It has been a busy few weeks at the South African Rugby Union (Saru). At the end of March Saru’s AGM mandated Oregan Hoskins to remain as president for the next two years. Hoskins rebuffed a challenge for the presidency from his vice-president, Mike Stofile, and then lambasted his opponent for saying: ”There is no place for black people in South African rugby.”
Someone neglected to remind the participants at the South African National Aquatic Championship in Durban about the oft-repeated truism that the whole sports thing is more about taking part and less about winning. Perhaps even if someone had, the swimmers would not have been too bothered to listen.
It was straight from the Jonas Savimbi School of daylight robbery. With the ballot papers counted and the unrigged result declared, cue dummy-spitting, foul-crying toy tosser. Mike Stofile’s ”there is no place for blacks in South African rugby” is the most predictable post-South African Rugby Union (Saru) presidential election utterance since unification.
In the aftermath of his failure to become the president of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), Mike Stofile said the elections at the annual general meeting held on Friday proved there was no place for black people in South African rugby. Stofile, the former deputy president of Saru, was the only candidate opposing Oregan Hoskins for the top post.
Oregan Hoskins was re-elected on Friday to a further two-year term as president of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), narrowly beating his deputy, Mike Stofile, at Saru’s annual general meeting. Saru did not issue an official confirmation of the voting tally, but it is understood that the closeness of the vote saw auditors call for a recount.
South African rugby bosses have given new Springbok coach Peter de Villiers the final say on selection matters. The move required a change in the South African Rugby Union’s constitution, which specified that selections were decided by a majority of a three-man selection committee, including the national coach.
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/ 8 February 2008
South African Rugby Union (Saru) deputy president Mike Stofile faces questions after Saru’s audit committee found he had no mandate to discuss the future of former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer with him. Stofile, who has ambitions to defeat president Oregan Hoskins at Saru’s presidential elections next month, met Meyer on January 22 in Johannesburg.
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/ 22 January 2008
The meeting between South African Rugby Union (Saru) deputy president Mike Stofile and former Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer apparently went ahead on Tuesday without Saru president Oregan Hoskins’ blessing. This is the latest development in what has become an open confrontation between the two most powerful men in South African rugby.
The new coach of the World Cup-winning Springboks is expected to be named on Wednesday. The technical committee appointed to interview the four short-listed candidates for the vacant South Africa rugby coaching position wrapped up their task of finding a successor to Jake White on Tuesday.
Former Super 14-winning coach Heyneke Meyer is the favourite to succeed World Cup-winning boss Jake White as the new South Africa rugby coach next week. White stepped down as the Springbok coach at the end of last year after his four-year contract with the South African Rugby Union had run its course.
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/ 3 December 2007
The appointment of Jake White’s successor as Springbok coach has been postponed until the president’s council meeting, which is being held on January 9. Johan Prinsloo, CEO of the South African Rugby Union, on Monday confirmed that the four candidates’ final interviews with the appointment committee will be held on January 7 and 8.
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/ 10 November 2007
Jake White was caught in the South African rugby crossfire during a bitter and ongoing power struggle of which he was the latest high-profile victim, the Saturday Star said on Saturday. This has emerged in his much-anticipated autobiography, In Black and White, which hits bookstores soon.
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/ 9 November 2007
Hot on the heels of Springbok coach Jake White’s announcement of his imminent departure, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) seems set to add the name of Dick Muir to its shortlist of candidates to replace White. This is the same Saru that claimed White could not be considered for an extension of his post because he had missed the deadline for applications.
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/ 30 October 2007
There seems to be little sympathy at SA Rugby for World Cup-winning Springbok coach Jake White’s unhappiness that he was not considered for the shortlist of four from which the next Springbok coach will be appointed. White, in Tuesday’s press conference, pointed out he had a clause in his contract that states he has the right to negotiate an extension of his contract.