GBS and BonzaiGBS

The South African National rugby shift boss…. errr sorry, coach appeared to have resigned in interviews in New Zealand, only to then deny that he had resigned upon arrival in South Africa. Whatever the situation, his 4-year contract comes to an end at the end of December 2011 anyway, which leaves the process open for a replacement to be appointed.

There has already been wide-spread speculation as to who the right candidates might be…. but that’s not why I am writing this Article!

The reason why I am writing this is to warn SARU, and possibly teach them a few things about simple Contract Law in South Africa, to be able to avoid the new coach spinning us all the yarn of “Judge me at the World Cup”.

The current and previous coaches, going back to Rudolph Steauli all used the same mantra, and in the process Springbok results were sacrificed at the expense of chasing the supposed Holy Grail of rugby.

If you ask South Africans in general and the rugby-mad supporters populace, I have no doubt that most, if not nearly all, will be in favour of winning every Test in between World Cups rather than having a bad win / loss ratio and barganing on winning the William Webb-Ellis knock out Tournament once every four long years.

We certainly do not suffer the World Cup choke anxiety plagueing the New Zealand populace, but we suffer something far worse…

… mediocrity has become an accepted norm to judge the Springboks, the Springbok coaches, SARU, Provincial Presidents, referees… and players.

There should only be ONE Rule, ONE Measure, ONE Goal… and that is WE WANT THE BEST!

That means we definately want THE BEST of the following:

• We want the best National Rugby Adminastrative Rugby Body in the World, bar none!
• We want the best National Rugby Coach, bar none and the best Assistants and Supporting staff!
• We want the best Player management in the World!
• We want the best National Captain who is the best player in his position by a country mile!
• We want the best Players playing IN South Africa, IN our Domestic and Cross-border Competitions!
• We want the best Professional Provincial and Franchise Structures in the World!
• We want the best Rugby Academies in the World!
• We want the best Referees in the World!
• We want the best young talent gravitating naturally to the top, free from interference, irrespective of colour, creed, culture, background!
• We want to have  seemless integration between Schools and / or Club Rugby through to Provincial, Franchise and National levels
• We want South Africa to be undoubtably the best Rugby Nation in the World!

Is that asking too much?

Is that over-reaching our hand?

Is that at all possible?

Well, here’s what I think!

• We already know we have the player base in South Africa to achieve these goals, and on top of that we have the recipy and the key at our disposal to unlock a vast source of yet unexplored talent in this country. It is time we started using what we have at our disposal, there are no excuses not to.
• We already know we have some brilliant Business Leaders who love rugby and we know we have the collective Rugby Passion in this country to be able to appoint, select and elect far superior Administrators than is currently the norm.
• We already know and have identified Rugby Coaches and supporting staff who apply their trade in South Africa and Overseas who clearly stand back for nobody. Think about Heyneke Meyer, Gert Smal, Nick Mallett, Cherel Calder, Os du Randt, Tim Noakes… the list goes on and on…
• We already know we have to curb the influence of the strong currencies which lure our players to Europe, Japan, UK, Italy & Australia.
• We already know and have examples of Provincial Structures which work and operate from the basis of sound Business Principles, operating in South Africa.
• We already have the blueprints of the best Rugby Academies at our disposal.
• We already have some of the World’s best referees and the capacity to produce more of the best.
• We have started to unearth more natural talent and have made some strides in bringing talent through, and have an ever increasing mass participation by the South Africa’s populace in supporting Rugby.
• We already have the core material at our disposal to be and become the best Rugby Nation in the World.

So, what is stopping us?

Do we have the simple capacity to root out the weak and to replace them with better candidates, better players, coaches, administrators?

I think this is where the taxi crashes in South Africa, where the handles fall off, where the lift does not manage to reach the top floor. We are a nation scared to make decisions, scared to make healthy choices, to take calculated chances, to shake hands… and above all to work together as one.

I say again… mediocrity has become an accepted norm in South Africa, in South African society, in judging general behaviour – whether it is in the home, the work place, the sports fields, the Springboks, the Springbok coaches, SARU, Provincial Presidents, referees… and players and teams.

It is an indictment against all of us, against the Rainbow Nation… against YOU and ME!

So, let me get off this galloping horse and get back to what I wanted to do in the first place… give SARU some lessons in the Art of Contracting in South Africa…

When a business-driven Company appoints directors, employees and representatives, the aim and often the result is a good choice, one which will keep the bank balance on the right side of positive, and if it does not prove to be the case, a swift change is expected and required and executed.

This is what needs to happen in the case of the appointment of the National coach, the resultant appointment needs to be the correct choice, it needs to check so many boxes and the resolve must at the same time be built into the structure to get rid of a sucker who does not deliver the desired results.

Some of these aspects appear to be in place already, but mostly these aspects have been sorely neglected or even blatantly ignored.

That means one must get a number of priorities clear:

• Firstly, ongoing performance, from day one must be sought and demanded. It must be made clear that the objective is World Rugby Dominance, from game ONE and for EVERY game thereafter.
• Secondly the appointee must be given the tools and assitance to make this objective achievable. In other words, he must be allowed to appoint his Management and Support structures and he must be backed both politically, financially, personally and publicly to reach that goal. Everything must be done to assist his cause, to enhance his methods and chances for success. One can have the best coach in the world, but with no backing, the failure will be massive.
  
• Thirdly there must be clear contractual structures in place upon his appointment, not a hap-hazard 4-year appointment, and a lick and promise attitude! Appoint this man for ONE YEAR ONLY, with the carrot dangling of possible extentions for another year at a time in the case of radical improvement from the current sad state of affairs. This implies performance clauses, making provision for termination and breach of agreement. It implies clauses detailing the support he will receive and the role he will play in current structures within SARU. It includes clear statements of rights and obligations and a clear understanding from SARU that performance is reciprocal, by both parties to the Agreement. Performance clauses in itself is problematic – should one connect it to a simple winning percentage and in that case what should that figure be? Is it not then better to rather define performance in great detail and have the overriding measurement being the IRB World Ranking No 1 spot?
  
• Fourthly there must be a collective buy-in regarding the objective, World Rugby Dominance.
• Fifthly SARU must take control of the resources and Nationally contract the top SA players, to be able to enforce player management of the highest order, and there must be a clear order of presidence of National Interests above Franchise and Provincial interests, with specially the 8 biggest Unions understanding and agreeing that their goals are only a stepping stone to the National Rugby objective.
• In Sixth place, strong leadership is a requirement for the National coach, not a happy-go-lucky rugby buddy bum-chum appointee, who gets along well with his mates, the players.
• The Seventh objective must be that the National coach needs to be a man of substance, with the ability to be a good spokesman, a worthy ambassador of the Nation. He needs to be intellectually sharp and precise, be the ultimate man-manager and have the ability to interact with the Media and the world and not have the propensity to have both feet in the mouth at any given time. There can certainly be no tollerance of the Media fiasco which was the departing coach and to a large extent his pre-decessor.
• In Eight place, the coach needs to be a man of principle, a man to be trusted, and a man of his word, a man who’s handshake is still his bond.

It sounds like I am cut out for the job, hahaha… but that’s besides the point, SARU can’t afford me.

I offer to assist SARU, in drafting 5 things, namely:

1. The Contract of Employment and Co-operation between SARU and the National coach as well as the Contracts of the supporting staff.
2. The National Contracts of the foremost players.
3. The Agreement between SARU and it’s Provincial Unions detailing the Union’s responsibilities towards the National cause.
4. The Multilateral Agreement between SARPA (South African Rugby Players Association) and SARU and ALL the Provincial Unions in South Africa.
5. The formal Agreement between the National coaching Body (National coach and his staff) and the Provincial and Franchise coaches of the respective Test Unions.