No shortage of intrigue around Boks

[Flamethrower]

No shortage of intrigue around Boks
By RICHARD KNOWLER IN Pretoria - The Press | Saturday, 23 February 2008
No shortage of intrigue around Boks - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


Rarely is there a slow day on the South African rugby news desks these days.

The country may still be wallowing in the afterglow of winning the World Cup, but there has already been enough infighting and controversy to punch the air out of their supporters' puffed out chests.

Successful World Cup coach Jake White had barely washed the celebratory champagne off his Springboks blazer before being shown the door, and, in a shock decision that smacked of politics, Peter de Villiers was appointed ahead of successful Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer. De Villiers, the first non-white to be named Springboks coach, has a modest coaching record. He has never headed a Super franchise.

His appointment is akin to handing a coach from an Air New Zealand Cup team the All Blacks job. It just wouldn't happen.

Meanwhile, the more experienced Meyer - who had the support of the majority of the Springboks players and won last year's Super 14 title with the Bulls - has been left to scratch around for work.

South African rugby president Oregan Hoskins acknowledged the union had not appointed de Villiers with purely rugby in mind.

With de Villiers in charge the national body has shown it wants to continue to distance itself from the dark days when it was seen as a white man's sport backed by a racist regime.

White often had to battle the authorities and last year's fracas, when he had to include Luke Watson in his squad for the pre-Tri Nations tests, was an embarrassment for all involved.

There has been no official word yet, but with de Villiers appointed there are now suspicions a quota system will be introduced to fast-track more non-whites into the Springboks.

White came under huge pressure to play more blacks and coloureds and when he did not move quick enough he was labelled unhelpful to the cause of transformation.

He counter-argued he was trying to pick the best team.

There has been plenty more to discuss in South Africa this week.

Firstly there were revelations de Villiers was still nutting out the final contract details with the South Africa Rugby Union (Saru). Then Saru deputy president Mike Stofile was upset that the organisation's leadership had not been consulted about skipper John Smit being reappointed as captain.

Some would say de Villiers' efforts to get Smit, who is playing under former Crusaders assistant coach Vern Cotter with French club Clermont Auvergne, were admirable.

It seems the Saru hierarchy does not agree.

Complicating the issue is that Clermont may not be so happy to release Smit for the Boks.

Meanwhile, another storm is brewing after a senior ANC MP accused those who signed a petition to the International Rugby Board protesting the political intervention in South African rugby as trying to undermine the country's laws.

Among those signing the petition were former Springboks Wynand Classen and Divan Serfontein, who toured New Zealand in the controversial 1981 tour.

The IRB is expected to reply to the self-styled civil rights group. But it would be a surprise if anything changes.

Meanwhile, former Liverpool and Zimbabwe soccer goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar this week harangued Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez over his club's rotation policy.

Take it away Bruce: "The ex-players are hurt - Ian Rush, Sammy Lee, Gary Gillespie, John Aldridge, Alan Kennedy, David Johnson. When we are together, that's what we talk about. The rotation policy has to stop."

Sound familiar?

[Haymaker]

Best you read this opening round one - gloves will come off in 10 days -

It’s the rumble in the bumble
Luke Alfred Published:Feb 10, 2008

“Hoskins v Stofile — the eliminator”, has about it the ring of a boxing promoter’s dream, but it’s also an apt way to describe the Saru presidential elections scheduled for the end of March.





In the one corner lurks the incumbent, the mild-mannered Oregan Hoskins, an upright defensive jabber out of Durban; in the other, occasionally snagging his feet as he skips rope, is rumblin’ Mike Stofile, the tornado of the Eastern Cape. So adept is “Tornado” at snagging his feet, in fact, that this week he even denied running for the presidency, although his protestations aren’t to be taken seriously.

“I don’t know where the story (that I’m running for the presidency) is coming from,” he says. “The nomination process will be opened and I don’t even know if I’m going to be nominated .”

At stake is the belt for the presidency, a title now worth considerably more than it used to. Under Silas Nkanunu, a frequently derided serial bumbler, the position of president was an honorary one. Brian van Rooyen, Nkanunu’s successor, upgraded the post with customary bombast. The president now draws a salary and travels frequently. He is a big man by association.

Being the rugby president of a World Cup-winning nation brings with it kudos of all kinds.

The particular ring in which “Jabbin’ Regan” and “Tornado Mike” have been shadow-boxing these past few weeks is one marked “television rights”, in this case Saru’s rights to the Currie Cup, Vodacom Cup and minor incoming tours (excluding next year’s tour by the British and Irish Lions) from 2011 to 2015.

Hoskins is adamant — putting together a couple of neat combinations — that due process has been followed in selling the rights to Supersport.

His view is echoed by SA rugby’s managing director, Jonathan Stones, who points out Saru were under no legal obligation to put the rights out to tender.

The sale to SuperSport has already been consummated with a down payment of R30-million from the broadcaster before the balance of R670-million is paid in 2011.

Depending on who you talk to, the rights sale is either seen as a nifty bit of commercial opportunism by Stones, or a sneaky blind-side move that caught Stofile and his band of cronies unawares.

Some say Stones had the nous to unbundle Saru’s broadcast rights (Super 14 and Tri-Nations rights remain unaffected within the context of the new deal), swelling Saru’s coffers in the process.

Others, such as the EP Rugby Union and Golden Lions president, Jannie Ferreira, scream that proper consultation was not followed before the contract was signed.

The accusations have been repeatedly rejected by Hoskins, counter- punching for all he’s worth.

“The issue of commercial rights was dealt with by SA Rugby Pty Limited — that’s how it should be, according to the constitution. It was 100% accepted that we should go ahead with the decision. There were no objections and the whole board took that decision. It’s simple electioneering trying to pin me on issues of governance.”

Tornado Mike’s followers see it differently, although it is germane to ask if they really want to give the impression of arguing against a broadcast rights deal. Broadcast rights and the sale thereof are increasingly becoming the lifeblood of sport.

That’ s where the money gets made and some of it will eventually find its way to the provinces, including Eastern Province, arguably the most administratively dysfunctional rugby province .

It is unclear, though, whether EP president Pat de Silva is arguing against the sale of rugby’s domestic broadcast rights, or if he is simply making a technical point on behalf of Tornado Mike as he spends time debating whether he’s going to get into the ring or not.

SuperSport’s legal man, Brandon Foot, said that SuperSport paid a substantial increase for the rights.

“This positions us nicely in terms of offering good value to our subscribers ... Saru were in a very strong position, carving out New Zealand and Australia, and also enjoying the status of world champions.”


When Hoskins was asked where the next round of his eliminator would be fought, he chuckled and said that he didn’t know.

Tornado Mike was reluctant to talk : “I don’t think I’d be interested in talking to anyone right now. I just think I’ll stay at home.”

Traditionally, prize fighters need to leave the comfort of home for the sound and fury of the ring.

One sympathises with Stofile, the street fighter unashamedly pulling political strings as he finds his ring ambitions frustrated round after tiresome round.

And one sympathises with Hoskins. The Springboks are world champions, Saru are in the black and the Bulls won last year’s Super 14 final. In normal circumstances, re-election would be a formality.

But this is South Africa, a place where the hardness of the rugby is superseded only by the hardness of the rugby politics.

With the presidential election on March 28 and only one president’s council meeting scheduled between now and then, one struggles to see what the next skirmish will be about.

But some pretext will be found, of that we can be sure. This one’s an eliminator after all.