Ken Borland

The poor rugby players of the Eastern Cape have been put through the mill by their administrators, which is particularly sad because this is the hotbed, the nursery of Black African rugby in this country.

As we have discovered in cricket, a players’ union has an important role to play in safeguarding the interests of the sport’s major assets, so it was pleasing to see MyPlayers issue a strongly-worded statement in defence of those Southern Kings players who have been left high-and-dry by the decision to liquidate the franchise.

The South African Cricketers’ Association have demonstrated that they can bring self-serving administrators to book and force them to honour their contracts with the players, and now it is time for rugby’s players’ trade union to follow suit. The success of SACA is largely due to the unity displayed by the players in getting behind their union, and the excellent work of president Omphile Ramela and the two CEOs of recent times, Tony Irish and Andrew Breetzke.

The players put their faith in their union once they see it achieving palpable successes and hopefully the strong stance taken by MyPlayers earlier this week in condemning the administrators of unions which just liquidate their commercial entities, leaving their creditors (which includes the players) out of pocket and simply carrying on like normal, continuing to enjoy their seat on the gravy train, will see the players’ union develop into an even more powerful stakeholder in rugby.

When the Kings just closed operations, the administrators responsible just sailed on with no consequences, but it was hell for the players, who were told just six days before they were due to get their salaries that there would be nothing paid to them.

“It is just not good enough for a union to shift all the financial blame to the commercial entity that was set-up and co-managed by the union. It is an easy buck to pass when you suffer no consequences for the failings of your commercial entity. Come Monday, it will be life as normal for the union. It will still enjoy its voting rights on the SARU General Council and be allowed to make important commercial strategic decisions on the direction of the professional game even though their own commercial entity failed.

“They will still receive their normal financial distributions from the professional game from SARU and be allowed to participate on the field in the professional game although their own commercial entity was liquidated. However unthinkable, they will be allowed to immediately set-up a new commercial entity like the one they had just voluntarily liquidated. There is thus a clear incentive for unions to liquidate commercial entities and walk away from financial obligations to get a clean second bite at the cherry while creditors and employees are left in the dust to pick up the pieces,” MyPlayers CEO Eugene Henning said in the statement.

Given that our cricketers have not yet gone on strike despite all the damage done to the game and their livelihoods by Cricket South Africa, rugby will carry on but it is a dangerous game with limited earnings time for the players and we can expect them to flex their muscles even more now that they have broken the ice.

Much like when former CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe mobilised against SACA, we can expect pushback from the dinosaurs amongst our amateur administrators who probably don’t want trade unions in rugby. Especially when they quite rightly start wanting to have a say in how rugby is run, no longer limiting themselves solely to wage negotiations.

Now that MyPlayers have started digging into maladministration at the unions – the Valke have also liquidated their commercial entity, while Western Province and Border have followed the same route – we can expect more and more holes in the governance of rugby to become apparent.

And MyPlayers have also suggested certain tools to ensure fairer treatment for the unfortunate players who are shafted by these delinquent unions.

After the liquidation of a commercial entity, the union should not be allowed to participate in professional rugby until such time that they have demonstrated their capacity to adequately manage a commercial entity. During this time, unions will receive substantially smaller distributions from SARU; they will forfeit their voting rights on SARU’s General Council on any matters pertaining to professional rugby and their directors will have to undergo a professional rehabilitation process and only be allowed to operate a company and participate in professional rugby competitions again once they have demonstrated that they are capable of running a successful and sustainable commercial entity.

The seeds of a much more professional game in this country are right there in the MyPlayers’ proposal, hopefully SA Rugby will not dibble around and delay implementing these much-needed changes, especially with all the unions fishing around for equity partners.

With rugby being such a global game now and South African rugby set to expand its footprint into Europe, our unions must remember that from a sponsor’s viewpoint, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Much like the country as a whole after the pillaging of the State Capturers, the future of South African cricket is finely balanced at the moment with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic just placing more strain on a sport that was already under enormous financial pressure and stumbling blindly under the leadership of self-serving, pernicious administrators.

Cricket Capture is real and the malfeasants who have only been interested in their own power and enrichment are still very much alive and kicking in the halls of administration. They have no intention of losing their seat at the table that allows them to sate their voracious appetites.

It is unsurprising then, given the total lack of integrity they have previously shown, that they would resort to dirty tricks and shadowy tactics to discredit those who genuinely have the good of the game at heart. In the minds of these blights on the game, cricket is there to serve them, not the other way round.

The fraudulent document circulated this week claiming national coach Mark Boucher is a shareholder in 3TCricket is typical of a dirty tricks campaign and proves the existence of these nefarious forces. Acting CEO Jacques Faul is also coming under severe pressure and director of cricket Graeme Smith is for some reason being tarnished as “anti-transformation”. Lest we forget, as captain he probably made the biggest contribution ever to transforming the national team by coming up with the ProteaFire mantra that enabled the team to embrace diversity and develop a strong, unified culture.

It is absolutely laughable that Faul, Smith and Boucher are being accused of somehow pulling off a “coup” and putting Cricket South Africa back under White control. Faul was appointed – for the second time – by a majority Black board led by president Chris Nenzani; Smith was originally headhunted for his position by former CEO Thabang Moroe; and Boucher, who won five domestic trophies in three seasons, certainly has the support of the Black players in the national squad, many of whom have spoken about how helpful it has been to have coaches with huge international experience guiding the Proteas at this delicate stage of rebuilding.

It is clear though that the Cricket Capturers are planning another coup themselves. By getting rid of Faul, who has now been placed on a month-to-month contract, they would likely get rid of Smith as well. South Africa’s greatest captain only took up the position of Director of Cricket after Faul was appointed, having previously declined to work under Moroe.

The CSA Board, who hold ultimate power, is full of Cricket Capturers and those who have aided and abetted them, and they are working hard to maintain their grip on the game.

Apart from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and their ever-shrinking resources in terms of both finances and players, truly transforming the game into one that reaches all communities and provides equal opportunities for all talent is a seemingly never-ending challenge for CSA.

In the last week sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has castigated Nenzani for the all-White look to the senior management of the Proteas and Central Gauteng Lions and former Proteas spinner Aaron Phangiso has spoken out about the lack of transformation that has dogged his own career.

Phangiso of course went to the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and did not play a single game, one of the most disgusting examples of selectorial window-dressing in Proteas history. And that was under the watch of Nenzani, Haroon Lorgat as CEO and Russell Domingo as coach; none of them being White. Of course when it came to the semi-finals then the politicians saw fit to get involved and the infamous dropping of the in-form Kyle Abbott happened.

Mthethwa’s criticism of Nenzani happened at the Parliamentary Sports Portfolio Committee meeting with CSA top brass a week ago, and it was interesting in my research to come across CSA’s presentation to the same body back in 2015.

The World Cup semi-final storm was described as “one mischievous CWC selection issue” and a list of five Black African cricketers who were being assisted in a High Performance Squad was provided. Temba Bavuma is the only one of those five to have played regularly for the Proteas; Eddie Leie (2), Mangaliso Mosehle (7), Mthokozisi Shezi (1) and Khaya Zondo (5) have pulled on the Green and Gold just 15 times between them. They have all seen their franchise careers take a dip in the last five years as well.

Nenzani has been president of CSA since 2013 and I would love to know what transformation successes he can claim to have delivered in the longest ever tenure as president? Transformation has been under Black control for the last decade so why are Faul, Smith and Boucher suddenly being blamed for the lack of progress on that front?

The treatment Omphile Ramela had to endure from Moroe and the CSA Board as president of the players’ union and the complaints I hear from Black African staff that they were underpaid before Faul returned as CEO make me wonder just who exactly is anti-transformation?

Cricket South Africa’s midnight statement saying former CEO Thabang Moroe is still suspended has only heightened the terrible uncertainty around the game in this country, the chief executive of the players’ union said on Friday.

Moroe was suspended on December 6 pending a forensic investigation into his management practices but arrived at the CSA offices in Melrose Estate on Thursday morning, ostensibly seeking to ‘return to work’. His lawyer, Michael Bill, said his suspension had lapsed after six months.

But the CSA Board issued a statement more than 15 hours later saying the “letter of suspension issued to the Chief Executive Officer explicitly stated that he was suspended until the conclusion of the independent forensic investigation” and that there was no predetermined timeframe attached to his suspension. The Board added that the forensic investigators had indicated their report was “imminent” and “there will be more clarity and certainty provided before the end of June.”

The South African Cricketers’ Association issued a warning earlier this week that CSA’s failure to make progress on Moroe’s disciplinary hearing would seriously erode the small gains in confidence in the organisation that have been painstakingly acquired by acting CEO Faul and director of cricket Graeme Smith, and Andrew Breetzke, the players’ union CEO, said on Friday that CSA’s statement did not alleviate the level of suspicion aimed at the Board.

“We’ve taken note of their intention to complete the disciplinary process with haste and that the forensic report is imminent, but there’s no real comfort that it will all be resolved soon. Thabang Moroe has not even been charged yet and history shows their disciplinary hearings have taken six months to complete from the date the person was charged.

“Given the crisis cricket is facing, we need certainty and CSA are just not creating that at the leadership level. It’s critical that President Nenzani answer the important questions because never before have there been so many crises all at once, and major sponsors Willowton, Standard Bank and Momentum have all said they are very concerned over governance,” Breetzke told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

Breetzke said it was also vital that there was transparency over the forensic investigation’s terms of reference, to allay fears that they were only examining the tip of the iceberg in terms of CSA’s financials.

“It’s a real concern that we don’t understand the terms of reference of the investigation because a lot hangs on that. Nenzani said the whole process would take six months and there is clearly evidence because Moroe was suspended based on the reports of the Social and Ethics and Risk and Audit committees. You would have thought the CSA Board would have dealt with this as a matter of urgency and not in such dribs and drabs.

“This is a systemic issue that runs really deep in CSA, but they are the custodians of cricket, not the owners, so all lovers and stakeholders of the game have a right to know. In terms of the court papers SACA have previously filed, there are lots of incorrect figures and significant negligence regarding the second MSL, plus journalists’ accreditation being revoked, so CSA don’t really have to look much further than that,” Breetzke said.

Winter may be upon us and the country still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, but according to Central Gauteng Lions Cricket chief executive Jono Leaf-Wright, there are still sunny skies over the Wanderers and the floodlights will metaphorically keep shining bright through the crisis.

Leaf-Wright said the Johannesburg-based franchise is in a good position to hit the ground running when cricket resumes when he spoke in an online press conference to introduce the new Central Gauteng Lions board.

“The financials were in a great place back in February, but nobody envisaged then the impact Covid would have and we have lost many revenue streams. But it was to our benefit that the virus hit at the back end of our season and we are still in a decent place with no real long-term impact to the organisation. We are all working really hard on returning to work, training and playing.

“But we’re also working on mitigating the risks so we can return as quickly as possible and as safely as possible. It’s full steam ahead for our operations team and we’ve had exciting interest from our sponsors. Hopefully a lot of us will be back at the Wanderers in the next week or two and the floodlights are staying on to show people we are ready to return as soon as government allows,” Leaf-Wright said on Friday.

Leaf-Wright said they were hopeful that domestic cricket would be able to resume in November, but said they would be able to weather the storm if they had to wait until the new year.

“The plans we have discussed with Cricket South Africa are to have matches in November and there are still international tours that need to go ahead before that. There may be some problems if we don’t start as planned, but obviously we have to put safety first, we have a duty of care to the players. It’s not essential that we get back to playing in November, but we would need to if we are going to fit everything into the season.

“There are new tournaments that we want to launch but we won’t be able to if the schedule is full. The three existing events, the four-day series, One-Day Cup and the new-look Mzansi Super League, are key for us and our sponsors though. It’s just about how jam-packed we can make the season. In the meantime everybody on the team is working hard to stay fit and strong,” Leaf-Wright said.