No, it’s not my heading but I freely admit that I’ve lost the will to live over the Spears. I no longer have any idea of whom is telling porkies and who is telling tittle tales.
The heading is from Rugby365, a venerable South African rugby news source and, in my opinion, a wonderful source of SA rugby information.
They label the Spears CEO as a “maverick”. It is hard to disagree.
Whether you love Tony McKeever or loathe him, SA rugby has not seen his ilk since Pa fell off the bus.
I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know if the Spears are in the right. I don’t know if Tony McKeever is an upstanding rugby citizen, merely out to protect a patch of ground that SARU promised would be the South Eastern Cape’s to nurture, grow and develop. Or a “maverick”, out to stand his ground, determined in his ethics, his efficacy, his ‘rightness’. I simply don’t know.
If there was a greater indictment of SARU, I cannot think of it.
To trust or not to trust. I don’t trust a word they say, ergo, I can’t trust a thing they say over the Spears. Many people regard the Spears as the most destructive force to ever visit the fair shores of South Africa, others defend it’s right to participate with Crusader zeal.
Rugby365 says, “”Our statement has been approved – it is indeed an authentic and official statement from SARU,” Kama (SARU – Media Manager) told rugby365.com.
“The president of SARU [Oregan Hoskins], the deputy president of SARU [Mike Stofile], the chairman of the board of SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd [Mpumelelo Tshume], the CEO of SARU [Johan Prinsloo] and the deputy president of SARU [Ncula] were all in formed and are aware of the statement.
“We are not going to enter into any further debate with the Spears or McKeever on the matter until the board [of SA Rugby] has met on April 18 to make a decision on the future of the Spears,” Kama concluded.
Again I’ll be brutally honest with you, I don’t care if the Spears participate or not. I understand the rationale behind the original drive to have them included but I’ve never agreed with the process.
For me it was always about empowering the region to clean up it’s own mess, get professional, compete effectively through the Vodacom Cup, with direct investment from SARU, and challenge for a franchise on merit. I detest the handing out of competitive spots through social gerrymandering.
Yet, yet and yet again – SARU buckled, they lost the last remnants of independence that the naive had credited them with and they “guaranteed” the Spears an opportunity to appear in the Super 14, not for a year but for two years. On that principle alone I believe they have no option but to honour their agreement.
They buggered up, they know it and know they need to accept and live with it.
As for the Spears, I believe they’ll be slaughtered. As for Tony McKeever, he may very well be a maverick but he’s a maverick that chooses to interact with the press and the fans. The rest hide behind curtains of anonymity – cowards that cower – afraid that their utterances will come back to haunt them. Cast in the belief that a public beguiled or mislead is a public appeased.
They are wrong.
Your average rugby fan will take the maverick McKeever over the anonymous offcasts of an expiring Rome any day.
McKeever may be deluded, he may live with his head in the clouds but he’s real and his passions are real and his ambitions are real. The rest are ephemeral, unknown and unloved – we don’t know you, ergo, we don’t care about you.
Give us a McKeever before the wraithes of the rest of you. He may not be right and his cause may not be right but at least we can get a feel of the man and his dream.
What have the rest of you offered?
April 11th, 2006 at 8:53 am
One thing is for sure, these guys must insist on keeping their affairs transparent. I agree to give you something, I put it on paper, and we both sign that we understand the agreement. Nothing grey about it, it’s either black or white, FINISHED.
How can all of this be happening if there was proper thorough control. If Mckeever was only given R3 mil, and it was not supposed to go for salaries etc etc, all of this should be on paper.
When he reaches the end of it, and the money is dry, he MUST give account of where it went, what he did, and the same from SARU. There is enough writing on the wall from many years of dealing with these guys, keep your records in order, and have all agreements on paper, signed, and secure, leaving no backdoor open for any of the involved parties.
If SARU had agreed to let them play in the Super 14, put in on paper,have them sign it, and agree to terms and conditions if the promise should not be fulfilled and hold them to it. It is then legally binding, and can be a ripper in court. To many loose ends and grey areas cause this kind of stench, and it always ends up in one of the parties being done an injustice, whether it be SARU or Spears in this case.
How can these elementry principles not be in place, in this day and age…. It’s a disgrace!
April 11th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Welshbok,
my understanding is that there was a meeting last year that covered all the issues and one of the last points was for SARU to take the decisions made in the meeting and put it in black and white within a certain date. Which according to what I have heard they never did.
But as Kandas has so correctly explained is that nobody seems to be sure of what was agreed upon and what is speculation.
One point issue that the whole Spears debacle has opened up for all the public to see is that SARU is absolutely and completely incompetent at managing Rugby in SA.
In Kandas’ article most likely fall under the category with the description of defending them with a Crusaders zeal. But probably not for the reason that a lot would think. The whole ordeal that they have had to endure because of SARU is disgusting at best.
A lot of people focus on the issue of whetehr the Spears should partake in the Super 14 next year or not, but the real issue in my eyes is the way it has highlighted the dysfunctionality of SARU. The situation begs for the government to get involved and start a massive enquiry into SARU. A start would be to try and find out who behind the scenes has got their fingers in the proverbial pie.
PissAnt has often mentioned that there are signs of rot in SARU that has far reaching consequences and the more I read in the news the more I think the same.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Is there any chance we can have Tony on the forum to answer our questions. This is extremely worrying and I think it’s imperative that we get to speak to someone and ask questions. If someone is lying we need to know this, I am really worried about our Rugby administration.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Ollie
Rasputin wrote this article.
Lefty
DavidS is doing an opinion article on the issue for later this morning. I will then see if I can get McKeever on.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Ras,
This was a pleasant read and the most honest and ‘transparent’ article ever written about this whole issue, and I share many points with you.
Firstly, this statement.
There are a couple of dark areas I would like to have cleared up.
SARU, through evidence of the presidents council agreement promised and agreed to support the Spears financially through 2006 and even get them a sponsor. This, after the Spears forfeited their Vodacom sponsor of R50-mil.
Okay now what I want to know is what are the details or conditions attached to this so-called support? Was there, or is there a monetary value attached to this, i.e. the R3-mil that has come out in the media? Or was the Spears given the liberty to lets say employ ‘X’ amount of people and SARU will pay their salaries?
Was this thing budgeted?
The amount of R3-mil has been mentioned. If SARU, for one second believe R3-mil is enough to build and sustain a union/franchise to prepare for the Super 14 2007, then they are deluded!
Because lets not forget that this agreement and support clause was struck last year before all this backtracking so Tony in all essence had to prepare a franchise that can compete in the Super 14, and yet again, if SARU thinks R3-mil is enough they are even more stupid than I ever expected.
Lets also here Tony and the Spears version, how was the money spent and on what? Doing simple calculations myself and also considering the fact that this money had to be used from last year May, it won’t really be surprising to me that all of it was spent on absolute necessities. Hell the Bulls player budget for the Super 14 is R30-mil!
Secondly, this statement is typical of what we have come to expect in SARU and the backstabbing that is part and parcel of our rugby.
Look at the timing, hell I thought no-one was allowed to talk to the media regarding the readiness of teh Spears until 18 of April?!?!
Prinsloo was the first one to open his yapper and rap McKeever on the knuckles because he apparently fought his battles in the media! What the hell do you call this?
Sure if the Spears stuffed up then tell the public, but have they taken the time out to approach McKeever, like a human being and a business person to ask him: “Hey Tony, what the hell man what has happened to this R1.6-mil?”
Then give him time to explain and justify it before you go out and make irresponsible statements in the media!
But I have a theory on why this was made, it is simple in my view.
SARU, like Ras mentioned, stuffed up with this. They are looking to buy themselves out of a very tricky situation. How do you do it? Simple, discredit your enemy!
Davids can probably give you more examples of how battles are won simply by discrediting the opposition or the party threatening you.
Whether this R1,6-mil can be justified by the Spears or not, the damage has been done. In the public eye they are been made to look like incompetent idiots, and who wants to give idiots a spot in the Super 14?
No-one will question SARU if they say sorry, we can’t afford to give it to them because they do not know how to run a successful union, because they will dangle this carrot infront of everyone’s noses.
They are simply using the media as a vehicle to fight their battles for them.
Look at this statement as Ras highlighted it in the article.
The guy shoots his mouth off accusing the Spears of fraud for a better description. He then goes on to say he is not willing, or wont say anything more until the report is presented on April 18.
I am f@#king sorry! If you want to shoot your mouth off and accuse people of shit like this you must at least be willing to enter into debate to prove allegations made! But no, they merely did this to score one over the opposition while they are down and not able to fight back!
They used the media to kick the Spears in the stomach but now runs away before the Spears are able to defend this allegation suddenly sighting a media gag again, and I wont be surprised if Prinsloo comes out and ‘warns’ McKeever again about ‘fighting’ his battles in the media if Tony tries to defend this.
It is all political bullshit and I for one am sick of SARU’s shit and incompetence.
I dare Hoskins, who is conveniently in Ireland at the moment to come out and justify this bullshit.
He who preached transparency and fairness, he who leads our rugby.
But I can guarrantee everyone that he will not utter a word, or come out with some piss-poor statement by saying there was a communication gap and the statement should not have been released blah, blah, blah! The damage has been done. Mission accomplished SARU.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Kandas,
Oops, I mixed up the autors of the 2 articles that caught my eye this morning
ras, forgive me, the credit should be yours.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I am in agreement with Ras.
“Again I’ll be brutally honest with you, I don’t care if the Spears participate or not. I understand the rationale behind the original drive to have them included but I’ve never agreed with the process.”
I will go on to say that as long as it is not at the expense of my team.
I know this attitude (of mine) sucks but I am NAAFI (No Ambition And F^&K-all Interest) today.
Frankly this whole mess is a shambles, and although, once again, this is the wrong attitude, I will just sit back and see what happens.
Maybe this is because the Threat of my team being relegated in now less than at the start of the season and would be very different if I were in the Cats’ position. But I really don’t care anymore
April 11th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Speaking to quite a few supporters over the last two weeks, most of them feel that they don’t care if the Spears participate. They can’t see them doing any worse than Cats or the Stormers.
Quite frankly I feel the same.
I agree with PissAnt on teh whole media issue. Prinsloo should know this effects of this statement quite well. He was crucified for sexual harassment in teh media even before the enquiry was scheduled.
Either he forgot this or this was his plan from the start.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Donner,
Talking about enquiries, what has happened with the whole BvR enquiry that was supposed to go ahead with the speed of white light?
If that enquiry was done half decently I’m sure it would start opening the can of worms that is SARU.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:03 am
This whole issue is becoming a joke. SARU’s enquiry, found no sufficient proof that The Spears have a major sponsorship. What the hell??? So you’re telling me, that a contract, newspaper reports, and money in the Bank (If it is allready paid), is not sufficient proof? You’re telling me that all the huffing and puffing from the Spears, that they’ve allready secured a major sponsorship, is all in vain? What a joke. SARU is a joke, SA Rugby is a joke, and soon, you can quote me on this, if I’m wrong, but soon, our national team will also be a joke. I can’t wait for the Boks to start losing. Allthough I hate seeing it, that might force the fools in charge, to realise that they’re messing up our rugby, and that they can’t hide behind the performance of the Boks anymore.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Nathan Sharpe: “I’m no expert on South Africa, having been there only as a rugby tourist, but what I do know is that here, there or anywhere else, tradition is a most valuable commodity.
It can’t be bought with money, only time.
Since I first picked up a rugby ball, the names and venues of the best South African teams have been amongst the most evocative in
rugby. As it stands the Stormers and the Cats are the South African sides closest to the relegation zone.
I consider it unthinkable that one or the
other won’t be in the competition next year, for a start because they represent the nation’s two biggest cities. Imagine not having Newlands or Ellis Park as regular stops on the Super 14 circuit. Both are stadiums
that youngsters dream of playing in.” -
Western Force skipper Nathan Sharpe in his column in the West Australian on SA rugby’s hot potato.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:20 am
or that perhaps those fortresses become a joke like it did last weekend against the reds?
April 11th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Good post Rasputin- as always
I agree with you 100 %
A BETTER GAME FOR ALL
April 11th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Rasputin
PissAnt
OO
Trying to speed read all of this.
In the meantime Rasputin, please take note of the article posted almost 12 months ago by Jan de Koning.
This was on the same day that SA Rugby announced their Presidents Council Resolution on the 8th June 2005.
Note also the international games promised by SA Rugby, now conspicuous by their absence.
Then following this reading please keep a score card of what SA Rugby has fulfilld and delivered.
SEC still out in the cold, for now 08/06/05
Promotion-relegation for SA franchises
The South and Eastern Cape Unions (SEC) remain out in the cold as far as the 2006 Super 14 franchise situation is concerned, despite using their political connections to try and sway the “vote” in their favour.
The Presidents Council meeting of the South Africa Rugby Union (SARU), which took place in Johannesburg on Wednesday, reached a compromise – leaving matters unchanged (for now) from the initial awarding of franchises at a meeting back in April.
However, the compromise means the introduction of a promotion-relegation system from the end of next year, which will see the SEC region in action in the Super 14 from 2007.
SARU president Brian van Rooyen confirmed on Wednesday that for next year the five South African franchises are the Stormers (Western Province and Boland), Bulls, Cats (Lions, Leopards and Pumas), Sharks and the Central Cheetahs (Free State, Griquas and Griffons).
There is one change from the original proposal, back on April 15. The Bulls will no longer have to incorporate Eastern Province, but will rather include the Falcons as part of their franchise.
The losing SEC bid caused a major furore and resulted in an ugly public spat between top officials, which even saw the government get involved.
However, on Wednesday the “compromise” was reached whereby the SEC franchise will play in the 2007 and 2008 Super 14 tournaments – with the SA team finishing last in 2006 dropping out to make way for them. From then on there will be a yearly promotion-relegation system with the lowest team always dropping out.
SARU also said on Wednesday it would provide financial support for the SEC franchise and will assist them in getting sponsorship for when they enter the fray in 2007.
The SEC region – as well as the relegated region(s) from 2007 – will also play in a series against teams from Argentina, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. They will also play against the other five domestic Super 14 teams.
The decision was welcomed by the leading role players.
“I think we have a fair system, because if you get the results, you stay and if you do not perform, you are away,” Van Rooyen said.
SARU deputy president Andre Markgraaff did not attend Wednesday’s meeting. Markgraaff did send his apologies as he apparently had another meeting.
However, his attendance was not required as the matter was never put to a vote and the compromise was accepted unanimously.
All the decisions taken at the President’s Council meeting on Wednesday:
1. That a formal legal agreement shall be drafted immediately confirming what was agreed regarding the Super 14 franchise system in South Africa.
2. The South Eastern Cape (SEC) franchise shall be financially supported by SA Rugby/SARU in respect of their development during 2006. In light thereof SA Rugby/SARU must procure sponsorships for the SE Cape Franchise for the 2006 season.
3. The SEC franchise shall be entrenched in the Super 14 Competition for the 2007 and 2008 rugby seasons.
4. The South African team finishing at the bottom of the log in 2006 will automatically be replaced by the SEC team for the 2007 season.
5. At the end of the 2007 Super 14 season, the South African franchise team which is last on the Super 14 log, excluding the SEC, shall play in a promotion relegation match against the franchise team who did not play in the 2007 Super 14 competition.
6. That the decision which was taken at the meeting on 15 April 2005 in respect of the South African franchise system, are hereby amended in order to reflect the above agreement.
7. That the Falcons Rugby Union will form part of the Blue Bulls franchise.
8. SA Rugby shall within 21 days as from 8 June 2005, compile a ‘White Paper’ in respect of the total SA Rugby’S competition structure
By Jan de Koning
April 11th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Rasputin
The Nathan Sharpe article:
Read the CEO of the Western Force’s comment to myself:
Tony these were comments made from an article ghost written by a South
african journalist – Dave Hughes – formerly of the Sunday Times – here in west australia . They are not Rugby WA views
and I appologise if they cause you harm I know this is a sensitive time
for you . Nathan will not be making any further comments on this subject
April 11th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Tony, you must be disgusted by the curren situation. Are you by any chance getting your lawyers to draft a letter? Do you want someone to come stand outside of the court, voicing their opinion, in Jacob Zuma courtcase style?
April 11th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Aldo.
Letter already drafted and sent.
The issue here is that SA Rugby has over the past 10 months – FIVE TIMES – confirmed the relegation & promotion system, the entrenchment of the Spears in the Super 14 series in 2007 & 2008, via their Presidents Council Resolution on the 8th June, the White Paper, 29 July & September, SA Rugby Board ratification on the 2nd December, Franchise Participation Agreement on the 12 December 2005 and 12 January 2006 and the approval of the 2nd December minutes by the new SA Rugby Board on the 28th March.
What part of this is unclear that they need to sit on the 18 April to make another “final” decision.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Tony, i think I should not comment on your post. I’ve allready been a bit emotional about what I think of SA Rugby. You can go read the thread at the top. I’ve been quite vocal on the issue today. And I see only 2 ways out, actually only one, cos even if you take these idiots to court, they will somehow get around it, on some technicallity. only way out is for us supporters to stop filling the stadiums.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Aldo.
The stadiums are already empty – see the Cats fill a stadium any time in the past?
April 11th, 2006 at 11:59 am
This heading is even worse, I know it was not the job of Ruggaworld. So don’t worry. anyway, I’d rather have some more “Mavericks” in charge, if it means getting the job done. Cos apparently SA Rugby can not do it.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
True Tony, Ellis Park has been empty for a long time. BUT, us silly little fans, keep on thinking, eveything is fine, cos the Boks are winning. That is what I’m talkign about. We should stop going to Stadiums when the Boks play. I said it before, but if our national teams stop performing, then the clowns will have nowhere to hide.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Tony,
One question. This financiall support as per the PC agreement. Was there ever any amounts discussed, terms & conditions, a budget, anything?
It seems that SARU was always intent on ONLY giving you R3-mil, was this the case? Did they say this?
Have you given them financials RE the spenditure of the Spears up and till now which explains the R1.6-mil contraversy?
Okay sorry, that was almost 5 questions!!!
April 11th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Tony,
If PA hasn’t got you to busy with his questions I have 2 more
Have the players been paid yet?
Have you heard from/about Hoskins yet? I presume his plane has finally landed in Ireland and that he has been brought up to speed.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
PissAnt
Finally!
On 6 April 2005 the SEC Super 14 tabled a budget.
Revenue: R14m of which R10m comprised the guaranteed sponsorship
Expenses: R12m or an average of R1m per month
From Feb – December 2005 R2.6m of the Spears budget was spent
From Jan-March 2006: R2.3m was spent on team & tours
April 11th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
PissAnt
SA Rugby collects R700m over 5 years from Newscorp.
That is R140m per annum in a revenue stream from the broadcast sponsor only, slightly over R10m per month.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Interesting…
I presume this budget was approved?
They question R1.6-mil even though you are R7-mil (more or less) below the projected budget?!
April 11th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
In any event, they had more than a year to argue your budget and ammend it and now they see it fit accuse you of fraud?
April 11th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
this more or less puts this baby to rest for me.
to ollie’s question, did hoskins respond to you on the circus of yesterday?
April 11th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Oh,
Just one last concern I had, you were quoted in the Beeld as to reports given to SARU regarding finances, I suppose the expenses you highlighted to us just now is included in this report?
With all the necesarry proof of how money was spent?
April 11th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
PA,
I wonder if Kama was just trying to get in the limelight for a few minutes or if his statement was part of the SARU plan to muddy the waters?
Tony,
I wish you guys all the best of luck. This is going to be dirty.
April 11th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Well I tell you what Ollie, seeing the shitstorm he got him and SARU in to, I would fire him on the spot if I was Hoskins!
April 11th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
This was presented on 6 April 2005 to the SA Rugby Board
2006
Team Travel R 200,000.00 1.66%
Transport Visiting Teams R 126,000.00 1.04%
Accommodation R 649,000.00 5.38%
Match Production R 245,000.00 2.03%
Marketing R 250,000.00 2.07%
Salaries R 8,663,000.00 71.77%
Team Management R 2,290,000.00
Players R 6,373,000.00
Administration R 1,116,000.00 9.25%
Super 14 R 200,000.00 1.66%
Friendlies R 120,000.00 0.99%
Coaching Equipment R 91,750.00 0.76%
Training camp R 100,000.00 0.83%
Formal Clothing R 90,000.00 0.75%
Medical Cost & Insuranc R 220,000.00 1.82%
R 12,070,750.00 100.00%
Now the R5m is way off this budget.
If anyone knows a Super 14 budget it has to be SARU and they obligated themselves to do this in 2006
April 11th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Thanks Tony,
Your willingness and openess through engaging with the public and present fact with the possibility to be criticized is testament to the transparency you obviously indulge in.
This makes the clown(s) at SARU’s statement even more ridiculous if that was ever possible.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
In a spat that is fairly mild by South African rugby administration standards but might seem of seismic proportions in Australia, the ARU has hit back at the Western Force’s claims that it is ‘not serious about expanding the code’.
The Perth based Western Force’s Chief Executive, Peter O’Meara, was reportedly fairly scathing last week in his criticism of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU).
O’Meara, reacting to news that the ARU has cut the WF’s annual grant from A$300k to A$200k, accused the national body of not being serious about spreading the game, comparing them disfavourably with the effort that League are making.
He went on to claim that considering 20 000 Perth fans had signed up as members of the franchise, the ARU should be doing more to promote the game.
The ARU were having none of it however, with ARU boss, Gary Flowers saying, “The Force is one of the great success stories and we have put a lot of time, money and effort into that.”
“We are putting resources into the new team but we don’t have a bottomless pit of money. We wish that was the case but it isn’t. We are contributing to the new team and the new start around $4.5m to $5m (R22.8m). In an ideal world there could be more resources applied but we don’t have them.”
Considering the sums mentioned by Flowers, nearly R23m, it begs the question as to what SARU are doing in financial terms to help the Free State Cheetahs this year and the Southern Spears next year?
Whilst it is not clear whether Flowers is referring to direct investment, the figure quoted is still a staggering amount.
Throw in the 20 000 signed, and paid for, members (Diamond, Gold and Silver packages are no longer available, such has been the strong demand. Only Iron and Nickel are available) with Iron prices starting at A$175 and Gold at A$395 and the Western Force would appear to hold a massive financial advantage over it’s South African counterpart.
Conservatively, if we counted all 20 000 memberships as Iron, that would provide an approximate extra A$3.5m (R16m) per annum, so the real sum is significantly higher.
Additionally the Western Australian government has granted the Western Force’s stadium, Members Equity Stadium, A$24m for redevelopment and given a A$1.5 million grant in order to assist in establishing the Western Force in the Super 14 competition.
So, to recap, and I must stress that I cannot guarantee these figures are 100% accurate but they are in the public domain and on that basis I’ll use them for the sake of argument;
ARU claimed investment: A$5m
ARU annual grant: A$200k
Membership packages: A$3.5m
WA government grant: A$1.5m
Without discussing sponsors at all, this gives the Western Force a A$10.2m starting bonanza, that is R46.5 million. Without discussing the international airline, Emirates, naming jersey sponsorship or the more than 250 companies who have applied for corporate hospitality.
Oh, I can hear some of you murmering, what about Purchasing Power Parity, you can’t just convert from Australian Dollars and quote a South African Rand figure – cost of living, inflation and all that.
Fair enough, so let’s dont. Let’s simply make a direct comparison.
The Western Force have a R10.2 million start to their Super 14 adventure, without including corporate hospitality and sponsorships or a massive R24m (PPP, remember!) stadium upgrade.
Okay, the outstanding 20 000 signed up members is from the sweat of the Force’s brow, an Australian record by the way, eclipsing the Brumbies previous best, around 12 000.
Now, I ask myself, how much sympathy does the Free State Cheetahs boss have for the Western Force’s Peter O’Meara?
Information sources: The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.rugbywa.com.au , austadiums.com , The Universal Currency Converter, mbf.com.au
posted by Rasputin @ 10:26 AM
April 11th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
I would have thought it would be obvious to SARU that financially supporting a brand new entity, with unique start-up costs, who have aspirations of competing in the S14, would cost well in excess of R5m.
—————
Tony,
on another issue. I warned of this last year but unfortunately you guys (Southern Spears) are being held accountable for the woes of the three seperate provincial bodies.
Thus, this matter of ‘budget overspend’ (if it is any such thing) is now being portrayed as ‘corruption’ or ‘theft’.
It is most unfortunate. How can you make it any more abundantly clear that The Southern Spears are not the EPRFU?
April 11th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Sheez,
That is some shocking stats, I feel for our very own Cheetahs.
Even more so since it was mentioned earlier SARU earns just about R10-mil ONLY through TV Rights……
April 11th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Tony,
What documentation do you have since 8 June 2005, where you requested the decisions to be put in writing or did nobody follow up on it?
April 11th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Well Ras
Lets asked what is the result of “sweat from the Cheetahs Brow”?
April 11th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Good question, OO.
Problem is, we can ask the questions but South African sporting entities don’t believe they have a public-interest duty to answer them.
So we stay clueless and we jump to conclusions.
Perhaps Mr Verster will read this and provide the answer. How many paid-up memberships have the Cheetahs sold ‘off the sweat of their brow’, Mr Verster?
April 11th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
At SARU it’s generally the sweat of someone else’s brow!
April 12th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
What a circus – Tony, your strategy of keeping everything out in the open is brilliant – do not allow half truths and muttered innuendo to derail your goal – Super 14 in 2007. Once that is eventually absolutely bloody final for the 15th time sponsors will be waging a war to get on board as you will be able to guaranteed massive exposure. Above all else, keep the CYA (cover yo ass) file stocked with every bit of paperwork you accumulate & if there is even a hint that you are being stiched up clarify it in the public domain – if you need a strategist on board to attain your goal shout – as an EC ‘oke’ it would be a pleasure!