Skop.Thanks for the humour.Regards.

Keohane has been a public figure since his days as Springbok Communications Manager under the ill-fated reigns of both Harry Viljoen and Rudolph Streauli, until he resigned in protest over SARFU’s handling of the Geo Cronjé racism debacle involving Quinton Davids. Keohane went on to publish a book about the episode and the state of the Springboks in general, and was widely criticized by Springbok players (most notably Corné Krige) as deliberately attempting to sow division within their ranks and to undermine SA Rugby in general.

In recent times Keohane has been busying himself in the extensive business interests of HSM, as well as media relations of other entities, such as Jake White’s Winning Ways – a business partnership which ended in a heated law suit, kept hushed away out of the public sphere. Even more recently, however, HSM -and Mark Keohane in particular – were awarded the contract to manage the media, marketing and public relations of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). The awarding of this contract was never put up for tender, as is standard government procedure, but was rather awarded directly to HSM (although Keohane states that normal application took place, the fact remains it should have gone to tender).

And this is where the Keo connection begins to reveal itself.

During his time at SA Rugby, Mark Keohane worked alongside the likes of Rian Oberholzer (President of SARFU), Songezo Nayo (Managing Director), Gary Grant (Marketing Director) and the current president of SASCOC – Gideon Sam (Springbok Team Manager).

All four names mentioned above are currently directors of sports marketing company Accelerate Sports, with Gideon Sam being appointed as Chairman. Gideon Sam also serves on the Lotto Distribution Board, but excused himself when dealing with the funding grant to SA Cycling, a grant from which Accelerate Sport received commission to the tune of R 26 million – a blatant conflict of interest.

Accelerate Sport, through their subsidiary Access Facilities and Leisure Management (AFLM), were also awarded the contract as operations manager of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. It is reported that this contract brings in a whopping R 600 000 a month to the coffers of Accelerate. It is the duty of AFLM to source events to be staged at the stadium to generate revenue and keep the stadium sustainable.

And here the connection between rugby and Accelerate begins to become clear.

The contract between AFLM and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro states that, above the R 600 000 a month, AFLM are to be awarded performance bonuses based on the revenue they generate, providing this amount exceeds R 12,5 million a year. The structure of this bonus is as follows:

The Operator will be paid 10% of any amount above R12.5 million but less than R15 million, and then:

· 12.5% of any amount in excess of R15 million but less than R20 million;

· 15% of any amount in excess of R20 million but less than R25 million; and

· 20% of any amount in excess of R25 million.

It is thus blatantly clear that it is in the best interests of Accelerate to find events which will draw spectators, such as concerts etc.

But what better way to ensure constant revenue, week after week, than playing host to a top tier sports team. If only the Eastern Cape had one.

But wait, Accelerate have strong ties to SARU, they do after all boast an ex-president in their ranks. Would it at this point seem ludicrous to suggest that Oberholzer, Sam, Grant and Nayo used their previous connections to SARU to, excuse the pun, accelerate the Kings’ inclusion in Super Rugby so as to ensure that their business interest was being looked after, leading to SARU’s shock announcement at the Heyneke Meyer press conference about the Kings’ guaranteed inclusion in Super Rugby for 2013? Surely not.

So where does Mark Keohane fit into all this?

Keohane has recently stepped up his anti – Lions rhetoric in his articles, and while not directly naming the Kings in his most recent one, it is clear where his views emanate from. The vested interest he has in servicing his ex-colleagues at SARU (SASCOC contracts etc.) has clearly skewed the views of an already overly opinionated man.

But wait, there’s more.

After the establishment of the Kings, the son of Cheeky Watson – president of the Eastern Province Rugby Union (under which the Kings operate) – Luke, was brought back from Bath to play for the Kings. In May 2011 HSM (with Mark Keohane again at the forefront) announced that it had decided to enter into the field of player management, a first for the publishing company. Furthermore it was announced that their first client would be none other than Luke Watson. Queue the Mark Keohane propaganda machine.

The cover of the very next SA Rugby magazine was adorned by – yes, you guessed it – Luke Watson, with the rather flattering caption “Return of the King”. This was to be only the start of the Keohane marketing hype surrounding Watson and the Kings.

At the same press conference where SARU dropped the Kings bombshell on an unsuspecting audience, Ryan Vrede, a HSM journalist, asked Heyneke Meyer if Luke Watson – a player languishing in the second tier of SA Rugby and who hasn’t been in Bok contention since mid-2008 – was a contender for the position of Springbok captain. These blatant attempts by Keohane to force the name of Luke Watson into mainstream media while he has done nothing to get it there serves to illustrate the hidden agenda and inherent corrupt nature of a man who has lived off the rise and fall of others for far too long.

Not only has the media machine being rolling for Luke Watson, but others being managed under yet another Accelerate Sport company – In-Site Athlete Management – have been enjoying a rise in publicity in SA Rugby magazine as well. Willem Alberts received some ego stroking in May 2011, as did another In-Site managed player -Joe van Niekerk – in March 2012, with the article stating that he is playing the best rugby of his career at Toulon. Buttering him up for a big money move back to SA perhaps?

It is clear that Keo’s connection into Accelerate stretches deep, with an “I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine” policy which benefits both sides. Gideon Sam made sure he looked after Mark with the awarding of the SASCOC account, Mark in turn ensures that the business interests of Accelerate Sport and its stakeholders remains in the mainstream media, and they all walk away happy.

The reason why Keo has gone on a Lions bashing campaign of late should come as no surprise when taking the above into account. Mark Keohane is no longer a journalist; he hasn’t been for quite a while. He is a businessman with a platform to promote his interests and those of others close to him, a platform which he uses selflessly and without shame.

He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is the worm in the apple, and the rot starts with him.

Disclaimer

Lets talk nostalgia.Mannetjies Roux best centre ever.Played against him vs PBHS
in 1954 Under 15 A. In days when try worth 3 points he scored more than
30 points against us.
Spent the rest of the season playing Under 15B.

I absolutely understand why you are angry about the situation right now.
I absolutely understand why you dislike keo.
Where I agree with you is that the conflict of interest around Watson wise makes one question his objectivity wrt the Kings debate.
I am not happy about the conflict and I do perceive that it may have influenced his journalism.

But he is a journalist and should be commenting on the Kings debate. All journalists should be commenting on it.

But to accuse keo of being the puppet master or implying that it would not be a problem without him? No.

This is not a new problem. It goes back 5 years. SARU made a commercial deal with the government. Then they failed to negotiate well in SANZAR.
Now their chickens have come home to roost.

It’s not a new thing that this is SARUs fault. I have been on about this subject since the Spears. SARU dodged the bullet with the Spears but then made the same mistake on the next WCbid.

When the S15 format came out l2 years ago or more I was furious because of the blunder. Wind the clock forward 2 or more years and now we have the situation where 6 does not go into 5.

Direct your anger at the right target. For that see the Union Prez ( start with yours) and SARU who are appointed by the Union Prezs

I can’t even blame the government here. SARU did not even have to ask for government support on the WC. But a deal is a deal and all the Union Prezs are culpable to varying extents.

the sharks were glad to see the back of watson.

he left to join a team “with a chance of winning trophies”

look how that turned out?

I was just about to say something good aout Tommy Bedford,but then you pissed me off, lol

Cheers.

Outtahere

Farkit, i compared Daniel to Louw ( no need to compare him to the greats of the game) and then i mentioned two other great players just for interest sake.. What the fark are u on about?

Are you drunk or stoned or both?

Fark why dont we compare them all to Kruger or Kronfeld or Rives… Sheezus talk about having a randomized a.nal farken comparison…

Rob was also a clasical tearaway flanker
He was certainly much faster than Daniel, without any doubt more skillfull.
Balls? Evens I would say, both have huge hearts.
Intelligence: On the field probably evens- off the field I cannot say.

The best tearaway flanker i have ever seen (nobody comes even close) was the Irishman called Fergus Slattery
Best rugby player i ever saw was Gareth Edwards.

Oh how he and the Kings deserve one another… The “Martyr” and “his” team lol

Today the game breakers are the youngsters..

Daniel – Hooper – Coetsee – Kolisi – Stander

But if you are denying that in 2005 Watson basically carried Sharks in pretty much all their games till John Smit had enough of having to realize that Watson was about to undermine his leadership or steal his cherry .. and JW’s stand off policies did the rest of the in depth character assassination among the boetie boetie shenanigans that went on in those change rooms.. then you just as brainwashed befuddled as the rest ..

Watson of 2005 in a personality perspective is almost a carbon copy of Daniel 2012 (apart from Daniel possessing more athletic speed to his game while Watson had much better ground ball breakdown infiltrating terrier like attributes and could hold and deliver and offload close to the advantage line better than Daniel does).

And more intelligence… Which is not that hard when compared to Louw

SERIOUSLY

Daniel is the poor man’s Rob Louw….. SERIOUSLY- just think about it a bit.

Daniel is “new” in that he is classical “tearaway” plus back bettering ball skills that none of those loosies you mention even come close to…

Puke seems decidedly average in the company of that list…. SERIOUSLY

same player by a couple ball hairs either to the left or to the right

strange how suddenly Jake the g’dam Fake is all but crying his beloved love affair with Michael Hooper when in 2006 he was so blind to playing a fetcher he rather lose 49-0.. and waddaya know Michael Hooper is suddenly all the rage.. what happened to his bigger is better no fetcher required philosophy unless its beer fetching time?

Watson is almost identical player to Daniel.. same attributes.. similar leadership credentials.. in fact Watson might have had more .. and similar heart and similar head.. Watson was stronger especially at the ball steal and in the trenches, Daniel faster and more of an open game threat.. but Watson of 2005 +/- = Daniel of 2012.. only difference is the perception of the coaches and supporters that have changed.. and the ideological stand off ain’t standing in the way..