For SARU to get rid of Allister Coetzee it is going to cost them R13 million to buy him out of his contract. Now surely there must be a villain in all of this mess? Who got us in this mess? How come we can’t get out of this mess?
Is AC the villain? Well SARU never advertised the position of Springbok coach, Jurie Roux their CEO appointed AC as Roux felt AC was the correct man. AC already had a job coaching the Kobe Steel Kobelko Steelers. SARU sought out AC and offered him the job of coach of the Springboks. Why would AC turn down this offer?
Jurie Roux
Roux had taken his time about considering who would be the correct man. Heyneke Meyer had resigned from the post on 3 December 2015 and AC was appointed over four months later on 12 April 2016.
In that four month period you would have thought that Roux would have thought about including a performance clause in the contract he was about to offer to AC. It appears that there is no performance clause in AC’s contract.
If you were given a job and offered a contract for four years by the end of which you would have earnt R13 million, whether you do that job well or badly the company has to honour the contract and pay you R13 million, then would you do the honourable thing and resign? Not a chance in hell you would ! You would be saying things like what AC has been saying “I think I am the man to turn things around”
The thing is this company (SARU) that gave AC this contract are responsible for millions of Springbok fans happiness. Not only does SARU have to buy AC out of this contract to the tune of R13 million but now we hear that SARU can’t afford to buy him out. Even worse SARU has gotten itself into financial difficulty with the governing body reportedly being R19 million in the red.
SARU is going to ask it’s partner, Supersport, to pay the R13 million. I have suggested to people that I have spoken to that Jurie Roux should come up with the R13 million especially if SARU continue to employ Roux. Roux had previous to this huge blunder been accused of misappropriating funds, guiding money to his own rugby club in Cape Town.
I think if SARU jettison Roux it will be a positive step toward regaining the public’s trust. I feel Roux is the villain in this instance. He never advertised the job, he procrastinated over the appointment, he never included a performance clause and he appointed a coach that already had proven whilst at the Stormers that he can’t do the job.
A huge worry is the state that SA Rugby is in. Financial ruin didn’t happen as a consequence of the AC tenure, it has been a long time coming and the excuse of, we don’t do things that way as South Africans and as South Africans we can only work in certain confines, just doesn’t cut it. We need to start doing things correctly.
at the ground 
December 7, 2016 at 4:45 pm
Steve what are your thoughts on doing away with the professional provincial unions, and letting the club system go professional (similar to England and France)?
What are the systems like in England?
What are their pros and cons compared to SA’s “federal” system?
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December 7, 2016 at 7:38 pm
Scott these are fantastic questions and I’ll try my best to give you decent answers.
I personally don’t think you can do away with the professional provincial unions. To discuss something like this fully would take ages and to be honest it matters not what discussion I make on the subject. This is something the powers that be in SA Rugby should be discussing right now.
I feel there is too much emotion tied up in history and the culture of SA Rugby to do away with the provincial unions.
I think the system needs to be modified for the better of all SA Rugby.
At certain levels whether it be a club a province or a region that team represents a certain area. Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connaught are the four Irish provinces and compete against English and French clubs in the European Cup which is the level just below international level which equates to the Southern Hemispheres Superugby.
What are the systems like in England?
My understanding of it is that it is a federal system in that the RFU has overall power and sets many parameters. The RFU doesn’t have direct power over the professional clubs but exerts their power as they have control over the competitions and the leagues that the clubs compete in. So you have the central governing body which is the RFU. The clubs don’t govern anyone else except themselves that is the difference but the power and influence depends on their success. So a top club like Leicester will have huge sway while a club lower down the leagues like Nottingham will have far less.
What are their pros and cons compared to SA’s “federal” system?
I think it comes down to whether or not the people running rugby truly have rugby as the number one thing that they are trying to look after, nuture and grow.
I think that England especially has benefitted greatly from observing the pitfalls of professional clubs by looking at their football league.
The RFU has a stranglehold on how business is conducted in the rugby premiership. What it has allowed is for large amounts of money to come pouring into the English game but the main beneficiaries of that money are the English themselves.
You can see it in their clubs 25 years ago hardly any English Club fixtures attracted more than 10 thousand spectators per game now even the smaller premiership clubs boast 20 thousand seater stadiums which are full every weekend. This is a large part due to the ambitious ideas of businessmen coming into the sport. Marketing has gone through the roof. Club tops change every year and there are different tops for different tournaments with home and away versions. The money is pouring into the English game and at grassroots level it is showing up dramatically with youth rugby hitting higher and higher figures year on year.
The downside to this is trying to keep it under control. Businessmen don’t have rugby as their number one priority they have money. I think that is why the RFU have done such an excellent job in implementing salary caps, and rules regarding how many foreigners are allowed to play in the matchday squad. We have seen that France are not managing these things very well Montpellier seems to be a majority South African team with a few Aussies and a Fjian or two. Tell me how does that benefit French Rugby.
South Africa need to find people to run rugby that put rugby as number one, they also must allow outside money to come in and let outside people manage their teams but have a measure of control. If this is possible of happening I doubt it judging from all the Autocratic Morons that have been running SA Rugby for the past 30 odd years and what they have done. There just seems to be an acceptance of so many aspects that are detrimental to the game by various SA administrations.
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December 7, 2016 at 10:51 pm
Great insights. A possible follow on blog post perhaps…
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