The Sharks rugby union have issued a press release to confirm the signing of Lionel Mapoe.
Lionel Mapoe is a Sharks player – it’s done and dusted and the player has signed a 2.5 year contract. That’s according to the KZN Union, anyway.
According to the official press release that came out a few minutes ago, Mapoe terminated his contract with the Cheetahs way back on 9 March as a result of a contractual dispute. He has thus been a free agent since then and has every right to enter into an agreement with the Sharks, for whom he will play in the Currie Cup.
In march there was an press release regarding Mapoe and the contractual issues that raised its head way back in March.
This article below is from March.
Mapoe worth R1.4m to Bulls
Hendrik Cronjé and Jóhann Thormählen
Bloemfontein – Lionel Mapoe may soon be on his way to the Blue Bulls due to a salary dispute with the Free State Rugby Union (FSRU).
The FSRU’s legal representatives will meet with Mapoe’s on Thursday. The meeting may determine whether Mapoe’s contract is valid or whether he can be contracted by the Bulls for a salary of R1.4 million straight away.
Sport24’s sources indicate that Mapoe is earning around R29 500 per month in the Super 14, which is the minimum salary for a South African player in the Super 14. His contract with Free State is worth about R200 000 a year.
Mapoe was contracted as an unknown emerging talent by the Cheetahs in 2008 for R80 000 a year for three years, with annual increases built into the contract.
He still played for the Free State under-21 side in 2009 and only made his mark for the senior team later in the season, after which the Cheetahs decided to increase his salary.
The Cheetahs are now believed to be willing to increase his salary to R750 000 a year within 24 months if he’s prepared to extend his contract until 2012.
Mapoe’s representatives believe that his current salary is not market related.
FSRU president Harold Verster confirmed to Sport24 that he had received a lawyer’s letter from the agents in which the validity of Mapoe’s contract is disputed.
“There is an issue around Mapoe’s contract. His agent, Red Star Talent and more specifically Mike de Haast, is looking at the issue with lawyers. The matter is sub judice because there are ongoing negotiations between the lawyers and we have a meeting on Thursday,” said Verster.
“You can probably always go looking for a problem in a contract. We are quite certain our affairs are in order.
“It’s a pity that this kind of thing always pops up before we play a big South African team. It’s disruptive for the team and players. It’s a pity that our own people in Bloemfontein disrupt our team at such a crucial time.”
Verster believes Mapoe is a star and the Cheetahs would like to keep him in the long term.
“We have looked after him very well to date. He did not have a medical aid last year when he suffered a knee injury. His agents did not arrange a medical aid for him. Free State Rugby paid R25 000 for his knee operation,” said Verster.
“He has also had free accommodation for the past two years at the Cheetah house.”
De Haast says that the Bulls have not made Mapoe an offer.
“Lionel is committed to the Cheetahs and is looking forward to Saturday’s match against the Stormers,” he said.
This does, however, fly in the face of statement made recently by Cheetahs president Harold Verster, who maintains that Mapoe has a legally binding contract with the Free State side lasting until October next year. The ball is now in Verster’s court, as the Sharks require him to issue a clearance certificate before Mapoe may play for his new team. My money would be on Verster declining to do so.
Again this shows some very weak management from the CHeetahs side if this is correct as per the Sharks Union
again i do not think the sharks union is that stupid that they dont understand the business ethics or contractual issues
the players agent also is a lawyer and understand the contracts fully
laat hy ma eerde pokof sy soort hang hulle gewoonlik self op wonder hoe sy lyf gaan voel as juan en kie met hom gaan meet ha ha ha hulle gaan die laaitie breek
good riddence to bad rubish
Will the Sharks ever learn that you can’t buy a team? Perhaps one day they will start to develop their own players.
Mapoe wanted to leave, end of story.
The Sharks legal team would make good defence attorneys..
Well done to the Sharks on a good buy. Now Harold must sign the release and focus on the CC. And remember that there is only one outcome when you don’t sign the release, ask the Lions!
Sorry Bulls, we know you wanted him, but in the profesional era if you snooze you lose.
Shaun asked:
Hello, Mr van Graan
Its posted on some rugby sites that Mapoe is now at the sharks, I thought the bulls wanted him?
The sharks seem to be on the hunt for backs, what does the bulls do to ensure they dont steal any our players, seeing as they dont pay contracts any respect?
Is JLP’s contrct going to be renewed?
Thank you.
Barend answered:
Shaun, I have seen the article on Mapoe! We asked to negotiate with the player and the Cheetahs did not approved that. The Bulls followed the right procedure. I don`t want to respond on the alleged Sharks position with Mapoe! Regards, Barend
So all your Sharks, can you read between the lines ?
Sharks are quite a fitting name it seems… 😯
The Sharks are being slammed all over the place. Bottom line is that none of us know the whole story and untill such time the Sharks management cannot be judged. If the Sharks are found wanting I will join in the ranting.
@ Pokkel:
So start practising so long 😆
@ Loosehead:
When will Cheetahs learn to pay competitive salaries and keep their developing players?
Should actually pay them extra to live in Bloem 🙂
I read on news24 yesterday that his contract expired on the 9th March 2010, so surely that means he is fair game.
@ Treehugger:
Thats not what FRU says…
@ Blouste:
Hi Blouste, its not what they say about the fair game part or that his contract expired on the 9th of March.
So some of you chaps criticize the Sharks despite having any facts to back up your criticism?
Lets look what we know
a) Mapoe and agent believe that he terminated the contract on 9/3 after a contract dispute. He asked for a contract release but he is yet to get one
b) The Cheetahs say they have a valid contract
c) The Sharks seem to have signed a contract conditional upon Mapoe’s release. So if the release does not stand up, No Contract
What none of us know
a) Why did Mapoe terminate?
b) Does he have legitimate grounds to terminate?
c) It seems the FSRU has not be trying to solve the dispute since 9th March
Just because Verster says they are on solid ground does not mean they are. If they are on solid ground then two things can happen
a) They agree release terms OR
b) Mapoe returns
So why the critcisism? You don’t know the truth. I don’t know the truth.
Verster is obviously going to dig his heels in. Every union CEO would.
Lets face it.
a) 3 of SA’s sides are financially solid
b) the other 2 ‘big guys’ are not financially secure and their contracts are a mess
c) The Bulls, Stormers and Sharks all feed off the others. Its a professional game
The difference is that the Sharks get castigated for their purchases where the Bulls and Stormers seem to get off.
Its a professional game. There are too many cases of players taking advantages of poorly written contracts but by the same token there seems to be a similar quantity of times where a union mistreats the player.
@ Biscuit:
No ,its the way in wich they seem to be doing it. Sly and “skelm” springs to mind.
Hoekom het Mapoe soos ‘n dief in die nag weg geloop en nie gaan se cheers vir sy vorige werkgewers nie ?
Nobody says the Sharks are wrong, if they have a contractual point, then so be it. It’s they way in wich the affair was handled that brings question marks over their credibilaty…
@ Blouste:
Again you don’t know what happened since 9/3 and that is very relevant.
As for Mapoe leaving and and not taking calls on that issue I agree with you. Common courtesy says he should take calls and explain himself.
However what’s that got to do with the Sharks? van Zyl took Verster’s call.
Its not as if FS did not know there was a serious problem. A letter of termination is a serious thing.
How did FS respond to the letter of termination? Did they ignore it? Did they try and resolve it?
What were the grounds for termination? Are they valid?
All this is very relevant before you pass judgment.
Its simple, if the contract is valid and if Mapoe had no grounds to terminate then the Sharks can’t contract him and the suspensive condition that appears to be in the Sharks contract would make it fall away.
I am not saying the Sharks are in the clear. I don’t know. However no evidence has been forthcoming that shows they are in the wrong.
Mapoe – well so far he appears guilty of bad manners.
You seem to be holding the Sharks responsible for Mapoe’s alleged bad manners.
What about FS possible bad manners by not responding properly to the letter of termination?
If you send a letter of resignation to a boss alleging breach of contract do you not think the company should respond?
Well maybe they did. We just don’t know and thats why it would be wrong to condemn FS at this point.
@ Biscuit:
I understand what you are saying.
I’m merely saying ” waar daar ‘n rokie is, is daar gewoonlik ‘n vuurtjie ”
In my opinion, if the contract was terminate like you mentioned, or a similar letter of intend was sent to the FRU by either Mapoe or the Sharks for that matter then surely FRU would/nt have been so shocked and blown away by the whole thing, like they said themselves…
For me, if that is the case, I think the Sharks would have been better of to tell Mapoe to go and sort the issues out with his former union and then come back to them.
There are just so many loose threads on this issue, wich would not have been there had everything been done according to the book.
Look at when Habana moved… this is our offer, yes/no.
Thank you for everything and good luck.
Honourable negotiations and professional people involved !!!
@ Blouste:
Agreed Blouste…waar daar n rookie is is daar n vuurtjie..Hier is iets snaaks. Hoop daar is niks nie maar net te veel dinge hang los hier rond!
@ Blouste:
I accept things should have been better.
I am just not sure who is too blame.
Its bound to be a combination but what is the distribution of blame between Mapoe, FS & the Sharks. I am saying that you are singling out the Sharks when it is almost guaranteed that the other 2 were significantly to blame (maybe more so than the Sharks)
If Mapoe sent a letter of termination (with a decent cause) and the FS ignored the letter then I have no sympathy for FS.
We don’t know.
Your example is also poor because we are debating the behaviour of the destination union.
So Habana (Bulls) to Stormers – squeaky clean
Fourie (Lions) to Stormers – mess. Same destination union, one clean one poor.
Alberts (Lions) to Sharks – mess
Many other signings to the Sharks – clean.
Now many bloggers are going on about the Eberson brothers? Not sure what the Sharks have done wrong there.
The Sharks obviously need to sign players because our backline has challenges. In acquiring some players some emotions will run hig.
Lets flip it around and look at the source unions.
The Sharks, Stormers and Bulls all have their contracts in order and guess what? No trouble when their players leave. When Bakkies went off the reservation it turned out the contract was messy but still a damn sight better than the Lions and FS contracts.
Really our FS and Lions brothers really need to get their own houses in order and stop bleating about other unions.
I believe the bloggers are not upset about the actual behaviour of the Sharks. They are upset because it is the Sharks. How objective is that?
@ Biscuit:
I still disagree, I’ve never said the Sharks were wrong, in fact I think if this matter goes to “court”, they’ll probably win…
Just think there were more of a ” lets steal him attitude ” than a , he is fair game now one…
My opinion, time will tell….
@ Blouste:
Its not possible to debate your ‘feeling’. I agree we are talking about more than legalities but we still don’t know what has happened and hence my statement that you are being premature by pointing ‘no smoke without fire’ accusations at the Sharks.
My information is that the Bulls were still talking to Mapoe.
The part that baffles me is
What happened between Mapoe and the Cheetahs from 9 March till last week?
What was the basis for Mapoe’s termination?
Remember if the termination has moral or legal merit then the Cheetahs had more than 2 months to sort out their differences between themselves and Mapoe.
What is Mapoe and/or the Sharks supposed to do? Wait until 2011 when the Cheetahs may get off their butts?
We need more info. Until then we are all just assuming stuff.
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