[imagesource: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach]

On the field, the Western Province squad boasts world champion talent like Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff, and Herschel Jantjies, among others.

Off the field, though, the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU) is a complete shambles, lurching from one misstep to the next.

Rugby fans are preparing to say goodbye to Newlands Stadium, with 2021 seeing Western Province, the Stormers, and the Springboks move to the Cape Town Stadium.

It’s the redevelopment of Newlands that is at the centre of the latest blunder, reports the Daily Maverick’s Craig Ray, with WPRFU becoming “a case study in how not to run a business”:

On Thursday, Flyt Property Investment, the company the WPRFU courted after it reneged on an agreement with Investec to redevelop Newlands, formally declared a dispute with the union.

Hours later, the New York-based MVM consortium, which offered to buy a 51% equity stake in the professional arm of the union for $6-million (R100-million), formally withdrew its interest. It is understood it will move on to the Sharks.

Marco Masotti, on behalf of MVM, issued a statement saying the consortium would now “pursue other opportunities in professional rugby”.

This came after WPRFU president Zelt Marais has spent months dragging his heels on the potential sale, with a major sticking point being WPRFU’s reluctance to give up a controlling share.

MVM walking away is a major blow, but Ray points out that Flyt’s claims for damages is the real kick in the teeth.

Zane De Decker, the CEO of Flyt Property Investment, issued a statement explaining the decision:

“The claim arises from the WPFRU’s repudiation and breach of the binding agreements it concluded with the Flyt Group in June 2020 for the intended development of the Newlands rugby stadium and other properties owned by the WPRFU…

“WPRFU President Zelt Marais [above] called the successfully concluded transaction ‘the deal of the century’. It, therefore, comes as a surprise that the WPRFU now appears to be seeking a way out of the deal that it sought and on a land value which it determined, which was also concluded after a comprehensive and transparent approval process.”

As part of the agreed deal, the Flyt Group advanced the WPRFU a R112 million loan to cover its debt to Investec and R58 million owed to Remgro.

This is similar to the deal WPRFU struck with Investec in December 2019, for redeveloping the stadium, with Investec then advanced the union a cool R50 million to cover its debts.

Investec was dumped for Flyt, and now Flyt has been dumped, too.

You can read the rest of the Daily Maverick’s report here.

There’s also a great, in-depth piece by Brenden Nel for New Frame, titled ‘The bleak future of Western Province Rugby’, from two weeks back.

At that stage, it was unclear whether the MVM deal would go through, although there were already whispers about the collapse of the Flyt deal.

Some of the quotes from that report are staggering:

[Former Investec Global marketing head Raymond] van Niekerk told the Rapport newspaper that “these are the least impressive people I have ever worked with”.

He meant the members of the WPRFU board, with Marais the chief culprit.

Nel really is talking about a “bleak future”:

[This] could see the oldest and arguably most historic rugby entity in South Africa reduced to a bit player in a matter of months. In this scenario, there will be court cases and a plethora of World Cup-winning Springboks will more than likely walk away, leaving the union to fend for themselves in a situation that easily could have been avoided…

Players have held several private meetings and confronted Marais on the future of the union. Only eight of the contracted group have contracts that stretch past the British and Irish Lions tour next season, and collectively the players have made a decision not to negotiate until there is certainty about the financial future of Western Province’s business arm.

Read that full report here.

You only need to look at the shambles that is Cricket South Africa, the corruption and controversy-laden South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), and the usual antics at SAFA (how about that Bafana jersey release?), to see that sports governance in this country could use a serious overhaul.

In each of those examples, which are just a select few, it’s the players, athletes, and fans who end up suffering.

[sources:dailymaverick&newframe]