Able administrator sees a bright future for SA rugby, writes George Byron
ENERGETIC Monde Tabata, the man appointed by SA Rugby to fix EP Rugby’s problems, says he does not know how to relax because he always feels there is something he still needs to do.
That trait, even though Tabata admits it is an unhealthy one, will be vital in the coming months as the rugby-mad official bids to put Eastern Province Rugby back on its feet.
“I cannot relax. I do not know how to do that. It always feels that there is something that I ought to do or something that I have not completed. It is silly and unhealthy,” Tabata said.
“I do, however, enjoy spending time with people with similar interests. I have the good fortune of knowing many and varied people and pride myself in being able to fit in easily.
“So how to relax depends entirely on how I feel. The best though is to listen to live music. I love reading too.”
The retired corporate executive with some 25 years’ experience, is reluctant to talk about the challenges facing EP because he will explain the situation at a meeting of clubs next Saturday.
“I would not like to speak of the EP situation at this stage. It is work in progress and there are many challenges to make sense of,” Tabata said.
“Besides, due to the nature of how the EP situation has evolved, it is important to observe some of the organisational protocols. For example, there are a number of interested parties, no less the clubs, that still want me to explain what is involved in their union and how it can be fixed and whether it will be fixed at all.
“It would therefore be wrong for me to share my insights with you before I have taken them into confidence.
“I am scheduled to present to them on September 3. It would be better that way and therefore I will not offer any insights for now as far as EP Rugby in general.
“Save to say, difficult as it looks, we must find a way to put it in fine shape so that the union members can have their entity back,” Tabata said.
There was never any doubt that Tabata, born into a rugby loving family, would make his mark in the sport his father introduced him to at a young age.
“I was born into rugby,” Tabata said, adding: “My father played the game, was a coach of Spring Rose in Cradock and also became its administrator. Growing up, I used to take the rugby balls to the practice field at eBhongweni in Cradock.
“I do not think that he ever asked me to do that. I just enjoyed doing this and watching him coach. Of course, Spring Rose was the best team in Cradock and one of the best in the old Midlands. Besides that, I joined him in listening to rugby on the radio, listening to Kim Shippey and Charles Fortune, reading the match reports in the Herald and Sunday Times.
“He was a student of the game too. He amassed an extensive library of rugby books and I read these books at an early age.
“I read books of the first Springbok tour to England in 1906, the 1921 tours, the 194951, 1955 British Lions tour, 1961 tour to New Zealand, 1963 tour by Australia to SA, 1965 – SA/NZ tour, 1967 French Tour to SA, 1969 Aussies in SA, and 1970 All Black tour, and I actually saw them play in Cradock.
“That was the year Bryan Williams came to SA. Then the French came in 1974 and I read about that and also watched their game in Mdantsane. I have literally read and watched rugby my entire life. I also enjoyed a very healthy debate with my father about teams and players.
“Of course, with my father being involved in administration of rugby in the Midlands and with SA African Rugby Board, I was exposed to just about all the luminaries of African rugby of those days.
“I met as a child really great fellows like Grant Khomo, who was a triple Springbok and president of SAARB. I met Louis Mtshizana, Chief Doyle Jongilanga, Pat Cossie, Alfred Dwesi, Curnick Mdyesha, the Tywakadis and the Makenyanas.
“I met them as a child because my home in Cradock was a meeting place, but they left an indelible impression on me because literally without resources and nothing personal to gain, they kept our societies together through rugby.
“They were proud chaps who in my view could teach a few of present day rugby people about how to grow and run rugby in conditions of want.
“In my pre-teen years, every living Sunday we spent the afternoon watching rugby in either Zwelitsha, Ginsberg or Mdantsane. So rugby has been something of an infusion from my father and something that has been a sport and probably a spiritual fillip for me.”
Tabata has held top positions in the business world and it is the skills developed here that will help him solve EP’s problems.
“I find it difficult to describe what I am professionally because I have never thought of myself in a professional category,” Tabata said.
“What I am, is a retired corporate executive with some 25 years’ experience. I have worked at senior executive levels in public and private sectors mainly in Gauteng. In that period, I have developed wide ranging skills in management and leadership.
“I was fortunate that I also worked for the Primedia Group and worked as the managing director of Megapro for a period of about six years. Megapro, which is a premier sports marketing company in South Africa, resuscitated my affinity for rugby.
“It was in that role that I was introduced to the modernisation of rugby from a pastime to rugby as a business. Megapro was central in building the commercial value of South African rugby as a whole.
“That experience in the engine room of making rugby a commercially viable business is what informs my involvement in rugby administration.
“In fact, I got into the SA Rugby executive on the basis of my expertise in this regard. I am not one of the elected executive members, but one of those invited to serve on the basis of skills and experience. I have been involved now for six years.”
Tabata, widely accredited for helping the ailing Border Rugby Union get back on its feet, cautions that there are still challenges ahead.
“It would be hazardous and would prejudge the outcomes to say that Border is on its feet. I know that there are other pillars for its stability that require strength before we pop the champagne.
“The important thing is that we averted the collapse. The liquidity has improved greatly. Border is able to meet its obligations and we eliminated the debt to a myriad of creditors.
“For the past three years, everyone who works for Border Rugby is being paid every month and on time, we have improved the management of the union.
“We have a performing team that has largely been drawn from the villages of the Border region and some of the local rugby schools such as Grens. It is a team that is overwhelmingly locally derived and reflective of the demographics of the area.
“Is Border back on its feet? No, not yet. But certainly it shows signs that it can be better than it has been in the last 15 years. I am happy that the veterans are coming back to the stadium and offering support, materially, in some circumstances.
“There is a generally sunny disposition rather than the gloom and anger that I found when I arrived. So the answer is that Border is fine but the legs still need strength.”
Though SA Rugby is facing challenges across the board, Tabata has no doubt that the future remains bright.
“The future of SA rugby is bright. It has great potential to be bright. The player movement to supposedly greener pastures overseas is something that we cannot fight taking into consideration the natural inclination of all to improve their financial standing.
“It is something that other countries have had to deal with, to varying degrees. It is also a topical issue about its hazards on national teams.
“There is no indication in SA that it has a destructive impact. So we have the diamonds, what we need is something different and I am sure it is lurking somewhere ready to emerge.
“What we all need is a Bernie Ecclestone-type intervention and SA will be a rugby superpower and then, we will stunt the emigration and we may have to deal with immigration of rugby talent into South Africa.”
Ecclestone is the chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One and controls the commercial rights to the sport.
“We must stop seeking magic moments. Bright moments in history are a product of imaginative and hard work only, not wishes. Our future will be bright if we work on it; there is no alternative.”
Asked what his ambition in rugby is, Tabata said: “Being part of people who work at growing rugby into a truly and unifying national sport in SA and the number one rugby nation in the world.”
While he was growing up the rugby heroes he admired were Panayi Mazungula (Spring Rose, Cradock and Midlands), Temba Ludwaba (Spring Rose Port Elizabeth and Cradock and Kwaru, Carel du Plessis (WP and Springboks), Mannetjies Roux (Griquas and Springboks), Cassiem Jabaar (WP and Saru (Sacos) and Tandi August (Border and SAARB Springbok).
When he is not engulfed by rugby duties Tabata says he loves watching Wimbledon tennis and all forms of cricket depending who is playing.
The big question on the lips of rugby fans at present is whether EP could become a power on the rugby stage in years ahead?
In reply to that question Tabata says: “It will be so only if innovative work goes into it. It cannot happen on its own. We also must understand it will not grow as a result of tradition.
“A great deal of work has to go into it. In the process some of our traditions may have to be lost to allow for new practices to be introduced. This question is odd because it assumes that there are inherent characteristics that make EP a power in rugby.
“It is variables that will get EP into such a position not tradition and not mere say-so or wish.
“The important variable is leadership and the other is the economic performance of the region.”