pm
@PissAnt-258:
I agree, their national coach benifits the most but I am of a different line of thought withregards to rugby’s future.
I see superrugby/heineken cup being the pre-eminent rugby to watch much like footballs champions league with internationals being relegated to worldcups and something to resemble the european cup.
12 Feb 2012, 20:23 pm
@Tacitus-259: the bigger question to ask is how many Lion supporters jumped ship to support the Bullies. I can tell you many many thousands – just waiting to jump ship back to their local union. Personally those fair-weather Lions can keep their blue supporter jerseys. They are not needed or missed.
12 Feb 2012, 20:33 pm
@RL-264:
What about their money?
12 Feb 2012, 20:33 pm
@Tacitus-259:
You are again comparing have’s with have not’s.
Why compare the a fan base of a team that has been entrenched in Super Rugby for years to one that has not? My counter for that would be quite simple, take the Lions out of Super Rugby for 5 years and look what happens to their support base.
Alternatively, forget about Super Rugby participation completely and consider tangible factors.
For instance:
* How many clubs, and therefore supporters and reach does each franchise potentially have?
* What is their GDP in relation to their population density? (potential market)
* How many schools, colleges and universities do they represent?
Perhaps that is a much better way to approach this debate?
12 Feb 2012, 20:39 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-256: this still doesnt justify letting the kings in or letting SA have a 6th team
sure SA sides are getting better on one end of the table but look at the teams on the other end. with Cheetahs and Lions finishing in the bottom 5
12 Feb 2012, 20:41 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-261:
No it’s not (Super Rugby inclusion being a guarantee of success) but it should be shouldn’t it?
So why is everyone so scared to give the Kings a shot? I mean all in sundry believe they will fail don’t they? So let them prove everyone right?
Or are some folks scared they might just be proven wrong???
12 Feb 2012, 20:44 pm
Anycase, been fun but its enough from me for one day.
Have a good evening folks.
12 Feb 2012, 20:48 pm
given that the opening paragraph of this article has been proven as bullshit, why should we believe what was written subsequently?
12 Feb 2012, 20:53 pm
I for one am very grateful that rugby has not gone the way of that shambles of a sport, football. At least in rugby, playing for your country is still the pinnacle.
And most rugby fans worldwide would agree. SA’s provincialism is one of the major reasons why SA – with all their playing numbers and potential – perennially underachieve when the likes of NZ and Aus overachieve.
Down with provincialism. Up with the Boks.
12 Feb 2012, 21:01 pm
SARU can hand out the franchises to whoever they want in 2013, but all the players are contracted by the unions
Nothing prevents the unions from negotiating a series on their own, they can do a breakaway Kerry Packer type series
How would SARU keep up their end of the bargain with SANZAR if they don’t have any first rate players?
Do you think Newscorp would still pay the coin they do to see Cheeky’s Kings and four others lose with cricket scores week after week?
12 Feb 2012, 21:18 pm
pissant
is a
political
yes man
12 Feb 2012, 21:21 pm
@victoriabok-272:
Everything prevents the Unions from breaking away. The IRB would disown them and the players. None would be eligible for Test rugby or any other rugby competition.
Do you think the players would stay with rogue unions? They’d just move to a new recognised Franchise and union.
12 Feb 2012, 21:23 pm
Johannesburg – Golden Lions rugby is hopelessly insolvent.
This despite on Thursday announcing a three-year multimillion-rand sponsorship deal from property firm Redefine.
A 140-page forensic report compiled by accounting firm KPMG last year, and other documents in the possession of City Press, paint a dismal picture of the Golden Lions and its marketing and managing company, Ellis Park Stadium (Pty) Ltd (EPS).
The report shows that Golden Lions rugby nearly lost its most prized asset – Ellis Park (Coca-Cola Park) – and the company managing Ellis Park was so mismanaged that it had exposed its directors to possible criminal prosecution.
The last financial report (2010) shows that its total liabilities exceeded its assets by R73 million.
According to the documents and a reliable source close to the developments, Golden Lions rugby owes different parties about R90 million.
This is far less than their total income of around R44 million from the SARU-SuperSport television rights and stadium naming rights from Coca-Cola.
The money is shared with Ellis Park World of Sport (EPWOS), the Ellis Park stadium management joint venture that also incorporates Johannesburg Stadium and the Standard Bank Arena.
The union reportedly makes about R400 000 per home game (13 games per season) on gate takings. This depends on SuperRugby/Currie Cup match attendances, which average about 15 000 before match expenses, including EPWOS’s share.
All suites income goes to EPWOS.
There is a huge shortfall to cover players salaries and the operations budget of about R90 million per annum.
Another disturbing revelation was the disparity between the salaries of black and white players in the Golden Lions.
Springbok Butch James earned over R3 million for the 2011 season in contrast to flyhalf and Currie Cup final man of the match Elton Jantjies’s less than R500 000.
The KPMG report also raises questions about the deal brokered in 2007, where EPS entered into agreement with Orlando Pirates and a little-known empowerment company, Inza.
The deal gave Pirates and Inza 51% of EPWOS, leaving EPS with 49%.
Inza is said to have been brought in by Kevin de Klerk as BEE partners before he became Golden Lions president.
The KPMG forensic report makes serious reservations about the EPWOS deal. It states the company didn’t have a VAT number nor complied with PAYE, income tax nor did it operate the necessary company bank account since inception in 2007.
Instead, it used the EPS bank account and VAT number to bill clients, which was illegal according to the Companies Act and also exposed its directors to criminal investigation.
Furthermore, rugby revenues had been passed through to EPWOS, leaving EPS/Lions exposed to undeclared tax and liabilities.
The report also points out that Pirates had played very few of their games at Ellis Park, contrary to the shareholders agreement.
EPWOS had a staff complement of 40, with CEO Paul Appalsamy earning R1 million a year.
None of the three EPWOS general managers identified by KPMG seemed to be properly qualified for the positions they hold. The general manager of operations was a former paramedic and fire instructor, it said.
EPWOS has never declared any profit or paid dividends.
The union’s financial affairs were also brought under the spotlight by the high court liquidation application filed by Guma-TAC (Gumede and Ichikowitz) in a lawsuit where they claim R11 million from the Lions for money loaned to pay players’ salaries in December 2010 and January 2011.
In an earlier (January 2012) media statement, Guma-TAC stated that “had the Lions failed to pay the players’ salaries over this period, it would have led to the breach of players’ contracts, which would have led to an exodus of key players, if not all. Furthermore, the loans enabled the Lions to sign top international players, such as Butch James and Lionel Mapoe, and to pay the 24 amateur feeder clubs their grants. Without Gumede and Ichikowitz money, the Lions would not have won the Currie Cup.”
They said the union borrowed the money to pay the salaries of players after they signed a conditional deal in 2010 that they would purchase a 49.9% stake in the rugby franchise, which heralded a new dawn for the Lions and rugby transformation.
The deal fell apart towards the middle of last year.
Ichikowitz and Gumede claim the EPWOS deal was a bad business one for the Lions as it resulted in EPS ceding control of an asset and its income.
EPWOS made a loss of R14 million in 2008 and showed a profit of R10 million in 2010 – thanks to the 2010 Soccer World Cup – although the amount paid by FiIFA was the subject of a dispute. The Golden Lions won last year’s Currie Cup and are now about to embark on their 2012 Super Rugby campaign.
Announcing the three-year sponsorship deal this week, De Klerk said: “We project to be cash flush in months – we are not saying we are not – but this has gone a long way in alleviating the situation at the Lions.”
He did not respond to any questions about the KPMG forensic report or allegations of bankruptcy by Gumede and Ichikowitz, but claimed in other media interviews this week that the pair were behind a media campaign against the club.
Neither Gumede nor Ichikowitz would comment this week.
12 Feb 2012, 21:25 pm
This girl in True Grit has a lotta lip! I like it!
12 Feb 2012, 21:27 pm
@victoriabok-272: howzit pietertjie.
12 Feb 2012, 21:43 pm
@David-274: let it go bro ,it’s like fighting with yourself.
12 Feb 2012, 21:45 pm
Fark we struggling in Vegas.
12 Feb 2012, 21:45 pm
@clm-277:
Byt my, doos
12 Feb 2012, 21:46 pm
@clm-278:
You’re right, it’s pointless arguing with someone who hasn’t a clue about what he’s talking about.
12 Feb 2012, 21:47 pm
@Jeraldjay-279:
What’s the score?
12 Feb 2012, 21:49 pm
@David-282:
15-0 with 4:30 to go.
12 Feb 2012, 21:51 pm
the blitzies are messing up big time
12 Feb 2012, 21:52 pm
20-0 with 1:30 to go.
12 Feb 2012, 21:55 pm
@Jeraldjay-285:
Oh sh*t!
12 Feb 2012, 21:55 pm
at last a try,albeit a consolation one.20-7 to the kiwis
12 Feb 2012, 21:56 pm
Final score, AB’s 20 – SA 7.
12 Feb 2012, 21:59 pm
pathetic display by a pathetic bunch of individuals, ****** “blitzbokke” my arse.
watching cecil afrika and branco d smallfry try and goose step every player is simply excrutiating.
paul treu for bok backline coach? bwaaahaaa, the okes he trains dont even have the requiste skills for sevens.
fkken waste of time.
p.s. thes boys look sh i t scared, they must not waste my time in future.
12 Feb 2012, 22:00 pm
@Jeraldjay-288: Mistake orgy form the Saffas. Afrika the only one trying his arse off.
12 Feb 2012, 22:03 pm
Well tackler will be pleased
12 Feb 2012, 22:06 pm
@Tuna-290:
I’m sick and tired of loosing to the AB’s, irrespective of it being 7′s.
12 Feb 2012, 22:11 pm
@Jeraldjay-292:
I hope you don’t mind me correcting your english, but the word is “losing”, with one “o”.
12 Feb 2012, 22:14 pm
@David-293:
Thanks. Its late and I’m pissed off.:lol:
12 Feb 2012, 22:17 pm
@Tuna-290: j throwing intercept passes and refusing to look for the offoad.
looked like a bunch of glory hunters to me tonight, not one looked to put his fellows into space.
seriosly poor and embarrassing imo, maybe they have accepted mediocrity?
12 Feb 2012, 22:20 pm
@Jeraldjay-294:
Cheers everyone.
12 Feb 2012, 22:28 pm
@rangerman-289: feeling better now?
12 Feb 2012, 22:48 pm
You shouldn’t take Sevens so seriously. Stick to your strengths, and you’ll be a happier person.
Same applies to SA rugby. A game without lineouts, mauls, and a lot of forward play and kicking simply doesn’t suit us. You’re in for lots more heartache if you continue to want to dominate the world in basketball style Sevens rugby.
13 Feb 2012, 01:02 am
Face facts — Solly and Cheeky’s rag-tag EP crowd couldn’t beat an egg. And with only 5 players-of-colour in their losing Vodacup team squad of 22 ( compared with 10/22 for the winners, Boland, they do nothing for so-called “transformation” either.
13 Feb 2012, 08:02 am
Off season fun and the sparring between Tac and PA illustrates SA’s problem quite well. Tac is all Bulls and the big unions, keep the power, even to the detriment of SA rugby while PA seems to suggest a “transformation” where the government (SARU) despite being useless and corrupt holds the power. Surely the answer is a middle ground; actually fewer, stronger well run franchises then SARU runs academies and development properly, feeding players through the CC into SR. The Tac route leads to English soccer – strong clubs, second rate national team. “Transformation” leads to corruption and second rate everything.
Finally I think rugby in SA is dying, albeit slowly. PA sneers at Tac’s estimates but doesn’t provide real numbers. They may be interesting, particularly with time.
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