Lion king De Klerk calls it a day
WARNING: BIG FINANCIAL CHALLENGES AWAIT SA TEAMS
Major financial challenges await South African rugby in the next few years when it comes to dishing out national and provincial player contracts, believes outgoing Golden Lions president Kevin de Klerk.
Rated as one of the greatest servants of Lions rugby, De Klerk announced his sudden retirement yesterday after serving nine years as president and an association of 50 years with the union going back to 1968 when he first emerged as a 17-year-old Under-20 player.
“I am 68 now and felt it’s time for a younger guy to take over and to concentrate on the family business where my son is the operational manager,” De Klerk, rated as one of the toughest Springbok locks in his heyday, said.
“A proper process will now be followed to appoint my replacement and the Executive Committee will meet in two to three weeks where a proper election process and procedure will be followed.”
With SA Rugby (Saru) reporting a loss of over R62 million, De Klerk said with so many provincial unions the demands have increased overnight.
“It comes down to budget constraint as you have to make the budget work. In comparison with the rest of the world we produce the most players and the most talent coming through,” he said.
De Klerk said he had a meeting last week with Saru president Mark Alexander to inform him of his decision who then showed him a video of the business plan going forward.
“The economic constraints will probably not allow you to build bigger squads than about 45, so there’s immense challenges lying ahead,” he said.
De Klerk said the structures at the Lions remain healthy and lauded his executive council, vice-president Altman Allers and Lions CEO Rudolf Straeuli.
“Rudolf put great structures in place and sometimes he wasn’t the most popular person, but sometimes harsh decisions needed to be taken,” he said.
De Klerk, who played 107 games for Transvaal and 13 Tests for the Springboks, highlighted the Currie Cup wins of 2011 and 2015 as well as reaching the Super Rugby final three times as highlights, while three national titles for the Under-19s and one for the Under-21s were also milestones.
“I remember a young Warren Whiteley in 2011, all ears with busy hair coming from the Sharks. We did not have money to buy players so we got the discards from other unions and developed them,” De Klerk said.
“When we were kicked out of Super Rugby (in 2013) nobody wanted to sponsor us, that was probably my toughest year.”