Latest blow could bury Lions
22 Aug 2012
The Lions’ already perilous financial situation reached a new low on Wednesday with a court of arbitration ordering them to make multi-million rand payments to the Pumas and Leopards.
The Lions have consistently denied rumours they are bankrupt or on the verge thereof, but it is widely known that they are in deep financial trouble. This latest ruling, which comes at the conclusion of a lengthy legal process stemming from the Lions’ continual non-payment of the Pumas and Leopards’ (their franchise partners) portion of the Super Rugby grant distributed by Saru, is a hammer blow.
It comes just days after they were booted out of the 2013 Super Rugby competition to accommodate the Kings and just over a year since the Guma Group withdrew their multi-million rand investment in the franchise.
On Wednesday retired Judge WJ Hartzenberg determined that the Lions must pay the Leopards Rugby Union the amount of R2,565,000, being franchise monies for 2008, 2009 and 2010 ( according to the franchise agreement they are due roughly R250,000 per year). Furthermore they were ordered to pay interest on the R2,565,000, at the rate of 15.5% from the date of the arbitration agreement (31 May 2012) until the date of payment.
The Pumas and Lions came to an agreement regarding payment for the aforemetioned period. However, the Lions have been instructed to engage the two unions on the fair distribution of R6.6 million (the combined sum for 2011 and 2012) within two days after the granting of the arbitration order. Any failure to do so will see Saru step in and decide on this distribution.
Furthermore, the Lions must pay the cost of the arbitration incurred by both the Mpumalanga Rugby Union as well as the Leopards Rugby Union. This amount is likely to be significant given the length and complexity of the proceedings.
The Lions’ primary equity partners Glasfit and MTN, who agreed to a five-year R20 million-a-year deal in January 2011, are expected to review their contracts in light of the Lions’ non-participation in the 2013 Super Rugby competition. Saru has agreed to pay the Lions their share of the R6.6 million they would have been due for 2013 but were non-committal when asked about financial assistance beyond that.
Keo.co.za’s attempts to reach Lions president Kevin de Klerk for comment were unsuccessful.
By Ryan Vrede
34 Comments
22 Aug 2012, 17:43 pm
Jees just when things could not get worse Dragons
22 Aug 2012, 17:55 pm
Ja. Why didnt they pay their franchise partners all these years. Leopards and Pumas had no choice when they were not getting paid.
22 Aug 2012, 18:13 pm
Wtf? Sell Ellis Park. Then disband.
22 Aug 2012, 18:23 pm
And people say that the kings are corrupt ??!! The kings deserve super rugby ahead of these amatuer greedy lions. So glad they not playing now next year , use to feel sorry for them but the **** coming out against the kings everywhere is pathetic from the lions supporters. I am going to enjoy not having them in the comp. Hope its for a long time.
22 Aug 2012, 18:28 pm
Lions obvious that the lions have serious cash flow problems.
….on the plus side think of lionel mapoe and how he shnied the cheetahs and sharks to move to the lions. That is the karma that brings a smile to ones face.
22 Aug 2012, 18:29 pm
Wel will all these facts coming out?? Lons can only Blame themselves,
Good luck to the Kings, hope they gain some players and do themselves proud from next year.
I for one felt eh Kings are no where near ready for SR, but in the light of this, GPOO KIngs
22 Aug 2012, 18:29 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-5:
die wiel draai lol
22 Aug 2012, 19:10 pm
This would have been a better justification from the beginning for including the Kings. I might even have supported the decision then.
22 Aug 2012, 19:15 pm
fluit fluit die storie is uit.Cheers Lions.
22 Aug 2012, 19:22 pm
nothing new here.
i must admit i didn’t thinkit would happen though. i was lead to believe they would be snuck in somehow… not that i wanted it.
its time to do a phoenix job on this union. burn it down and build it back up.
talking about karma, maybe they need to banish the ghost lutyt…
22 Aug 2012, 19:26 pm
ghost of luyt
22 Aug 2012, 19:33 pm
Many people on this blog (who have been huge supporters of the King’s inclusion) have been trying to tell the ‘Kings haters’ that the Lions deserve to be tarred, feathered and rolled down a fuckingroad into oncoming traffic. Or rather, their ‘executive’ deserve this.
Now perhaps many will forget all this misguided pity they have been heaping on the GLRFU, when it has been clear all along that de Klerk and his foot soldiers have to shoulder 98% of the blame for the fuckup that is Lions rugby.
Do clowns like this really deserve to play S15 and reap the cash? Hell no, and now I hope EVERYONE can see it. And to think certain unions actually voted to keep these gravytrainingfuckups in the competition.
How about supporting the Kings a little more now?
22 Aug 2012, 19:46 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-12: Gotto agree , some of the comments aimed at the Kings were pathetic. I wonder now that the Lions are outs money just how many of their players will stay , then also which Lions team will face the last placed SA side next season ?
22 Aug 2012, 20:01 pm
This is good news – broederbond pricks at the Lions negotiated this deal over brandy and coke!
The entire managment at the Lions must go – the fool KDK, his board, the broederbond pricks who suck so called ‘trust’ for personal gain, the entire coaching staff, the doos support staff who have no real jod description, the PA’s and secretaries must go.
Release all players from their contracts and only keep an u21 and u19 team.
Hell liqudate the whole damn setup then start from the begining.
22 Aug 2012, 20:33 pm
Reaping what they sowed
22 Aug 2012, 22:13 pm
Hahaha
Long time coming
Been running union like a spaza shop
Not even a diluted CC win last yr could cover the intrinsic deficiencies indicative of the union
Taute
Mapoe
Jantjies
Strauss
Caylib Oosthuiyzen
Cilliers
Rhodes
Murray
Coetzee
Minnie
Decent players
22 Aug 2012, 22:23 pm
@RL-14: You know so much about the Broederbond, why don’t you inform us who at the Lions is from the Broederbond. You must be very enlightened you know about this support staff in the Lions that must go. I think you just chirp behind a keyboard and think people will believe you, show us the facts if you such and expert.
22 Aug 2012, 22:46 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-5: I see you think Karma got Lionel, well fact is this player was been paid just over R6000 a month to play for Free State. The Sharks took him in a paid him a proper amount but the Cheetahs contract forbid him to play for the Sharks. The Lions then asked Free Sate to take over his contract which Free State were happy to oblige. So Lionel did not Schnie the Cheetahs, they were paying him peanuts and no rugby player will play under those circumstances.
22 Aug 2012, 23:56 pm
why is everyone acting like this is NEWS?
i have been saying this since LAST YEAR already! on the 27 january when heyneke meyer was announced as bok coach SARU asked the Pumas, Leopards to hold off the court action they were planning & allow SARU to mollycoddle the Lions some more.
23 Aug 2012, 04:54 am
Jannie Ferreira (Lions): “Let’s work together to make millions from professional rugby by sharing players and contracting players together.”
Puma/Leopards: “OK. How is this going to work?”
JF (Lions): “Ag never mind that, we will sort it out as we go along. I promise I wont screw you over.”
P/L: “Ag thanks man, thats real nice of you.”
Seriously, WTF? What kind of high level manager would even think of running such a high level deal on a handshake and a prayer? A franchise agreeemnet dealing in huge sums, without a written contract of any kind…
It boggles the mind just how USELESS these guys were. And I am referreing to the Pumas and Leopards top mangement as well. If they are still in their positions, I think a vote of “no confidence” is well overdue for them….
23 Aug 2012, 05:02 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-12: To be fair it is not De klerk that was doing this – it was that fool Jannie Ferreira that left the GLRU in a helluva state – makes you wonder what they were doing for the last 15 years. They weren’t negotiating contracts, they weren’t staffing the Lions with adequate resources or facilituies, they were not attending to conditioning, or putting in professional structures, or talent identification structures, or structures for nurturing grassroots black involvement, or coaching succession, or…or… or… and the list goes on! And they were CERTAINLY not overseeing good financial regulation and governance!
Honestly I think they spent 15 years picking their noses and surfing the ‘Net. I feel sorry for whoever has hired these idiots subsequently… PS does anybody know what Jannie Ferreira and his cornies are doing now?
23 Aug 2012, 05:10 am
@umkhonto-17: I think he meant broederbond in the sense of a bunch of useless Afrikaner cronies sitting around all day giving each other hand jobs, pulling in executuive salaries and doing nothing much else.
It was probably the same bunch of guys that backstabbed Luyt’s son in law(who was probably the only person driving the ship at the time) because Jannie Ferreira promised them sweeties.
23 Aug 2012, 05:55 am
I’m just glad I don’t have to go to that dump Ellis Park anymore. Bring on FNB stadium!
I presume alot of the side unions will start to look at their own franchises like the Kings did.
23 Aug 2012, 07:17 am
Manie Reyneke and Jannie Ferreira are the cause for this meltdown at the Lions and if de Klerk does not put a man with balls and the savvy of rugby in there to pull them out of this cess pit the Lions will be toast.
23 Aug 2012, 07:31 am
Imo…..
The Lions are already toast…..
I heard the story that on matchday at Ellispark they search you for weapons at the entrance, if you haven’t got any … they give you one!
23 Aug 2012, 08:02 am
The article heading should’ve had the word “further” at the end of it…
23 Aug 2012, 08:05 am
@sharks_lover-7: @Brigadier Van Zyl-5: Dis nou nie regtig of die Sharks nie verdien om geshnaai te word nie. Ludik/Alberts debakel… En dan noem ons nie eers al die poaching wat hulle oor die jare in Bloemfontein gedoen het nie.
23 Aug 2012, 09:29 am
Amazing how the pro lions lions (anti Kings) are quiet today.
23 Aug 2012, 14:34 pm
a poorly run union with a bunch of really good players
23 Aug 2012, 14:36 pm
Here I am, a proud Lion supporter! They were not booted out of the Super 15 for their administration problems, they were booted out to give the Kings a go. This is major eff up by SARU by doing it this way. The right way was by having a promo relegation match first. Also, how can they give the Kings a year only? So, both unions have been given a bitter pill which is not right and not in the interests of SA rugby. Mr De Klerk and his henchmen at the Lions should all be fired for what has transpired. That’s what should happen. The Kings can play, I won’t be shouting for them though. LIONS4LIFE….and you all can kiss my liily white ***!
23 Aug 2012, 14:38 pm
@greegs-30:
23 Aug 2012, 15:59 pm
I’m sorry, but this is a lost cause, to the players, get out while you still can.
23 Aug 2012, 18:14 pm
Hell there are some dimwitted commentators on this site (goodstuff, Staal etc.) Give it a year or two and wait to see the slime coming from PE. Keo and his ladies have the stadium management contract, Cheeky is involved… will your venom be as potent then?? Kings do not deserve a place in S15 PERIOD. (Lions needed a wakeup and hopefully this is it). There are other unions with more legitimate claims to S15, well ahead of the Kings…especially now that the whole Transformation facade has been dropped!!
Anyhow losing Super Rugby is not the death of a union, how else do you explain the existence of the 9 smaller unions? Plenty of crud to sweep out at GLRU and some tough decisions to be made. If made correctly then a few years down the line you f***ers will wish we had stayed relegated. Cheetahs will be a non -entity within the next 3-5 years and Kings will fizzle from the word go. It is in SA rugby’s interests to support the re-birth of the Lions, considering the size of the feeder pool that just got shut out of the big league by Roux and Hoskins. Hope the money was worth it boys
24 Aug 2012, 06:27 am
@greegs-30: You support the Lions but you paint, KDK and Moggee as the villians, you need check Lions history , when KDK took over the Lions were in debt of 48 million, they had lost a 80 million cash, which had disappeared since 1996 which Dr Louis Luyt left in the coffers.
KDK and Moggee are the people who are been hit from both sides the public and the passengers that they had to retrench last year.
It is easy to jump from a sinking ship not easy to salvage it.
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