On the 5th March 2010, SA Rugby nominations for President, Deputy President and Vice President, must be received in writing, from both the nominees accepting the nomination, as well as those doing the nomination, for the SA Rugby elections that will take place on the 26th March 2010.
It is really quite simple. SA Rugby’s 14 unions each have 2 votes and the individual with a majority of 15 out of 28 votes wins.
It is without doubt one of the most important watershed moments in the annals of South African rugby, as the new leadership comprising the President, Deputy President and Vice President, will assume office for a term of 4 years through till 2014. These 3 individuals will comprise the SA Rugby leadership triumvirate, which will take SA Rugby into the future, with either some limp wristed chatter of promises, or a powerful credible team that will make bold progressive changes to and enhance SA Rugby.
Candidates who have made themselves available for election so far, are Oregan Hoskins, who has been SA Rugby President for 4 years (2 terms of 2 years each), Mark Alexander, a serial administrator in other sports, who has been Deputy President for 2 years and Rautie Rautenbach who has been a figure head for 2 years as Vice President, the most notable contribution is attending a Confederation of African Rugby, as the SA Rugby representative in Dakar Senegal last year.
Again each of these three have, over the past 2 weeks, let it be known, that they will also stand for any other presidential position, as it is just way too intoxicating a feeling to not consider being in the mix.
Regan Hoskins, from the Sharks, is a nice guy, however he was first elected to stand opposite Brian van Rooyen in February 2006, specifically because he was coloured, as the SA Rugby constitution at the time required that the three SA Rugby Presidential candidates comprise of a white, coloured and black, in no particular order. This was to particularly bring into effect, his mandate from his nominees and backers of the big five, which at the time was clear, prevent the Southern Spears from entering Super 14. This in effect started the clandestine collusion of the big five franchises, 3 of whom faced the very real prospect of relegation for 2 of the 5 years, out of the Super 14 from 2006-2010. A case of, All for one and one for All against the Eastern Cape.
The only reason this impasse and threat to all 6 Super rugby franchises came about which has been festering for 4 years, at a staggering cost of some R400 million to SA Rugby, is that no one has quite simply bothered to sit down and figure out how to embrace the 6 South African Super rugby franchises, to all play in international tournaments, and be of benefit to all of South African rugby.
Instead SA Rugby has lost close to a half a billion Rands to exclude three of their own unions from Super rugby, instead of embracing them and yet still, to this very day, one reads the most appalling drivel and lame excuses about including the Eastern Cape and the 6th South African Super rugby franchise, in any exhibition game, except that of the Super 14 or Super 15.
Exactly one month after Hoskins was elected President in February 2006, he arrived in Port Elizabeth, on the 29th March 2006, to allegedly champion the way forward for the Eastern Cape’s Super Rugby ambitions and instead, excused himself early from the meeting, to take a helicopter ride to Alicedale to view the site of the new R30m proposed SA Rugby Academy. Neither of these material and significant developments have taken place and SA Rugby has neither arranged an annual scheduled tournament for the 6th South African franchise, nor the R30m intended for the Rugby Academy, which was used to buttress the SA Rugby balance sheet in 2008 to avoid declaring any losses.
To evaluate the merits of the three incumbents, who have put themselves up for election, again, it is probably best to look at a score sheet for Hoskins term of office over 4 years and Mark Alexander and Rautie Rautenbach over their term of office over 2 years, to evaluate what they have done or not done as administrators and then to look at the only alternative to salvage SA Rugby for the future.
Regan Hoskins – President of SA Rugby for 4 years 2006-2010
1. Eastern Cape franchise – Southern Spears – Loss of multiple High Court actions declaring the Southern Spears Super Rugby agreement legal and binding on SA Rugby – Cost to SA Rugby R400m
2. Serial violations of breaching the SA Rugby constitution with regards to binding agreements and President Council Resolutions
3. SA Rugby Academy – R30m – scuppered
4. Cost of Pumas tour to South Africa – Loan ex the IRB
5. Cost of the abandoned Ireland SA Test in Dubai – R9m
6. A record Triple unreserved apology to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Sport for misrepresenting facts at a briefing.
7. Loss of R150m revenues from SANZAR over 5 years to the NZ and Australia rugby unions by agreeing to give up 5% of broadcast revenues
8. Rugby World Cup Bid 2015 – Failed Bid to England
9. Rugby World Cup Bid 2019 – Failed Bid to Japan
10. Super 15 Rugby Franchise – Failed Bid to Melbourne
Mark Alexander – Deputy President of SA Rugby for 2 years from 2008-2010
1. Chairman of EP Rugby Pty Ltd to ensure a Super Rugby franchise – Failed
2. Serial violations of breaching the SA Rugby constitution with regards to binding agreements and President Council Resolutions
3. Rugby World Cup Bid 2015 – Failed Bid lost to England
4. Rugby World Cup Bid 2019 – Failed Bid lost to Japan
5. No Southern Kings Franchise shareholders agreement
6. No Southern Kings President’s Council Resolution
7. Super 15 Rugby Franchise – Failed Bid lost to Melbourne
Rautie Rautenbach – Vive President of SA Rugby for 2 years from 2008-2010
1. Serial violations of breaching the SA Rugby constitution with regards to binding agreements and President Council Resolutions.
So who then are the best Presidential candidates to lead SA Rugby out of this darkness?
Of all the 14 Provincial Rugby Union Presidents, plus the 3 Presidential incumbents (who are not allowed to vote), there is but one individual, who stands head shoulders above all 17 rugby Presidents, as the true bona fide rugby man and the only authentic and pedigreed Springbok amongst them and that man is – Kevin de Klerk – President of the Lions.
What better than a pedigreed rugby man to lead our rugby – SA Rugby?
Combine Kevin de Klerk’s stature and leadership, with the continuity of knowledge and years of experience of SA Rugby’s administration, which Mike Stofile has and you have the perfect 1-2 combination to turn SA Rugby around in months, and to deliver healthy annual revenue streams to each of the 14 Unions.
Mike Stofile is a straight shooter and tells it like it is and has attended all the Presidential Council meetings at which key Resolutions and binding agreements have taken place and can offer an antidote and solution to the continuous conflict the 6th Eastern Cape Super rugby presents to SA Rugby.
Kevin de Klerk and Mike Stofile would be the powerful SA Rugby leadership combo, to lead SA Rugby out of this turmoil, with their strong and effective leadership, focusing on deliverables and fulfilment for the benefit of all SA Rugby.
Gone would be the flippant rhetoric and patronizing chit chat press releases, which are trotted out by SA Rugby’s media department at the behest of the incumbents.
The 14 SA Rugby unions who have two votes each, represent their clubs, who voted to put them there for the benefit of all SA Rugby, would be wise to heed the siren call of a Kevin de Klerk and Mike Stofile 1-2 combo for SA Rugby.
This combination alone would unlock the value and funding for ALL 14 Unions from corporates around South Africa and rid South African rugby from this perpetual conflict and hemorrhaging of cash.
Anything less and SA Rugby and its supporters will be faced with 4 more years of misery and a skint treasury.
Who posted this
Must be a Lion supporter.
Kevin de Klerk is a rookie, is he in the Lions chair for more than 6 months?
What is going on in GLRU shows no leadership skills yet, all hype and hope.
Why cant he clean up the mess there, because he is friends with the man who can not even finish a basic players contract. He did not have the guts to fire him.
Here is an idea. Why dont they hire a bunch with a University degrees and not a political muppet and actually run Sa Rugby like a business. Then they can get in people who know how to run a business properly and make sound business decisions and not run it like a Home affairs government institution..
bunch of people with degrees
TonyM – Strong words, very strong.. but in essence I cannot fault it but for one factor…
Kevin de Klerk must show his strong hand first as a good Administrator and President at the Lions… who still seem to be troubled by Administrative blunders through Manie Reyneke… the whole Jaque Fourie, Willem Alberts and Louis Ludik saga is a case in point.
To be honest, I have not pondered these prospects as clearly as you have and you might be dead-right in proposing a vote in favour of Kevin de Klerk.
…. but you make me think… and I like it….
There is one rugby union in SA where ALL the rugby systems is in place. Look there and you will find the right men.
5
No please what is this, first they cite Victor now you come up with this idea. Leave Hoskins there, he is doing okay under the circumstances he must operate under.
Looking at the ten failures of Hoskins again, how many would another person succeed with?
7@ SuperBul – Hoskins falls over backwards to accomodate others overseas and apease them… I think he is a Ja-broer and a weak President. I agree with TonyM
The new President chosen and his Vice are going to have rather large Powers (due to the lessor role of the President’s Council) and boy, we are going to be stuck with them for 4 looooooong years….
The heads must be clear and the voice must be clear, the vote must be done with great circumspection…. it is much more important than in the past…. fact!
But the candidates, are they any better. I aired my view on the inexperience of Kevin de Klerk. Hope the nominations have capable people. Real rugby men.
Personally… by now, Kevin de Klerk should have achieved MORE in the Lions from an administrative point of view, he should have jumped in to curb Reyneke’s wayward behaviour better.. so I’m doubtful about him as a choice.
Out of pure Bulls loyalty I would not like to see anybody from the Bulls chosen and thus taken away from running the successful ship there…
Rauties Rautenbach is a Joppie-soeker… he’s here from the Valke, don’t like him, never have liked him.
The choices are limited…. very limited!
TonyM & GBS
On the couple of occasions that I had the “pleasure” of meeting Mr Hoskins, I can honestly say that he was very un=impressive indeed, and NEVER CARRIED THROUGH on any of his stated actions.
For this reason as well as his other failures in his position of Presifent, I feel he is a bit of a spineless specimen who I never feel confident in.
Mark Alexander was on the Exco’ of the Lions under Prof’ Jannie Ferreira for some time before moving on to SARU.
I can in all honesty say that he never seemed to do anything at the GLRU, and seems to have done even less since moving to SARU.
He also comes across as spineless and seems to want to please all parties in any dispute, with the nett effect that he pleases absolutely noboby, and everyone thinks he’s a plonker.
Kevin de Klerk has been President at the Lions / GLRU since the end of July last year.
At his acceptance speech I was inspired by his words, and was once again enthused about Rugby life in Johannesburg.
However, as the saying goes, “talk is cheap”, and thus far this unfortunately is all that we have seen from the GLRU Exco’.
They seem to fall from one mishap to another like a clumsy three year old. When they lost the Jacques Fourie case they continued to fight the Alberts and Ludick cases, knowing full well that they had the same contracts. In fact Reyneke has appeared to mislead (if not downright lie) about the validity of these contracts and has wasted valuable time, resourses and money on a court case that I’m sure the GLRU knew they could not win, apparently to make a point.
The question needs to be askeD (onnce again) if the Lions / GLRU are serious about the BUSINESS OF RUGBY. If so, put professional tools (job descriptions; KPI’s; performance assesment etc etc) in place througout the structures and stick to them.
The fact that Mr de Klerk has not addressed this type of issue, coupled with the lack of performance in his position thus far would IMO, point to him not yet being ready to take the mantle at a place like SARU.
As was previously stated on this thread, the best thing that Rugby can do is to get a TOP CLASS Captain of Businness to run SA Rugby.
Performance is everything these days. Let the professionals make money, and let the tradionalists look after the tradtions of Rugby.
…. Captain of Business… mmmmm which South African Businessman has his heart into rugby well and solid… maybe Rupert…
That’s maybe not a shabby idea, he’s got all the clout in the world, is a do-er and not just a talker.
Come on, think outside the Box…. make Rupert President of SARU!!
I see the bloggers are slow to discuss this Article…. even Morné Pismier has shone in his absense here… so too Tight Head… where’s Tjarkie_Forever, Loosehead, The Saint, Pietman….
Come, where’s your brass balls?
Are you shy to discus real and serious issues?
Come on, this will determine not only the next 4 years of SA Rugby, but maybe the rest of SA’s rugby future! I am deadly serious here….
My take on this is the fact that we are sick and tired of politics, yes even in our beloved sport. Put this on voldy and you will hit 1500 posts. Had a look there last night, i nearly vomited. Same old same old. Blasphemy , apartheid this and the whole time bloggers are attacked whenever they air a view not in the taste of the liberals.
Also just wait until the nominations are made, then TonyM must repost this article.
Well GBS, I find this subject depressing!!
As well as TonyM makes a good arguement about Hoskins, Alexander and Rautenbach, I do not know how this situation will change.
We simply have a lethal cocktail of incompetence, self interest, serial admin politicians and expert gravy train riders.
Maybe, as has been said lately about the broader political situation in the country, we simply get the government we deserve!!
These are the type of people who are willing to stand for these admin positions.
16@ Tight Head – This is why I am asking for response here…. if we stand idly about and let history continue to define the future…. then we deserve the Clowns we get ruling our sport.
Tyd om bek oop te maak en wyd te rek…
I’m not saying that you should agree with TonyM, I certainly question the wiseness of going for Kevin de Klerk…. but Scrumdown makes a valid point… appoint a “Captain of Business” to head the organisation…. so let’s add to the voices calling for such a “Captain of Industry / Business”…
I thought about Rupert, whose interest in rugby matters is well known through Saracens and also the help he provided at RWC 2007…
There are others, of course…. Morne du Plessis…. Francois Pienaar….
Yes, GBS, I am in full agreeance with you and Scrumdown, who speaks as a committed rugby man with experience in Gauteng.
We should consider how best to add our voices to the debate in an effective way that will be taken seriously.
I see print media such as newspapers are more and more quoting bloggers views on rugby, and my feeling is that blogs such as RT will be taken seriously in the future, in terms of the value of the debate.
My views on Hoskins is rather well documented.
It is a sad day when a leader is lauded and praised for not upsetting the apple cart or being branded as a shit stirrer but effectively has done absolutely bugger all for the game of rugby.
I asked many times now what legacy Hoskins will leave behind, and I cannot find one thing. And that is what being a leader is all about, leaving a legacy behind in whatever organisation or industry he managed or controlled.
Currently with the policies and structures we have in SA Rugby little will change unfortunately. Politicking and backstabbing will change very little with the election of new leadership simply because of how that leadership is elected in the first place.
Until such time as accountability becomes the norm and standard we judge and elect our leaders in rugby opinions surrounding this issue will remain the same, with only the names changing ever now and then.
By all accounts Kevin and Mike might be great leaders in their own right, or they might be horribly kak, but there will be little difference if we have a Kevin and Mike running the show, or a Hoskins, or Alexander or even a bloody Cheeky Watson simply because of the fact that the only way they can get into power, and stay in power, will be through politicking and political backstabbing with absolutely no accountability.
When Hoskins replaced Brian van Rooyen someone made a comment to me about; ‘better the devil you know’ – I laughed it off but effectively, that person was just about right.
Because there is absolutely no difference between Van Rooyen, Oberholzer, Hoskins and even Stofile when it comes to who is in charge of SA Rugby – at least we know Hoskins is useless already so why go through all this again to simply prove Alexander or Stofile or De Klerk will also be as useless if not more?
The operating structures within SA Rugby simply does not allow us to elect, or from our perspective, support an ‘industry captain’ – no matter how hard we wish for one.
Morne.
Hoor Hoor!!
We have said it so many times.
We cannot change the structure from within.
Maybe it is time to take the approach of turning up the spotlight on these people.
@19 Morne’
Very eloquently put….I never really thought about what was wrong, i was just uncomfortable with the leadership….but saying “no accountibility” puts it in a nutshell. if we had a decent minister of Sport then they would be held to account….but what is there to measure up to….SA football…it is actually laughable if it wasnt so tragic. I do not look forward to it, but speculation, intrigue and politics will be the order of the day for the foreseeable future.
Soooo, the answer is to bury our heads in the sand??
Come on, surely we cannot do that?
To do that would be to accept mediocrity, not true. I’m not in the habit of doing that….
No-one is telling you to stick your head in the sand.
But what is said about Hoskins now is exactly what was said about Van Rooyen and Oberholzer and every other guy in rugby administration in the past – and it will continue to be said of anyone elected in future, not merely because of the individual, but because of the sum in total of what is SA Rugby administration.
Unless accountability becomes a yardstick to which we measure our leaders, nothing will change.
Look, they have done away with SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd now, the new elected Officials will have Powers we have not seen since the days of Doc Craven… the term in Office will be 4 years in stead of 2..
Effectively this new Exco will have most of the power vested in them..
I for one now want to be one of the voices calling for a change in the status quo, one of the voices calling for responsible and accountable management according to sound business and administrative Rugby Governance.
If my voice, with the voices of guys like TonyM… and a strong band of like-minded people are just a fart in the wind… then so be it, at least I farted whilst you guys have held an unhealthy poep inside….
Call me an idealist if you want!
There is also no point farting against thunder! 🙂
I am out.
25@ Morne – Has TonyM been farting against thunder or has he exposed, over the years, the shortcommings spoken about here….
There are High Court Judgments backing his arguments.
Time for meaningful change, bro… time for change!
I have no opinion regarding the presidency of SARU. The right person won’t crack the knod. In an unrealistic world, who would you like to see as SARU’s president?
I choose Louis Luyt. Ok, bad joke.
@Morne. Legacy…yip…like Doc Craven.
sorry 28 should read…..crack the nod
GBS,
I have been in contact with Tony for years now, supported him through all that and still do.
But ask yourself one simple question.
Even with all the judgments and bad press and bare facts that have been laid on the table WHAT has been achieved?
The problem is not only ‘exposing’ what is going on boet, that is the easy part.
The difficult part is to get people to understand what is happening…
People simply do not give a shit because there is none so blind as those who does not want to see.
SA Rugby to most is healthy boet – look at all the trophies, look at unions like the Bulls, look at our Boks…
People do not give a shit because it ‘is working’ for them at the moment or it does not affect them directly yet…
Why do you think guys are so opposed to the Spears or Kings?
By denying another province a franchise or team? Not a chance…
But because they have been marketed that if they get their team, someone else will lose theirs – they play by fear and instilling it in supporters and then claiming ‘all is well in rugby’.
Just last week I wrote something about professionalism boet – it went down like a lead balloon.
People do not care.
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