Ken Borland

Louis Luyt, the former president of the South African Rugby Football Union, parliamentarian and businessman, did not exactly have what could be described as an inclusive leadership style. But then again, he probably didn’t need to as he came from a section of society known as the “Super-Afrikaners”, had close ties with the ruling National Party and, allegedly, the Broederbond.

Although he was amongst the first to initiate talks with the then-banned ANC, Luyt angered the government and the majority of South Africans in 1998 when he crossed the line and forced President Nelson Mandela to testify as a witness when rugby faced a commission of inquiry into the sport’s slow pace of transformation.

A self-made man, Luyt made his fortune as a fertiliser salesman, then brought a brewery and, infamously,The Citizen as it became embroiled in the Infogate scandal that revealed the National Party were actually funding the newspaper with taxpayers’ money.

To say he did not suffer fools gladly would be an understatement: negotiations or meetings with Luyt were not for the fainthearted and the former Free State lock forward had little time for tact nor pleasantries. He preferred the Bull-In-A-China-Shop approach and bulldozed his way into getting what he wanted.

Where Luyt did provide great joy for the country was in bringing and heading the organisation of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, although he rather sullied all his good work after the final with a horribly ungracious speech after the Springboks’ triumph.

The All Blacks left the post-match function when Luyt boasted that the win proved South Africa would have won the previous two World Cups as well, and the referees and many other guests followed suit when he presented semi-final referee Derek Bevan with a gold watch after a tight encounter against France had been edged by the hosts. Ed Morrison, who took charge of the final, received nothing.

Luyt only lasted another three more years as Sarfu president, the outrage over his treatment of Mandela eventually leading to his ousting, after which he moved to the North Coast of KZN, where he died on Friday at the age of 80 after a series of heart problems.

Rugby in South Africa is led by a president of a totally different style these days in the urbane Oregan Hoskins, but he has been criticised for being toothless, with some calling for another Luyt to “sort out rugby”.

But South African rugby is now a multi-million rand business and cannot afford the sort of nepotism and favouritism Luyt showed … The news that he had retired in KZN did not go down well in the province because Sharks fans always felt they were screwed over by the long-time Transvaal Rugby Union strongman.

Hoskins is only constrained because of the structural weakness in South African rugby that sees 14 directors from all the provinces, some of them dinosaurs from the Luyt era, running the game, rather than an executive of professional experts.

Luyt used the system superbly, getting the smaller unions behind him as he made Transvaal the powerhouses, but his modus operandi could never work in this age of corporate PR and labour rights.

The way he fired Ian McIntosh as Springbok coach in 1994 without warning after he had drawn a Test in New Zealand was typical of the way Luyt operated.

Following his departure from rugby administration, Luyt became a member of parliament for the Federal Alliance party he began and, quite remarkably considering his legal tussle with Mandela, was elected on to the Judicial Services Commission.

Capable of infuriating but also getting things done, Luyt was undoubtedly one of the most colourful people in the history of South Africa’s transition to democracy.

Such giant personalities are few and far between, but the disappointment was that Luyt chose to feed his own ego and was not, in the end, the nation-builder and rugby messiah he could have been.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who tweeted that Luyt had “caused some of us to turn backs on sport we love” is not the only one who will lament the negative influence Luyt became.

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The Lions were relegated from SuperRugby on Thursday by the South African Rugby Union (Saru) General Council following the Johannesburg-based team’s last-placed finish in this year’s competition.

A statement released by Saru on Thursday said “the top four teams in the South African Conference in 2012 (Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Cheetahs) will join the Southern Kings in the 2013 tournament. The teams were confirmed after the general meeting accepted a proposal first tabled by the executive council in January. The proposal was that the franchise occupying the lowest log position of the five franchises at the end of 2012 would be relegated.”

Saru also confirmed, however, that the Kings, based in the Eastern Cape, would only be guaranteed one year in the competition that also includes New Zealand and Australian franchises, with the Lions playing a two-legged promotion/relegation match against the team that finishes last in the South African Conference in 2013.

None of the teams that will comprise the Southern Kings franchise – Eastern Province, South-Western Districts and Border – play in the domestic Currie Cup Premier Division, and neither have they managed to win the same tournament’s B Division in recent years.

But Saru president Oregan Hoskins defended the general council’s decision, saying that the sheer quantities of players produced in the Eastern Cape region meant they deserved to play at an elite level.

“All rugby provinces have been consistently in support of the need for an Eastern Cape team in the Super Rugby competition,” Hoskins said in the statement. “That decision was first taken in 2005 but their inclusion has twice been postponed.
“We made a commitment to the Kings to include them in 2013 and rugby has delivered on that commitment. The franchise represents more clubs than any other region – apart from the Stormers – and contains numerous leading rugby schools. It has been starved of top-class rugby competition for a decade-and-a-half and now it has the chance to show what it can do.”

Saru CEO Jurie Roux claimed that the bulk of South Africa’s SuperRugby players also supported the move.

“The provinces asked for a rugby solution and we believe that this was the fairest and most transparent method to respond to what is undoubtedly a less-than-ideal situation,” Roux said. “We also canvassed SuperRugby players before the start of the season, through the Players’ Association, and this was their preferred mechanism.

“The decision to apply a promotion and relegation system from 2013 is standard practice in sport. We operate promotion and relegation in all our Currie Cup competitions, with the bottom-placed team being relegated unless it wins a play-off. Our strategic goal is to have six strong franchises covering the whole of South Africa and this decision keeps all of them in play on an annual basis,” said Roux.

The Lions, who are already in financial difficulty after falling out with their equity partners last year, now face an uncertain future but have said the majority of their squad are on long-term contracts.

The general council, made up of South Africa’s 14 provinces spread between the two Currie Cup divisions, rejected a suggestion that the Kings delay their introduction into SuperRugby until 2016, when a new broadcast contract is in place, in return for a financial boost and the guarantee of more than one year’s participation.

The Saru statement made no mention of any financial support being given to the Lions, who are a 123-year-old union based in South Africa’s largest city but now face massive financial losses due to their exclusion from SuperRugby.

Lions president Kevin de Klerk said the Kings had been gifted SuperRugby participation without earning their place.

“We are extremely disappointed at this result. This is a very unfortunate decision which will result in a team taking part in a competition without needing to qualify on rugby merits,” De Klerk said.

The Lions won just three of their 16 SuperRugby matches this year, and have won just 12 of their last 71 games in the competition.