WP Rugby on the verge of big things if pros run the show
• Board members elected by amateur clubs not keen on multimillion rand deal with US consortium to run rugby
We could be on the verge of a historic moment in SA rugby history. But unless you are prepared to bet on turkeys voting for Christmas, perhaps the celebrations should be held off until after the deal between Western Province and MVH Holdings is signed.
Given the WP’s parlous financial state, you would think the Cape union would jump at the R100m offered by the American consortium.
WP has huge debt, and even before Covid-19 was operating at a loss estimated at R30m a year. It is being overvalued and really cannot afford to look the gift horse in the mouth.
But we are hearing that while the board members who sit on the professional side of the divide within the greater WP infrastructure are eager for the deal to be signed, officials elected out of the club game and who are the tail that wags the dog in Cape rugby are predictably reluctant to give up their power.
It was ever thus in SA rugby. When a few years ago then SA Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins told the 14 union presidents at a meeting in Paarl that privatisation was inevitable, he was met with something close to revolt.
Hoskins was just talking about the reality, and it remains a reality: the economic imperative will eventually dictate what is necessary for the sport to thrive. Holding out is just delaying what is inevitable.
When I interviewed former players for my book, Our Blood
is Green, most were adamant that private ownership — as is the norm with overseas clubs where many of them finished their careers — was a must.
This could be a historic moment because WP has always been the local big union least in step with the norms of professionalism. That is mainly because it is so politicised.
When Johann Rupert was alienated during Thelo Wakefield’s reign as president because of what insiders referred to as an aversion to “Afrikaner” capital, it proved to be WP’s loss and the Bulls’ gain. Remgro and Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments joined forces to take a controlling interest in the Pretoria union, and even at this early stage the Bulls look like a lesson on the benefits of having owners who run rugby on business principles.
Bulls president Willem Strauss has input and is the union’s media front. But what flies and what doesn’t is decided ultimately by the people who put the money in. Hence the appointments of Jake White as coach and Edgar Rathbone’s as CEO.
By working with and not against the new owners, Strauss was able to look after his constituency by raising R1.5m (contributed by African Rainbow Capital Investments, Remgro and sponsors Vodacom) to keep the clubs going during the Covid-driven suspension of rugby. Ironically, while WP president Zelt Marais pays much lip service to the club lobby that got him his position, he could end up being responsible for the demise of many clubs if the money dries up.
The WP union has been borrowing money to repay debt and put up its properties as security, but that money will dry up if elected officials get their way and the US deal falls through.
A misconception has arisen from Marais’s constant carping about the union having to bail out its professional arm. Yet the idea that the amateurs are the strong, financially sound faction in the organisation is the product of faulty logic. From where are amateurs supposed to get the money? They get it from the professional game and money paid to them for lease of the stadium. If professional rugby in the Cape collapsed, there would be no money to fund the amateur game.
And right now, the future of the Stormers/WP looks decidedly creaky if you consider that, without the American money, it is going to be difficult to offer contracts to top players in future. The system today, with clubs calling the shots, undermines professional rugby. It means elected officials run the business with one eye always on people to whom they made promises during electioneering.
The populism that got Marais into his position may have been behind his broken deal with Investec (hostility to “white” capital) over the sale of the Newlands stadium and his reluctance to get on board with the potential new owners (“foreign” capital).
It is understood that one obstacle to the MVH deal is elected officials demanding the right to veto coaching appointments. It would make no sense for the new owners to accept that, but it makes sense for the officials to demand it. Being able to make promises in return for support gives them power.
This is one of the main reasons for Western Province being perennial underachievers.