Brenden Nel
The EP Kings have always seemed doomed to fail.
Sad but true, this indictment on the current state of affairs at South Africa’s sixth franchise underlines once again how something with so much promise can go so wrong.
Like many things in South African rugby, it comes down to leadership. Those steering the ship need to navigate serious obstacles, put exceptional structures in place and work harder than before to get up to the speed of the other Super Rugby sides.
The Kings represented a promise, a hope in the darkness. It was supposed to be a shining light of rugby’s grassroots, a place where transformation was never mentioned. This is the hotbed of black rugby in South Africa, and this is where it should be nurtured.
After all, that is what made it a certainty for Super Rugby. The promise that out of the depths of the Eastern Cape a giant would arise that promotes the demographic of rugby players most ignored in South African rugby.
If ever there was a signal that this had failed, it came over the past week as some of the best young black talent walked away, looking for greener pastures and turning their back on the Kings ideal.
You can’t blame them of course, rugby is a professional sport and being a player nowadays is a career. The first rule of any employment is that salaries need to be paid. If you can’t feed your family, there is no desire to go out onto a field and play for others.
So the franchise has lost the likes of Tim Agaba, Sylvain Mahuza, Luther Obi and Lizo Gqoboza. All exceptional talents that need to flourish, all snapped up by provinces with more money and the promise of financial security.
While the free market system shows that all were fair deals, the Kings should be kicking themselves for letting this happen. For the wider South African audience this is nothing short of a tragedy. First choice Super Rugby players in PE joining teams where they are hardly guaranteed a place. Competing for game time will become more difficult, more intense and some may fall by the wayside.
There are deeper problems at the Kings though. Why should a talented coach like Brent Janse van Rensburg and his staff not be paid for four months? Serious questions need to be asked about what happened to the cash at the union?
Why is it that one player – ironically the son of the president – was the one negotiating fellow players’ contracts with agents? What happened to this mega-sponsorship that has been promised for months? Is it just another way of papering over the cracks?
The Kings are in serious need of an overhaul. They are in serious need of business acumen and leadership. Already it is clear that the 2016 season will in all likelihood be a write off, and that the goals – both in terms of transformation and team performance – will have been lowered.
The Kings once represented a dream. It was a dream to give South Africa’s black talent a home and to establish a hotbed of rugby in a part of the country that is so often neglected.
Right now it is a nightmare that needs serious intervention, serious leadership at the top and some hope for all those who once believed in the ideal.
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