Ken Borland

Last October seems a long time ago now for Lions fans as their union gets knocked from all sides, not just on the playing field but also in the boardroom.

John Mitchell, having overseen their fairytale Currie Cup triumph on October 29 last year, has now been suspended, adding to all the financial worries and the threat of SuperRugby expulsion hanging over the Lions’ heads.

To say Mitchell has an overbearing personality would be putting it mildly. There are very few people in Lions rugby who are willing to say they will be sad to see him go.

The New Zealander deserves credit for restoring pride to the Lions, but once he had done that, his limited man-management skills came to the fore and Mitchell’s old-school views on discipline and treating players like kids in boarding school eventually lost him the team.

In this professional era when even the players’ breakfasts are measured,  getting them to run a marathon around the Johannesburg Stadium athletics track just two weeks before their opening SuperRugby fixture looks pretty dumb.

Mitchell has had a simmering relationship with the media as well. While any dissenting voices amongst the team were quickly put in their place, any questions from the press that Mitchell did not approve of would lead to cold-shoulder treatment and public ridicule.

I was not the only journalist who was told “Well I don’t know what match you were watching, mate.” Mitchell seemed to take delight in cutting down the media, preferably in front of large audiences in the Lions auditorium, as he did one day to the 94.7 Highveld Stereo man, who’s question was totally well-meaning and non-confrontational. And that’s the same radio station that have been long-term sponsors and supporters of the embattled team.

The players have been the brunt of some criticism suggesting they wanted to get rid of Mitchell because they just wanted a nice holiday when it came to training.

But it took enormous courage, led by impressive captain Josh Strauss, for them to stand up to their bullying coach. There is a good spirit of hard-working endeavour at Ellis Park, as president Kevin de Klerk pointed out.

“The spirit in the camp is very good and, if you think where the Lions were three years ago, we are substantially better off now. Rugby is a dynamic business and we would love it to be a plain-sailing ship, but we fool ourselves if we think that will be the case. We will deal with the John Mitchell matter with the correct protocol,” De Klerk said.

When De Klerk says the correct protocol, he is not beating around the bush – the Lions will have to religiously stick to the straight and narrow in the disciplinary process if they are going to successfully rid themselves of Mitchell.

The 48-year-old will show the same street-fighting attitude he imbued in the Lions in challenging his suspension. Mitchell has done it before – in 2008 the Western Force’s senior players staged a similar intervention, but his watertight contract meant they could not sack him.

Which is why there has been no criticism of Mitchell spewing forth from either the players or the board, and why De Klerk has made an about-turn and stressed that the suspension was not driven by the team.

“It’s inaccurate to say it was player-driven, it was not just the players on their own. And one can’t say Josh Strauss led the complaints, that would be inaccurate too. There were a number of issues,” De Klerk said.

The reason for this is that if it was just the players that had complaints about their treatment, Mitchell could turn around and say he was merely doing his best as the coach to make them a winning team, tough-love if you like. A lot of what coaches do to their teams could be considered unfair, but would it be illegal in terms of labour law?

Fortunately, it’s not just the players and media that Mitchell has alienated. It’s sponsors as well.

Did you see a whole heap of extra Lions coverage during their SuperRugby tour this year?

No, and that’s despite the considerable amount of money that MTN were willing to pay for two journalists to travel with the team. The sponsors obviously felt that their effort would be rewarded with extra coverage for the Lions and exposure for themselves.

Unfortunately, the journalists were left to survive on the same scraps given to the Australian and New Zealand reporters … Mitchell would not go out of his way to give them anything extra.

The Lions, under pressure from all sides, desperately need good PR, so it is time they called an end to the John Mitchell era.

Lions coach John Mitchell has been suspended with immediate effect due to the complaints of the players, SuperRugby franchise president Kevin de Klerk said on Saturday.

Mitchell, the former coach of the All Blacks and Perth-based SuperRugby team the Western Force, will now face a disciplinary inquiry by the board of the Johannesburg-based franchise.

“John Mitchell has been suspended pending an investigation, after complaints from the players,” De Klerk confirmed to Reuters on Saturday.

“The complaints of the players are quite serious and it’s not just from one or two players, it’s a very substantial number which we cannot take lightly. As the custodians of Gauteng rugby, we are responsible to our staff and the well-being of our players.”

While De Klerk, a former Springbok lock, said he could not elaborate on the complaints due to the sub-judice nature of the investigation, they are believed to revolve around Mitchell’s management style.

The New Zealander has had a simmering relationship with media and sponsors, and local newspapers have reported anonymous players alleging verbal abuse by Mitchell. The 48-year-old has also publicly criticised individual players.

Mitchell joined the Lions in mid-2010 and steered them to the Currie Cup title last year, but their SuperRugby form has been poor with the Lions being South Africa’s worst-performing franchise over the last two years and set to be replaced by the Southern Kings next year.

Assistant coaches Carlos Spencer and Johan Ackermann will now take over the coaching reins as the Lions return to SuperRugby action next weekend.

Despite what has been described in some quarters as a financial shambles at the Lions rugby union, the Currie Cup champions have received a major boost from a multi-million rand three-year sponsorship from Redefine Properties.

While the money will also help secure the careers of the promising new batch of players being groomed under coach John Mitchell, the investment has an even more significant bearing on the future of Ellis Park.

Golden Lions Rugby Union president Kevin de Klerk has portrayed himself as a tradionalist – in fact, he told the story of his childhood hero, Piet Botha, at the announcement of Redefine’s sponsorship: “When I was young, I aspired to play lock next to Piet Botha, who was my hero. He used to arrive at practice on horseback from Krugersdorp. I myself walked a long way to get to training – my kids say it gets longer the older I get!” De Klerk joked.

But there’s no doubting De Klerk wants the Lions to stay at Ellis Park, even though the scarred surrounds and general deterioration of the surrounding area seemingly makes that a silly idea given the availability of the FNB and Orlando stadiums.

But Redefine, who are listed on the JSE as one of South Africa’s largest property owners, are also highly enamoured of the Ellis Park area.

While the Springboks love playing at Ellis Park because of the intimidating surrounds – visitors don’t even feel particularly safe on a bus – Redefine see the Doornfontein area as a major drawcard.

“We have invested heavily in this precinct, we own more than R200 million worth of property here, and there’s also a lot of student accommodation being built. We believe this area will flourish,” Redefine chief operating officer David Rice said.

While De Klerk admitted going to the renamed CocaCola Park can be inconvenient for rank-and-file supporters, the former Transvaal and Springbok legend could not hide his delight that Redefine, who approached the union about the sponsorship, had given the stadium a massive vote of confidence.

“It means that we will stay here for the time being. We have another 75 years on our lease for the land and we own all the buildings and fixtures. It shows a lot of confidence on their part, they see ways of growing the surrounds and they believe the area has great potential.

“I know I wouldn’t like to park my car outside and have it broken into all the time, but a top businessman told me he chose a plebs’ ticket for the Currie Cup final, used the Park-and-Ride and he said it was a wonderful experience. But we must make the area a whole lot more user-friendly,” De Klerk said.

The Lions took another hit over their financial position at the weekend, but De Klerk said it was far more optimistic than many critics had suggested.

“In spite of all the bad publicity, Redefine have assessed us very closely and decided to nail their colours to our cross. We also have Altman Allers as an equity partner and he is an extremely competent, high-profile businessman.

“Our legacy issue should be sorted out in the very near future and the Redefine sponsorship has gone a long way to alleviating it. We cannot coccoon ourselves from what has happened in the rest of the world and, like all businesses, we’ve had to right-size ourselves.

“I’m ultra-optimistic. When I became president, I found a fractured union and there was a lot of work to be done. But I believe the team is our shop window and it has done exceptionally well,” De Klerk said.

The inclusion of the Southern Kings in SuperRugby from next year is the biggest worry on De Klerk’s plate and he admitted that it would be devastating for the Lions if they were the franchise to make way.

“Merging with another franchise is not even an option, it would kill the unions involved. It is an extremely hard one, we all agree the Southern Kings must come in, it’s just the method we need to decide.

“But it is like turkeys voting for Christmas and if we don’t get it right, then our whole legacy will be gone and everything around the union – the schools and clubs – will be affected too,” De Klerk warned.