If it were up to the players, incumbent South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen would be ousted from his position in favour of Kwazulu Natal’s Oregan Hoskins at Friday’s presidential election in Cape Town.
According to The Star newspaper, a poll requested by the South African Rugby Players Association (Sarpa) had 67,1% of its members voting in favour of Hoskens, with only 32,9% supporting Van Rooyen. It is the first time that South Africa’s professional rugby players have had their say about rugby’s administration and is a further blow to Van Rooyen’s aspirations of retaining the
presidency.
In a further indictment to Van Rooyen, Sarpa’s executive also conducted their own internal poll and seven of the nine members voted unanimously for Hoskens, with two abstaining.
Although players’ votes will not count, it is the 14 provincial union’s who will decide Van Rooyen’s fate at Saru’s head office.
Rugby pundits are of the opinion that the five big unions — the Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Cheetahs and Western Province — will vote against Van Rooyen, while the smaller unions who voted Van Rooyen into power are divided.
It was also reported that if Van Rooyen was not re-elected, the investigation into allegations of poor corporate governance attributed to the current president may be called off. However, Saru’s manager of policies and regulations, Christo Ferreira, said that a decision regarding that matter would be made by the council after the election.
In a further development, reports on Wednesday suggested that SA Rugby’s major sponsors — Vodacom, Sasol, Canterbury and Absa — would withdraw their sponsorship should Van Rooyen win the election.
This was denied by the sponsors’ representative on the Board of SA Rugby, Ali Bacher.
”There’s no substance to those allegations,” said Bacher. – Sapa