An unresolved contract dispute between appointed Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers and the South African Rugby Union (Saru) has erupted again — and remains unresolved.
This time a constitutional matter lies at the heart of the matter, De Villiers’s agent, Rian Oberholzer, said on Wednesday.
After two months of negotiations and with De Villiers ready to sign the contract, Saru found it was unconstitutional to give the coach the final say in team selections.
With that went an insistence by Saru that De Villiers be bound by performance clauses, although he would not have the final say in the selection of the sides he has to coach.
Oberholzer said De Villiers was ready to sign on Monday.
However, an email from Andy Marinos, general manager of national teams at Saru, made him back off.
”Peter did not apply for the job only because he wanted to be the Springbok coach,” Oberholzer said.
”He did so to be a successful Springbok coach — and he wants to be accountable for his sides, not those selected by others.”
The Saru email said the union had now found that De Villiers’s request to have the final say in the selection was unconstitutional — although Saru initially agreed to the terms of the contract that had been negotiated.
The implication is Saru’s constitution will have to be changed in order to accommodate De Villiers’s request — and that is a lengthy process.
Oberholzer queried why the ”constitutional issue” was not raised in January after De Villiers was first appointed and contract negotiations started.
He said selection in which the coach did not have the final say did not apply to De Villiers’s predecessors — Jake White, Rudolf Straeuli, Harry Viljoen, Nick Mallett or André Markgraaff.
”We all know Peter was not the first choice of [Saru president] Oregan Hoskins and [SA Rugby MD] Jonathan Stones,” Oberholzer said.
He said De Villiers would certainly not accept a contract in which he does not have the final say on team selections.
Asked if there was a possibility that De Villiers would walk away from the contract, Oberholzer said: ”I’m his agent. That is Peter’s decision.” — Sapa