ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
SOUTH AFRICA’S top middle distance athlete got a far=20 from ideal send off at Jan Smuts Airport last week when=20 he flew to Europe to begin his campaign in preparation=20 for August’s world championships in Sweden.
Shadrack Hoff and his coach Kenny Bouwer were checking=20 in for their flight when the sister of Hoff’s former=20 manager, Tony Longhurst, arrived and demanded money=20 from Hoff. A blazing row then erupted between her and=20 Bouwer in front of startled fellow passengers.
It was one more sorry saga in a string of controversial=20 incidents involving Longhurst who runs the Optimum=20 Performance Management Group from his home in Colorado,=20 United States.
The financial dispute between Hoff and Longhurst=20 revolves around management fees that Longhurst is=20 legally entitled to claim if he follows to the letter=20 the provisions contained in their contract, but it is=20 the way in which he has discharged his responsibilities=20 to Hoff which leave cause for concern.=20
Longhurst resides in America and seldom visits this=20 country and until Hoff broke the national 5 000m record=20 in February he showed little interest in getting=20 involved in organising Hoff’s domestic racing schedule.=20
After the record, however, he wasted no time in sending=20 demands to Athletics South Africa (ASA) for appearance=20 fees and performance bonuses for the remaining fixtures=20 in the local track and field season. These were turned=20 down point blank by ASA and Longhurst came back with a=20 lower set of demands which were still not accepted.
Longhurst also laid claim to his share of Hoff’s R25=20 000 bonus for breaking the South African record and=20 other prize money from races he played absolutely no=20 role in arranging. Contractually he is entitled to this=20 money but if he were to follow the principle of fair=20 compensation for fair work undertaken he certainly=20 would not make the demands he is currently making.
Longhurst has a contract with Reebok International in=20 America for which he is reputedly paid an annual=20 retainer of $40 000 together with a substantial=20 quantity of running shoes and other running apparel. He=20 secured the contract in 1993 on the basis of being able=20 to sign up a large group of talented South Africans for=20 Reebok at a time when the newly returned South Africans=20 were a very marketable commodity.
He is also paid performance bonuses by Reebok according=20 to stipulated rates for all major races. This money=20 goes directly to him as the promoter and not the=20 athlete whose performance earned it. What his athletes=20 don’t appear to be aware of is that when they sign a=20 contract with him they are also signing with Reebok.=20
“When I signed my contract with Tony in South Africa it=20 was just a couple of pages. It was only when I went to=20 America that I saw the whole thing. Then I just read it=20 but he didn’t explain it in detail to me. I didn’t know=20 whether I was signing for Reebok or Tony Longhurst=20 himself because I didn’t understand what a promoter or=20 agent was. I never signed with Reebok, just with him,”=20 said Hoff at the airport. A valid contract should be=20 explained in full to the athlete concerned and=20 initialled on every page.
Although Longhurst is getting a considerable amount of=20 money from his deal with Reebok, Hoff was receiving=20 just R500 a month from him. When Hoff enquired what=20 his bonus would be from Reebok for breaking the South=20 African record he was told there wasn’t one. It was=20 then that Hoff told him he was going to look around for=20 another manager and shoe sponsor. Miraculously a new=20 offer was made overnight which increased more than=20 sixfold what he was then receiving. =20
The contract also contained a monthly amount of R500=20 for Bouwer. “It was as if he was trying to bribe me to=20 get Shadrack to sign with him. The contract should be=20 with Shadrack, not me. I didn’t want anything to do=20 with his money,” said Bouwer.=20
When his contract ran out with Longhurst in May Hoff=20 signed with Durban-based Athletes Representative Ray de=20 Vries. One of the issues which made up Hoff’s mind to=20 leave Longhurst was the way in which he treated Bouwer=20 who is very close to his athletes at Correctional=20 Services in Pretoria. =20
Longhurst tried to get Hoff to sign a new contract with=20 his sister in Kempton Park without letting Bouwer see a=20 copy of it. It is Bouwer who spends his time and money=20 coaching Hoff and taking him to races, and it was he=20 who negotiated his appearance in Stellenbosch when he=20 broke the record together with the rest of his domestic=20 campaign. =20
Longhurst’s harassment of Hoff became so bad that=20 Bouwer complained to ASA and its general secretary,=20 Banele Sindani, took over negotiations in the dispute.=20 That did not dissuade Longhurst. “In the past few=20 weeks he has disturbed me a lot in my training sessions=20 because I couldn’t concentrate on what I was supposed=20 to be doing. Even up until today he is still asking me=20 for the money, but we have handed everything over to=20 ASA. He was told not to speak to me any more but he=20 kept on phoning me nearly everyday on my cell phone,”=20 said Hoff.=20
“We have had problems with him and we are waiting for=20 him to come back and brief us about his actions. It is=20 only fair that we talk to him first before deciding=20 what action to take,” said Sindani.=20
The phones of Longhurst and his sister were found to be=20 disconnected when the Mail & Guardian tried to contact=20 them this week for comment.
Hoff isn’t the only athlete to experience problems with=20 Longhurst and many others have left him under less than=20 harmonious circumstances, including Meck Mothuli and=20 Ezeal Thlobo who also joined De Vries. =20
When asked to comment on Hoff’s current problem’s with=20 Longhurst, De Vries declined saying he did not wish to=20 become embroiled in mud slinging.
There have been many more well publicised controversies=20 in Longhurst’s past and with the present unsavoury=20 situation it is believed that ASA is considering=20 withdrawing his Athletes Representative’s license.