2015-08-07Staff Report 2 Well, yours truly might just as well ride the AR bandwagon while it is still running. Our dear President, Dr Hage Geingob, showed a gesture by extending the hand of goodwill towards the wayward threesome of Job Amupanda and his two cronies including his advisors for heart to heart talks. Kudos to the President! True to his word of inclusivity. I will not call the AR and the President, and by extension, the government, adversaries. But alas, please take a look at the positives of these actions. No olive branch was extended, but common sense prevailed for the betterment of thousands of our people. The result of the talks are still to be seen, but at least we are optimistic for a medium to long term solution. Now, can somebody explain to me why the NRU will not follow suit and engage in talks with people who have a few issues to lay bare. Instead, we have the knee jerk, boring counter responses in every rag and publication by NRU president Bradley Basson. Remember a chappie going by the name of Joseph Sepp Blatter and his vehement denials of any wrongdoings within the annals of the world’s football governing body FIFA? Only for the beleaguered brother to resign a day later, with international investigation into his organisation hot on his heels. I remember when we had unification talks with the then SWARU and NANRU (no normal sports in an abnormal society), Oom Gert Muller asked his Board to “give them” two votes as a result of a stalemate. However John Walters, our negotiating team leader at the time, would have none of that. Neither party was allowed to dominate one another and a consensus was ultimately reached. The lesson one learned from that was that respect goes a long way, than domination and misplaced superiority. Quite interesting that Corrie Mensah also referred in his article to the struggle. My humble advice – never threaten a person’s comfort zone or self-proclaimed religion, namely rugby. You are looking for trouble! The cry by some by our pale-skinned brothers, after 25 years of democracy and when all ideas and arguments dry out, is an old hat and just desperation. Talk to each other like real Outies! Yours truly has taken note that the agents of Sleepy Hollow are quite busy engaging sport federations during a break from their winter slumber. According to a few local dailies, the following was discussed: • five main focus areas; • more than 20 terms of reference. HELLO! This should give you more than 110 points of reference for action. Someone must actually DO the job! How on bloody earth would clubs, unions, federations and associations realise that, so I suppose this is just another congressional pipe dream. Dear Harald Fulle, please do the following: Forward a humble request to the abovementioned mother bodies for copies of their respective statutes and Constitutions, Policy Manuals And Rules + Regulations. Peruse those documents and have an audience with the authors or stewards and let them explain – before you embark on the journey into milky lane. As it stands, get ALL our rugby, other sporting codes and clubs on a healthy footing, and start building from there. The playing fields are not equal. And must be levelled, period! An interesting development in South African rugby is that the so-called “smaller” unions are dominating the voting process. The traditional bigger guns are getting jittery on this situation. Remember my earlier complaint in this same column about some representatives serving on our own NRU Board, just sitting there as voting fodder, a barrier for protectionism? Well time will tell as to whose interests they were guarding, believe you me. According to the Rapport, the smaller unions have spoken. It sounds like Namibia alongside Kenya and Zimbabwe might be included in the South African Provincial Currie Cup, which will run concurrently with the Super 15 Series. Eighteen teams will contest the Currie Cup, with Vodacom Cup falling by the wayside. Now, that is a positive idea, as we will have a good platform to groom home-grown players. The “professionals” can go unhindered plying their trade in foreign countries with all our blessings till the next Rugby World Cup. It’s just a passing remark. I see we have the privilege of hosting another International Sevens Tourney. This is surely not for altruistic reasons, so another cui bono, who benefits? Remember the Dunes Sevens where the innovative Sakkie Mouton was made the scapegoat? Please come clean gentlemen. Safland can do better by ploughing that money into club rugby. World Cup Watch – my selection for RWC: 1. Eugene Jantjies 2. Ryan de la Harpe 3. Darryl de la Harpe 4. David Philander 5. Shaun Kaizemi 6. Russel van Wyk 7. Chrysander Botha 8. Luis Talaya 9. Justin Nel 10. Cameron Claasen 11. Aurelio Plato 12. Henrique Olivier 13. Leslie Kim 14. Bevan Botha 15. Chesborough Lawrence Until next time, it’s adios for now! 2015-08-07Staff Report 2
