A NEW DAWN
FOR AS LONG AS ANY OF US CAN REMEMBER, CYCLING SOUTH AFRICA HAS BEEN THE CUCKOO OF RACING CYCLING – AN OVER-FED BULLY, LEECHING OFF THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS, AND KICKING OUT OF THE NEST ANY FOOLISH ENOUGH TO QUESTION THE STATUS QUO. IS THAT SET TO CHANGE?
Like many quasi-racing cyclists in South Africa, I gave up on CSA a long time ago. I love cycling, and I love testing myself against my peers; but having a headmaster with a big stick dictating where and when I can and can’t race? No thanks.
CSA’S perceived misdemeanours are legion. Bloated official trips to representative cycling events abroad, for which athletes have recently had to pay not only their own travel expenses, but even for their national riding kit.
Cyclists being fined and banned from racing for riding events that CSA hasn’t sanctioned, even when those events could not be governed by CSA’S own rules (Bicycling has been privy to an alarmingly arrogant exchange between the former General Manager and an established event owner who dared to question the federation).
Rumours of financial mismanagement too. It goes on and on.
This is no different to the nonsense to be found at the same level in athletics, cricket and many other sports; but in cycling, thankfully, we now have options.
Late in 2019, news filtered through that some of the bad apples in the cobwebbed structures at CSA had finally been dispensed with. We’ve heard this many times over the years, of course; and with jaundiced nostrils, we waited to have a sniff of the next mildewing fruit basket.
But out popped an unexpected name, in an unexpected role: Ciska Austin, the new President of Cycling South Africa. Uh, what?
OVERQUALIFIED
Austin has been around the sport for decades, through her expert-coach husband Barry: working for Engen building a criterium series (among other sporting sponsorships), and most recently as the vice-president of Cycling South Africa.
All the while, she’s been studying for an Executive Masters Degree in European Sports Governance from the University of Limoges – an acknowledged leader in this field.
So she’s experienced CSA from all angles. “It’s incredibly challenging to expect riders to represent the country when they do not have the funds available, within a self-funded programme. Should we rather say to the riders that we can’t afford to send them, and have them all stay home?
“We had the Agenda2020 programme, refunding performing riders and teams; but those contributions – totalling over R1.7 mil last year – contributed to the federation’s current financial position. It’s a novel idea, but it was actually something we could not afford. It’s a really difficult situation – for some more than others.
“But the provinces have been great in supporting their riders. For instance, the cancelled African Championships necessitated that I make calls to provinces and individuals to assist one rider in particular, who rides for a team in Germany. I had to ask a favour from Western Cape, Cape Winelands and his previous club in Paarl, to consider supporting him as well.
“However, this situation is not unique to Cycling SA. It’s happened to other sports – and even other international cycling federations – who also had the means before, but can no longer run the same programmes they did in previous years.”
The irony, of course, is that this all happened a week before the coronavirus caused the African Championships to be canned anyway, along with virtually every other sporting event on the planet.
MONEY TROUBLES
Finances are one of the four immediate deliverables Austin has set herself:
1. Financial austerity, improving revenues and governance;
2. Changing CSA’S image and brand identity; 3. Working with partners in alliances; and 4. Being athlete-centric, with a distinction between general members (and their benefits) and grassroots development, with talent pathways to ensure future performance.
“The federation is technically bankrupt; though not completely, we are in a bad position at the moment. We are R2.5-million in the red, a debt accumulated over a number of years; and our income streams certainly can’t rectify that immediately.”
Sponsorship, Lotto funding, licensing and event affiliation fees are CSA’S four sources of income, and each comes with its own challenges.
“We need to change the perception of CSA before we can expect corporates to get involved – I think we can do that. People believe that it’s been a gravy train of sorts, but that isn’t entirely true, especially in recent years.
“Beyond a sub judice case in Limpopo, the finances have been well-managed in the last two years or so – don’t believe everything the rumour mill spits out. But we had a huge problem with Lotto funding that was budgeted for, but then didn’t materialise.”
CSA had bid for R7.25 million in Lotto funding for 2019/2020, split into approximately R3.2 million for development projects, and 3.9 for the Highperformance programme.
“Lotto agreed to a portion of the development cash; but they won’t give money for performance.
And we had already instituted a system in which potential Olympic athletes were on a performance bonus-type programme leading up to 2020, meaning they could earn a living through their riding and not worry about putting food on the table while focusing on Tokyo.
“My predecessors had banked on the lottery funding to make this work… and then it didn’t come. The project should have been canned there and then; but it wasn’t, and so we sit in a terrible financial situation. We are now applying financial austerity to improve our position.”
Austin has projected an 18-month turnaround to get the federation back to financial stability.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
“I come from a background of trying to help our riders navigate the CSA rules, regulations, and (often) pettiness. Trying to find funding for riders to go to Worlds, while the officials are allexpenses-paid.”
Some of these expenses are paid for by the federation, some by the UCI – especially where they stipulate, for example, that the President must attend. And many team staff pay their own way, too.
“For a number of years, the federation had been making use of people who might work for a team (such as NTT) who charge us nothing for the use of their services and equipment. The challenge is the staff, who generally work for free, but still need to be accommodated. For the World Championships, the federation paid those costs, in order for the riders to have the support.
“It has got better recently; in a way, we are fortunate – the federation couldn’t afford to send team staff either. One of my priorities is to make sure we can assist our athletes responsibly.
“Team staff do need to accompany them – you need a mechanic and a soigneur, at the very least, and a manager for bigger competitions. Athletes can’t perform at their best if they’re worrying about logistics.
“But the athletes can’t be expected to pay for themselves. We have to sort that out; and we will, as the finances come right. I want to change the federation’s image, a little – we are here for you, because of you, and we all want it to work out.”
The other area in which CSA has copped a tremendous amount of flak has been the sanctioning of events, and the handling of licensed riders who dare to ride non-sanctioned events.
“It is difficult. We need events to sanction – it’s a big part of our revenue stream – and when organisers refuse, we’re put in a difficult position with our riders, as we have to ensure we abide by the UCI regulations as well.”
A position that of late has been treated with the big stick, banning and fining riders. “We don’t want to do that. We need to find a common ground.
“If you don’t see the value in paying us to be sanctioned, I want to show you it’s worth it. Let’s ring-fence the fees from your event, and discuss ways they can be spent that do make it seem worthwhile and give your sponsors additional awareness; cycling development in your area, support of a national team in your discipline – let’s get creative.”
REBUILDING
Austin’s final word on rebuilding the image of Cycling South Africa is about the front line of the federation’s interaction with its members.
“I want to get some relative youth into our commissaires and officials. We have a generation of ex-international riders, in their 30s and 40s, who are still active in other areas of the sport. They would make wonderful officials, and I want to encourage them to get involved. They are the generation who should be inspiring the next one.
“Some people have advised me to get rid of the dead wood – all of it – but that’s short-sighted. I want to get a new generation of officials and administrators groomed to learn from the valuable experience of the current ones, and they will bring to that side of the sport an understanding from a rider perspective that is currently lacking.
“I want officials who want to be there for the development of the sport, putting the riders first.”
BACK TO BASICS
“Our membership numbers are terribly low at the moment, and I get why. We haven’t been able to
“I come from a background of trying to help our riders navigate the CSA rules, regulations, and (often) pettiness. Trying to find funding for riders to go to Worlds, while the officials are all-expenses-paid.”
hold our heads up high, as a federation, over the past few years. Autocracy works for the autocrats, while the member base suffers. We have to return to serving our members.”
The youth is the future. That is Austin’s firm belief, and one that will surely ring the right bells with the lottery, and with potential sponsors.
“We want the cyclists to be part of a bottom-up system, where we have helped create the heroes they want to aspire to be, but now have a system to move up and through to get there.”
A full restructure of CSA was due to be voted on in early May (Covid-19-dependent), which will see the focus – once again – on bringing new riders in through a club system that was abandoned in 2012, allowing for clear pathways for growth in mountain biking, BMX, road and track, as well as gravel racing.
There are also murmurings from interested parties about bringing Cyclocross to life in SA.
At this point, funds received from grants may not be spent on High Performance – this has been made clear; and the hope that that might change has left the federation to reconsider its position. That isn’t a bad thing, necessarily – to do some internal reviews, and consider alternative models.
“We have to focus on development and transformation, and we can only do that effectively at the base of the pyramid, by growing club cycling aggressively, so the cream spills out into our regional, provincial and national structures.
“Cycling doesn’t even get a mention in government transformation circles; it’s measured purely in race-linked numbers, and we are not meeting these expectations yet. We haven’t moved forward in 25 years, and now we have to.
“So that is my second focus, after sorting out the finances; and I want to do this by making sure we work closely with Schools Cycling South Africa. Sport in SA grows strongest through participation at school level.
“I’m giving credit where it is due – the Spur Schools League had established a great network already. Schools Cycling South Africa and Cyclingsa have also agreed to work even closer together in all the provinces, and to establish the other disciplines within the school sport structures as well.”
The third and final focus is on partnerships and relationships with sponsors, events and media. “I’ve brought in a mantra: that we won’t say no to any proposal. We might not say yes, down the road; but we will investigate every single proposal that crosses my desk, to see how we can make it work for our riders first and foremost, for our sponsors, and finally for the federation.”
A dedicated email address has been set up to field questions, offers, ideas and dreams (innov8@ cyclingsa.co.za), which will channel directly into the president’s inbox for now.
EVENTS
“I have no interest in organising events. It’s a risky business, and that’s not our mandate. But I want to work with anyone who does.”
What about reviving the Rapport Toer, and other halcyon events? “Again, that’s not our mandate. We will promote, and help, and do whatever we can to make such things happen, but we need to focus on our day job – finding, encouraging, polishing the next generations of talent.
“An international tour is not a cheap thing to create. Just to run a 2.2-level UCI tour like this – the lowest-ranked international option – would cost R3 million. To get World Tour teams, and attract the Quicksteps and the NTTS, more like R40 million.
“Obviously, CSA can’t make that happen on its own.”