Our old ‘friend’ Mike Stofile popped up again, this time to let us know he is throwing his hat into the ring for the presidency of SA Rugby when new officials are elected next year. What a surprise!

“Some of the unions that voted for me in the last election have asked me to make myself available again. There are some things that they are unhappy about,” Stofile said.

I also read that the new structure of SA Rugby officially kicks in on 1 January 2010. New structure you ask! Well, I was not aware of it either but I did pick up the following.

The first election for an executive council will take place on March 26. The office-bearers will be elected for a period of four years. Great, so we can be stuck with him for FOUR years!!!

There will still be a president, deputy president and vice-president. How many organisations do you know who has a deputy president AND a vice-president and what will the difference be between the two?

To complete the package four representatives will be elected from provincial ranks, two independent directors, SA Rugby’s chief executive and financial director, and a representative from the sponsors will serve on the council.

The senior body within the new structure will be the general council, which will consist of two representatives from each rugby union, with each delegate having a vote. I thought this was a problem in the past, you end up with a union like the Pumas for instance having as much say as the Bull union. Add up the numbers and you have the tail wagging the dog… Apparently the changes was forced on them due to new tax laws and no change would have costed the governing body R400m!

Old Stofile came up with this beauty: “I think I can add value in terms of unifying the structure.” Suppose like he did in the past.

“There are still divisions and we need a strong person to bring the big and small unions closer together.”

Stofile indicated that he will start his campaign among the unions that previously voted for him. These include Border, Eastern Province, SWD, Boland, Falcons and Western Province.

In 2008, Stofile made the controversial statement that there is “no place for blacks in South African rugby” after losing the elections to Oregan Hoskins.

“It’s not only about me. I would like to see representation in every structure,” answered Stofile when asked about that statement again this week.

The information above was courtecy of news24.