No matter which way you paint this, SA Rugby lacks leadership.
The whole sequence of events that has led up to the blanket ban on all contracted Springboks is nothing short of ridiculous.
Forget the fact or the reason for instituting this ridiculous ban which in itself, is the most childish thing I have seen from all parties involved (unions and SA Rugby), the fact that all the dirty laundry between SARPA and SA Rugby are now being hung out in the media with both parties attacking and trying to state their side of the story through one media release to the next tells you all you need to know about the leadership, or serious lack of it we have in rugby in South Africa.
Has any of these guys heard of a telephone? Hell as far as I know Vodacom is one of the title sponsor of all things rugby in South Africa I am sure they could have helped these so-called administrators getting in touch with each other to sort this out like adults!
The plain and simple fact of the matter is however that this situation could have been nipped in the butt from the very start.
Apparently the sequence of events went like this;
- SA Rugby has telephone conference with all unions affected by their planned rest for certain Boks.
- Union A and/or B voice their dissatisfaction with one or two decisions.
- SA Rugby then uses schoolyard bully tactics and says; ‘Well then we pull out all the players, so weh weh’.
- SARPA gets calls from players who are in desperate need of game time and/or rest and concerned that this will adversely affect them.
- SARPA calls on SA Rugby to reconsider the blanket ban and reasons with player concerns.
- SA Rugby comes out and says it’s not their problem, SARPA and players knew of this proposed rest period months ago.
In the end, everyone loses, especially the players.
What SA Rugby fails to seemingly understand is that what was proposed months ago changed completely with the recent decision and in fact, SA Rugby did not honour their commitments to the players with this decision.
Now we can be pissed off at the unions who again acted like petulant little children whose ice-cream fell in the sand-pit at the play-park, but the fact remains that SA Rugby, if they had any sense of leadership would have told any union bitching to go an stick it where the sun do not shine and that the purpose of this rest periods were in the interest of the PLAYERS, not the UNIONS.
But why do that?
It is obviously much more fun to act like the schoolyard bully than to show any common sense or leadership.
The players have every right to be concerned because at the end of the day it is only them, and effectively Springbok rugby that suffers.
What the recent media ping-pong battle between so-called administrators have clearly shown all of us however is that there are far too many ego’s at work within SA Rugby, and no-one with the balls to actually lead.
Perhaps these administrators should remember that they are there because of the players, and not to have dick-measuring contests with one another. Perhaps it is time some of these people get off their asses and actually lead for a change.
That is a true story, what is amazing is that nobody sits around a table and comes to a decision that is for the best of the Boks. Problem in this country is that Provincialism is still deep seated. It results in people cutting off their nose to spite their face. We need to be like the AB’s and put the National side first and then worry about the rest.
I dont know which of you watched Boots and All last night but I cringed when I heard Hoskins and Snor speak on the show, I got the impression that they have absolutely no plan for next years world cup..
Dis lekker om a Tjark en a Bok te wees..
No way Morne, its all the incompetent and “pawn” divvies fault! 🙂
@ Met Uysh:
🙂
@ Met Uysh:
This is a family show, why are you talking about “pawn” 😛
Morné,
Great Article, exactly my summation… as I indicated in lessor wording yesterday.
Ja I watched Boots and all and it seemed to me like a bunch of politicians just before election campaigns.
Not one fact mentioned, not one issue openly discussed, and what irritates me more is the fact that supersport is not allowed to attack them head on to discuss any issues.
They may as well not come on tv, because they say nothing concrete.
It is pathetic the way Supersport molly coddles them.
Morne
SA Rugby does not lack leadership. What it lack is quality and competent leadership.
Those that are there now are clearly incompetent and seem to lack vision, integrity and any type of management or leadership skills.
8@ biltongbek:
I switched it off in disgust!
9@ Scrumdown:
It also needs a bit of honesty and openness.
As has been said here just watching those 3 clowns Prinsloo, PDV and Hoskins last night said it all.
I have been in enough business meetings to know when people are talking shit with no substance behind it and that was the case last night with all 3 of those morons.
When questioned about game strategy, PDV spoke about “holistic” preparation and then allowing the players to decide how they play!!!
These guys were just mouthing PR words from the nineties that they have just discovered!!
There was no substance to anything they had to say, and the tragedy is that they either think we are all stupid or they are so dom themselves that they just don’t get it.
I went to bed in disgust!!
12@ tight head:
Ja swaer…. also saw it like that…. and felt it more apt to comment here about La Vuvuzela (the singers) and about the fact that at least for the RWC the Springboks have the luxury of being based in only 2 cities in NZ, Wellington and Auckland… both on the North Island.
I have had “Holisticly” enough of the “AssHolistic” mutts of Oregan Hoskins and Snorrie for a while… and have never thought much of Johan the Fiddler either.
If any of those 3 gents were salesmen, they would live quite a few notches below the breadline…..
grootblousmile wrote:
Yeah, slighty below the gutter, in the mud, just south of the shit, keeping themselves warm at night with used baby diapers who did the number 2.
Wow, now I feel better!
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