Academy back in business after cash boost
THE EP Rugby Academy will live to fight another year after frantic behind the scenes fundraising and urgent community talks has seen them raise just enough money to keep going.
News of the Academy possibly having to shut down sent shockwaves around the Bay two weeks after SA Rugby Union (Saru) pulled the plug on its funding.
“Nothing is official yet but I’ve been working in conjunction with Charl Crous [Southern Kings chief operating officer].
EP Academy manager Robbi Kempson yesterday said “we may have potentially managed to hold on to what players are left and continue with the Academy into next year”.
A standard amount of around R4-million a year is required for the academy to run at top level. Saru has been pouring money into certain affiliates in recent years, including the beleaguered EP Rugby Union (EPRU), and the coffers may be running on empty.
EPRU’s Saru administrator, Monde Tabata two weeks ago said that Saru was seeking outside investors to fund the academies.
“We’ve been very happy to have guys like Daron Mann [Algoa FM DJ] and businessman Dave Gardner spreading the awareness of our plight. It’s been quite a community effort in trying to get the academy open again,” said Kempson.
The Academy not only focuses on rugby excellence, but excellence in academics as well.
“First and foremost it is the priority that the player should be able to play and to ensure that we can look after them and give them the best opportunities,” he said. Under the guidance of former Springbok prop Kempson and his staff, the EP academy has become the most successful academy in South Africa, with 42 full-time professional rugby players of colour coming through its ranks in the last three years. The secret to the academy’s success lies on the focus of its players. “Generally speaking we contract players for three years. The agreement for that is that they play and get their degrees in those three years” he added. Players who have come up through the ranks and made themselves a name in South African rugby include the likes of Sergeal Petersen and Lizo Gqoboka, who joined the Springbok ranks recently, while Siviwe Soyizwapi made it into the SA Sevens set-up. The recent SA U20 captains, Jeremy Ward and Junior Pokomela, are from the academy, including their SA team members Keanu Vers, James Hall, Kooper Oosthuizen and Tango Balekile. With the rugby season having recently concluded, the focus shifts to recruitment and pre-season training as the academy looks towards readying themselves for the upcoming Varsity Cup and Young Guns rugby competitions.
“Quite a few of our players have a very good relationship with NMMU so they will be playing in the Varsity Cup, so they are already training with the Varsity Cup squad. For the new intake, which will be from January 2, we’ll be getting the boys ready for the Young Guns competition, just to keep that relationship going and strong,” added Kempson.