Ken Borland

Garreth Ewing has resigned with immediate effect as the national men’s hockey coach and there are fears in South African hockey circles that the fine performances he achieved with the team were merely hiding the level of maladministration in the game and tough times lie ahead for the team.

Ewing made public on social media on Tuesday the reasons for his shock decision to leave his post, just before the FIH Nations Cup tournament starts in Potchefstroom on November 28. The 48-year-old said his resignation was “a final response to an accumulation of events … These were starting to impact on me, both personally and professionally. The weight of it all was putting strain on my relationships, both inside and outside the team, and my health, both physical and mental”.

Describing his decision as “an act of self-care”, Ewing said he will “look forward to falling in love with hockey again”.

Under his watch since 2019, South Africa were winless and last in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite beating Germany 4-3. They were, though, invited to participate in the elite Pro League and earlier this year they reached the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 20 years and have qualified for next year’s World Cup since then with their strong showings seeing Ewing nominated this year for the FIH Coach of the Year award. They have moved up to 14^th in the world rankings.

But insiders speak of all these achievements being despite the administration and not because of it. One stakeholder from the sponsorship market told The Citizen “SA Hockey are the most amateur and disorganised sports body we work with”.

Amongst the frustrations cited by those around the team are the players being told three days before leaving for Malaysia and the recent Sultan Azlan Shah Cup that they had to come up with R41 000 each to play in the tournament.

For the FIH Nations Cup in Potchefstroom, which will decide the one team who joins the Pro League next year, the South African team will not be staying in the Astro Villas next to the venue, but instead the home team has had to stay in a school boarding house free of charge. This is because SA Hockey allegedly missed the deadline to apply for accommodation.

It is apparently not the first time SA Hockey have missed a deadline. Potchefstroom were going to bid to hoist the 2026 World Cup and were ready to fly to Switzerland to present their case, with SA Hockey only needing to get permission from the Department of Sport, which they failed to do.

The team are also apparently furious that the SA Hockey Association did not bother to vote for either Ewing or star SA women’s player Phumelela Mbande, who was nominated for the goalkeeper of the year award.

The lack of sponsorship for the national hockey teams is well-known and they have had to resort to crowdfunding to attend the previous Olympics.

“We want to know what work has been done to get a sponsor? Sponsors have told us that they don’t know if the money will go to the team if they do invest, and if we get a sponsor, then SA Hockey says they have to go through their marketing department. How are we meant to prepare properly when we only know a week before for sure that we’re going to a tournament?” a member of the national squad said.

While the North-West University love hosting international events in Potchefstroom, it is believed SA Hockey still owe them money for hosting fees. The Citizen were not able to confirm this with the university’s hockey administration, however.

Since the much-admired Marissa Langeni stepped down as CEO in April after more than 12 years at the helm, SA Hockey appointed an interim CEO in Shaune Baaitjies, who has a BCom Honours in Industrial and Organisational Psychology and describes herself as a leadership coach on her LinkedIn profile.

SA Hockey have also not held their election for a new executive for more than a year, reportedly because president Deon Morgan was making a run for a position on the FIH Board. He has now been elected as part of the executive team at global level and it is believed a date and nominees have been decided for an election, but no statement has been made by the federation.

Baaitjies did not respond to questions about all these issues sent to her by The Citizen.

Although it is a mass participation sport at grassroots level and both national teams are impressively transformed, how hockey is going to ensure sustainability with all these leadership issues is a massive concern.

It may have just been written in the stars or it may have been because the Bulls were forced to use the away changeroom at Loftus Versfeld, but Jake White was almost resigned to the inevitability after he suffered his first defeat as the home coach at the famous fortress at the weekend as they were beaten 30-26 by the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship derby.

The Bulls started poorly, trailing 0-18 after half-an-hour, but then stormed into a 26-18 lead with 12 minutes remaining. Only to let the game slip as the Stormers scored two brilliant late tries.

“They are refurbishing our changeroom so we had to use the away changeroom, and the team in that room doesn’t usually win here,” White quipped after the defeat. “But it’s my first loss at Loftus Versfeld and it’s not great.

“I was hoping the crowd would be a catalyst, they were making such a noise that we could hear them on the field. It’s disappointing we did not do them justice.

“But to sum the game up – we found a way to lose. We didn’t show enough composure, which previously we’ve been really good at. After the fightback and then taking the lead, we conceded silly penalties which was disappointing.

“Usually we find ways to win, we squeeze and squeeze and generally then put the opposition away. But today there were just lapses of concentration. We were never going to win every game at Loftus Versfeld,” White said with more seriousness.

With the Bulls, considered the dominant force in South African rugby after winning successive Currie Cups and the Rainbow Cup, languishing second-from-bottom on the URC log, perhaps that is why their players performed with an air of frantic desperation at times. The Stormers were presented with plenty of turnover opportunities and were in clinical mood, taking their chances with aplomb.

“Despite losing our tighthead prop [Mornay Smith] to his first carry of the game and Deon Fourie being very good on the ground, we still created opportunities to get around them and scored four tries.

“But then we also knocked-on a metre from their line or gave away penalties there. We gave them a couple of 22-entries and they scored twice. We were a bit hasty at times when we had them on the ropes.

“But after being 18-0 down, to score 26 points from there shows we’ve got to have something as a team. I’m very proud of the comeback and we must just find a way to learn from the defeat.

“So we will dust ourselves off and go back to work on Monday. The only way to get things right is to work hard. Credit to the Stormers for sticking to it for 80 minutes and scoring a couple of long-range tries,” White said.

Cricket South Africa was plunged into monumental chaos on Monday as acting chief executive Jacques Faul resigned with immediate effect, hot on the heels of long-term president Chris Nenzani standing down.

The departure of Nenzani, who has been the longest-ever serving president, having been elected for the first time in 2013 and extending his term twice through constitutional amendments, was confirmed by CSA in a statement released on Monday morning.

But, according to CSA sources, Faul also tendered his immediate resignation on Monday. He had announced at the end of last month that he would step down from his role as acting CEO on September 15, his initial appointment from December 2019 to June having been extended on a month-to-month basis.

It is believed the CSA Board has stripped Faul of his powers, which is why he has decided to leave the embattled organisation immediately.

Faul was thrust into the role of acting CEO after Thabang Moroe was suspended nine months ago, triggering a forensic audit and a disciplinary process which to this day has still not been finalised, even though the Board have been sitting with the report for weeks.

Last December, CSA were facing deficits of close to a billion rand, fighting the players’ association in court, had alienated major sponsors and cancelled the accreditation of five journalists who had been critical of Moroe and the organisation. And the Proteas were seemingly in freefall just before the arrival of the England team.

Since then, Faul has ensured there have been no retrenchments through the Covid-19 pandemic and mended relationships with the players’ association, sponsors and media. The appointment of Graeme Smith as Director of Cricket and then Mark Boucher as Proteas head coach saw the team rally somewhat, beating a powerful Australian side 3-0 in an ODI series at the end of the summer.

It is believed company secretary Welsh Gwaza, a strong supporter of Moroe, will now be the acting CEO.

Gwaza is emerging as a powerful new figure within the organisation and he is also the current acting president until the CSA Members Council elect a temporary replacement for Nenzani, who stepped down just three weeks before the AGM to elect a new president on September 5.

CSA gave no reasons for Nenzani’s resignation, but an insider told The Citizen that they were told Nenzani had resigned “because of the cloud over CSA, too much is pointing back to the organisation and he wants to help clear the path for a new leader”.

Another insider pointed to the increasing influence of independent director and chairperson of the Transformation Committee, Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, who “is now running the whole show”.

A new power struggle is emerging with long-time Nenzani and Moroe supporters Beresford Williams, the current vice-president, and controversial Eastern Province Cricket Union head Donovan May believed to be mounting campaigns to succeed Nenzani.

KwaZulu-Natal president Ben Dladla, who has helped rebuild a strong Dolphins franchise, is also rumoured to be in the running, although he has not been a member of the CSA Board. Northerns Cricket Union president Tebogo Siko, a Board member since last September, is also perhaps in contention.

But in the shadowy world of secret CSA meetings and internal politics, credible leadership has been in short supply.