Ken Borland

South African cricket was obviously already in troubled financial waters before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, but outgoing Cape Cobras chief executive Nabeal Dien on Wednesday gave a gloomy forecast for the future of the game over the next couple of years in this country.

Dien is retiring after being at the helm of cricket in the Western Cape since February 2015 and he admitted to some relief that it won’t be his responsibility to negotiate one of the biggest franchises in the country through the coming turmoil as the game looks to recover from their governance scandals as well as simply just trying to get back on to the field again.

“It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that Cricket South Africa was already in dire straits and already talking about making cuts, and all that will obviously be exacerbated due to the virus. The game will have to reinvent itself with the money and resources we have left. It’s going to take a collective effort for us to survive and remain competitive.

“If not much has changed by June/July then we run the risk of not playing at all for the rest of this year, only starting cricket again in January next year. I’m sure that there will then be a flood of members and suite-holders wanting to withdraw. And it would be a huge challenge to play without spectators because it costs money just to host a game and that revenue has to be offset from ticket sales.

“At the moment, CSA just gives us hosting fees, which isn’t enough to cover costs, so we supplement that with our 40% share of ticket sales. To now also have to pay for thermometers, sanitisers, washing of the stadium, will require a rethink. I think this whole situation is going to take away a lot from what it means for us to go and watch cricket,” Dien said on a conference call from Cape Town on Wednesday.

Dien also said he supported a new playing structure in which the 12 provinces would be divided into two pools with promotion/relegation. That would mean teams like Border and Northern Cape, who come from historically economically depressed areas, trying to compete on the same playing field as franchises like the Cobras, Lions and Titans, who come from the major city centres. Dien said he nevertheless expected them to be competitive.

“I unashamedly support going to 12 teams but it’s important to have an A and B Section with promotion/relegation, for the four-day and one-day cricket. I think this has been accepted as the way forward, the Members Council have agreed in principle, but with Covid-19 we don’t know if there will be further changes. The Mzansi Super League will continue but will be different, with the six local franchises plus two new teams based in Free State and Border.

“There’s always this debate around transformation and playing opportunities and having 12 teams will resolve that. It’s up to the affiliates to be competitive and there should be better rewards for the top six. Players will also gravitate towards the top six and the people who run the bottom six teams must do their work, especially in terms of younger players, they will need a vibrant academy system,” Dien said.

CSA announced at the end of March that the six franchises would still compete in 2020/21, playing in two groups, with four home-and-away matches in their own pool and three cross-pool matches, before a final between the two group winners.

South African rugby followers are going to hear more from outgoing president Oregan Hoskins when the time is right, he said, but for now he wants to dwell on the positives of his 10-year term which ended when he stood down earlier this month.

‘I have always been truthful and I will talk, but it’s just a question of timing. There are legal issues that mean I can’t say anything now, but once I am not beholden to anyone then I will speak,” Hoskins told Saturday Citizen.

“You can never please everybody as president, but there are some great memories, from being the first person of colour to become president, spending a weekend in Bloemfontein with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, being a director of the Rugby World Cup and living in the houses of friends all over South Africa, rather than staying in hotels. It was an opportunity to get to know South Africans of all colours and creeds and there are unbelievable memories,” Hoskins said.

Transformation and the structure of the game are two issues still bedevilling South African rugby, with Hoskins saying progress had been made in the former.

“I’ve seen transformation happen at all levels, I’ve seen it in the supporters and it makes me so proud, that was a victory for me. Ten years ago there were lots of questions about the national team, but now it is less of a big issue. The major stakeholders, government and sponsors need to jointly govern transformation.

“There’s no doubt the structure of South African rugby is totally flawed and we are still a long way off getting it right. Many of our efforts don’t grow because of the poor system and until there is total equity ownership of all rugby entities from clubs to franchises, it’s going to be very difficult to satisfy the political demands rugby faces,” Hoskins said.

Tendai Mtawarira will equal Os du Randt’s record for the most capped Springbok prop on Saturday in Argentina, but Hoskins remembers him in tears in his house in 2009 when his Test career was still at a fledgling stage.

“I’ll never forget a young Beast walking into my house in Westville in tears because Makhenkesi Stofile had phoned and said he can’t play for the Springboks anymore because he wasn’t a South African citizen. Beast was broken and I made it my duty to make sure he played for the Springboks. I got to meet Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, then at Home Affairs, and pleaded with her and she gave Beast citizenship there and then, so he became a Springbok again,” Hoskins recalled.

Helping to bring stability in the Springbok coaching position will also be a lasting legacy of Hoskins’.

Helping to grow rugby in Africa will be Hoskins’ focus in the game for the time being, with a shipment of kit on its way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo thanks to his efforts already.