Windhoek
The Namibian Rugby Union (NRU) through its chief executive officer (CEO) Sybrand de Beer has hit back at damning allegations made by former coach Danie Vermeulen, in the aftermath of his unceremonious resignation
last week. The wheelchair-bound Vermeulen’s exit was dully endorsed with the union resolving to move on in
a bid to ensure the 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign remains on track. “NRU never wanted to get entangled in any public spat with any of its subjects but the one-sided and subjective allegations published in the printed and social media attributed to Vermeulen have left me with no choice but to put the situation into perspective,” said De Beer in
a marathon statement. De Beer is adamant that no other coach prior to Vermeulen’s appointment has
received as much support in terms of financial and human resources to qualify and prepare for the IRB World Cup.
Since 2012, the NRU Board came under tremendous pressure to release Vermeulen, but the board stood by him, refusing to bow to pressure. Recently a significant number of disgruntled board members severed ties with the union after demands that Vermeulen be ushered through the exit door were countered by NRU president Bradley Basson.
“We went to extreme lengths to ensure that Vermeulen would be properly accommodated at the IRB World Cup. With the support of the organizers we ensured he would have unhindered access to coaching boxes, dressing rooms, hotels and transport.
“NRU is well aware of the efforts made by Rugby World Cup Limited to ensure Vermeulen would be comfortable at the tourney, and this is testimony that it makes no sense to suggest the union put pressure on him to resign,” charged De Beer.
Vermeulen claims the reasons for his exit go back to the IRB World Cup qualification in Madagascar last year.
The NRU finds it weird that he only now chose to raise concerns in the manner he did about those issues, almost
a year later. “After qualification, it was again decided players would be requested to play club rugby. Almost half of Namibia’s test players are professionals residing outside the country and could not train with the locals between
July and October 2014.” It further states that if players were not allowed to play club rugby, it would have resulted in the national players not playing any club rugby in 2014 and 2015, which would have been detrimental
to club rugby locally. Thus the three defeats during the October/November tour should not be put squarely on the shoulders of the union’s administrators. The NRU refutes the allegation of board interference and that Vermeulen was placed under duress to select an additional “29th player”. One of the team members was based in London and did not require any additional flights. According to the statement by the NRU, the particular player was only available for one match and to complete the tour with 27 players again would not have made sense. This was
explained and discussed with Vermeulen who responded by stating the player could tour but that he would not
be selected for test matches. “The board felt this approach was not exactly in line with the NRU policy towards developing players. We strongly refute Vermeulen’s claims that the NRU did not appreciate his value and
that it left him with no other option but to resign. We feel that is an emotional response and devoid of any truth.”