An hour with Saru president Oregan Hoskins

Oregan Hoskins has been re-elected as the president of the South African Rugby Union, home body of the current world champions, in case you’re an All Black supporter and you weren’t sure. Two-time winners of the premier event, actually, having competed in far fewer tournaments. A good thing too, or who knows, New Zealand may well have been looking at an empty trophy cabinet about now.

Anyhow, with the season now well under way, I spent an hour with Oregan and asked him about the year ahead.

Traps: Firstly, may I congratulate you on your election and the World Cup triumph?
Hoskins: Thank you.

T: Are you guys busy?
H: It’s all go at the moment. Tomorrow I am interviewing and appointing all the support staff for the Springboks. That’s around a dozen guys doing anything from team manager to organising baggage.

T: Coaching-wise?
H: That’s already organised with Dick Muir and Gary Gold to support Peter de Villiers.

T: I’m giving you a formal warning on uncle Dick. Ian MacIntosh told me a story about how he used to put together edited highlights of games in order to show the Sharks players their mistakes at team meetings. This was in the days of videos. Mac says it was a nightmare — no matter what he said he was going to show, the tape was always in the wrong place … until he found out later that Dick had a duplicate remote control and kept rewinding or fast-forwarding the tape.
H: I consider myself warned (laughs).

T: What is the feeling in the Springbok camp?
H: Very positive. We have retained the core of the champions squad — obviously Os and Percy have moved on and in Butch James’s case we aren’t sure what the coaches’ plans are, but the rest are available.

T: John Smit?
H: Very happy with the choice of captain. It provides us with continuity.

T: Are you happy with the choice of Peter de Villiers?
H: Peter needs to grow into the position. He will have our full support and we will not be interfering with him in carrying out his duties. Just as long as the coach and the team know we are fully behind them. It will not be like the situation with Jake White. We have learned from that and we will not interfere in any selections. Although I must say I got on very well with Jake.

T: Who is up first for the Boks?
H: We start with Wales on June 7 2008, it’s the world champions versus the Six Nations champions. Two Tests — the first in Bloemfontein, the second in Pretoria. After that we host Nick Mallet’s Italy and then it’s on to the Tri-Nations.

T: Politics at Saru?
H: I’m happy to say things have calmed down. I met with my deputy, Mark Alexander, and am looking forward to working with him.

T: Super 14?
H: We now have a golden opportunity as the new secretary of Sanzar to promote the case of the Eastern Cape as a sixth franchise. We need to use our added influence to benefit our members. It would be crazy to close and then open a new franchise.

In terms of the Super 14s, the current regime ends in 2010. The next competition may well be expanded to 16 or even 20 teams divided into two groups of 10, then some sort of structure to decide the winner between the two groups. How many teams will depend on New Zealand and Australia, with Argentinian teams definitely to be included.

T: Any thoughts on our teams this year?
H: Disappointing so far — but we know that everyone is coming off a huge high. Having said that, in the last two weeks we are starting to look more like we did last season. I still believe we’ll have two teams in the playoffs.

T: Currie Cup?
H: It will continue in the same exciting format — last season saw a 20% increase in attendances. It is a great competition and we won’t be changing it. Its counterparts in both Australia and New Zealand are having major problems. New Zealand are in crisis meetings at the moment.

T: Transformation?
H: At present we have a registered pool of half-a-million players with probably another 250 000 that are out there. We want to get into grassroots levels in a big way — first with programmes like Sarla’s legacy parks (concept developed by Gavin Varejes and John Allan) and Iqhawe (a system of identifying young black prospects in outlying areas) and then by taking over running of the schools rugby system.

We spoke to Butana Komphela from the portfolio committee, who was keen to assist. In terms of this we will be bringing rugby into the schools assisted by government funding. At present only model-C and traditional rugby schools offer the game to pupils. We want to bring it to the townships in a big way. This will provide true transformation.

T: What about the Saru structures?
H: At present we have a company and a council. The company has a chairman (Tshume) and managing director (Stones) plus three directors, of which I am one. Although I am a director, I also represent the shareholder 100%.

The council is made up of the 14 presidents of the respective unions.

The idea is to merge the two into one structure, which is currently being formulated by our legal advisers. The president’s council in terms of the constitution has already agreed to undertake this merger.

T: What do you say to those critics of your television deal?
H: We accept that the national broadcaster is very important to transformation in that it makes the game available to the masses. This is why as part of our deal with SuperSport we agreed that a certain amount of games need to be made free to air through the SABC. We will be meeting with both parties shortly to sort this out and allocate which games are which. I must, however, point out that rugby is highly competitive and we needed to do the best deal for the game. It is our job to look after the bottom line.

T: On the corporate side?
H: A corporation can acquire up to 50% of a union. We are trying to encourage big corporates to look into this and particularly with regard to the Eastern Cape. They are potentially our sixth franchise for the successor to the Super 14s and this would be of benefit to corporate and union. I am always accessible to meet with executives who have a genuine interest in this type of venture.

T: Oregan, thank you for sparing the time and well done again.
H: Thanks, Traps.