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Another day deeper into the SuperSport set bust-up that has become something of a national obsession.

Yesterday we locked down the basics – all the video clips, that 2014 incident between Nick and Ashwin, and some of the reaction from prominent politicians.

During the course of yesterday, various details emerged, but it was only late last night that the first comments from the three parties directly involved went public.

Those via Sport24:

A meeting was held at the SuperSport offices on Monday that was attended by all three men as well as anchor Motshidisi Mohono.

The meeting provided no finality, with SuperSport saying that they needed to conduct further investigations into the incident, but all of Willemse, Mallett and Botha gave a single comment following its completion.

“We had robust discussions in which I aired my views. I’m very appreciative of the process undertaken by SuperSport. The complexity of the issues is very profound,” said Willemse.

Mallett, who had to leave the meeting to catch a flight, acknowledged that there were things that needed to be further understood.

“I appreciated the opportunity to air my views. Clearly there are issues that must be grappled with. I am more than happy to collaborate and contribute to resolving this matter,” he said.

“This was a first meeting and we all had our say, which was helpful. We’ve invested in a process to resolve matters and I’m confident that we will get a satisfactory resolution,” added Naas Botha.

Not really much in there, right?

In case you’re keen to listen to the SuperSport press conference on the matter, you can see SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane and MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela below.

The sound only works from the 1:50 mark onwards:

Following some allegations and rumour-mongering online, Khobane was also forced to deny allegations that Mallett walked out of the meeting.

You can see that in the video above, but here’s the relevant quote:

When quizzed on whether Mallett walked out of the meeting after he was spotted leaving the SuperSport offices early, Khobane went to great lengths to deny the former Springbok coach had done so.

Khobane confirmed that ‘Mallett had a flight to catch as he lives in Cape Town after only arriving at 11:00 having been unable to get on a 06:00 flight to Johannesburg’.

Khobane added that ‘Mallett had an appointment on Tuesday which he couldn’t divulge – reported to be a doctor’s appointment – that had nothing to do with SuperSport nor the incident in question and that’s why he had to leave early’.

MultiChoice CEO Mawela also clarified the racism allegations:

SuperSport and MultiChoice said on Monday they believed there was “no racism” at play or animosity between Ashwin Willemse, Naas Botha and Nick Mallett after being locked in “robust discussions” for most of Monday.

After being locked in “robust discussions” for most of the day, SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane and MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela gave a brief update of the discussions.

“What is encouraging with the discussions we’ve had is that Nick (Mallett), Naas (Botha), and also Ashwin (Willemse), were part of the discussions. They were all in the same room; they were courteous to each other; they shook hands; they openly (chatted). There is no animosity that exists between the three of them from what we could see today,” Mawela said.

“From the observations from today’s discussions, there is no racism that we pick from any of the discussion that we’ve had,” he said.

Fancy a little extra spice ahead of the next round of Super Rugby? We might see all three back in the studio this weekend:

Ashwin Willemse, Nick Mallett and Naas Botha could all be back on air together as early as this weekend…

“I would have to see what our weekend schedule is … I know we have a PRO14 final and Super Rugby,” SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane said on Monday when asked if the trio would be back on the air on Saturday.

“If we take them off it’s like we’ve already judged them and who is right and who is wrong. I don’t think that’s fair.”

…MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said he saw no reason why things couldn’t go back to normal.

“From today’s discussions it’s very clear that they can continue to work together,” he said.

“We didn’t see anything that says they are not prepared to work together.”

I reckon it would certainly be a massive ratings boost for SuperSport, although every word would be analysed in great detail by the Twitterati and others.

Sadly, it seems like everyone is stuck between a rock and hard place. Lines have long been drawn in the sand, and those who have the big calls to make are going to find it impossible to please everyone.

[sources:sport24&sport24&sport24]