The South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) has approved the establishment of a business arm to manage all of its commercial activities locally and internationally.

The business arm – SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd – was created as part of the restructuring of SARFU, which was successfully concluded following two key meetings on Tuesday.

Amendments to the SARFU Constitution, paving the way for the finalisation of the restructure, were approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting of SARFU on Tuesday morning..

Later, at the inaugural meeting of the General Council of the restructured SARFU, President Mr Silas Nkanunu, as well as Mr Ronnie Masson (Deputy President) and Mr Keith Parkinson (Vice-President) were re-elected unopposed. They will serve in these positions until the SARFU AGM in November 2003. Mr Rian Oberholzer was confirmed as the first Managing Director of SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd.

The General Council also approved the nomination of seven SARFU representatives as well as four independent Directors to be appointed to the 15-man Board of SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd. The seven SARFU representatives appointed to the Board are Mr Joey Daniels, Mr Jomo King, Mr Mveleli Ncula, Mr Arthob Petersen, Mr Baby Richards, Mr Fanie Vermaak and Mr Harold Verster.

The four independent Directors are Dr Tjol Lategan, CEO of FirstRand, Mr Alwyn Martin, CEO of Siemens (South Africa), Mr Derrick Minnie, Deputy Chairman of Mondi Limited and Executive Chairman of MondiPak, and Mr Gideon Sam, a leading businessman and Chairman of the Sports Commission.

The Board of SA Rugby (Pty) Limited will also include the President, Deputy President and Vice President of SARFU as well as the Managing Director.

‘Restructuring was necessary to allow us to extract maximum value from the rugby brand,’ said Mr Oberholzer. ‘ There was a need to bring the National structure in line with the professional and amateur arms at provincial level to ensure clearer channels of communication. The restructure will ensure sound business practices and simplify the decision-making processes as well as enhance the transformation and development of the game,’ Oberholzer said.

SARFU will remain an Association Not for Gain and will have the 14 provincial Unions as its members. It will continue to be the sole governing body for rugby in South Africa. The SARFU Executive Committee will comprise the President, Deputy President, Vice President, the Presidents of the Provinces, co-opted members, and a Chief Executive Officer, who will be appointed by the SARFU Executive Committee by October 2001.

SARFU will oversee Game Development, youth and club rugby, referees, rugby academies, sevens and women’s rugby, rules and regulations of the Game, and disciplinary procedures.

SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd will handle all aspects relating to National teams, brand building and protection, merchandising, sponsors and suppliers, media rights, marketing, tours and tournaments, financial services and medical services.

‘The new structure will allow us to transform and develop rugby in South Africa while exploiting and managing the commercial benefits that the game offers,’ said Mr Nkanunu.

‘During the restructuring process we had to ensure that SARFU, as the custodian of the Game, would stay in control of rugby as a whole, hence SARFU is the sole shareholder in SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd. Other guiding principles were to ensure compliance with employment legislation and the transformation objectives of SARFU, and successful seperation of the commercial and non-commercial activities to ensure maximum benefit for SARFU and SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd,’ Mr Nkanunu said.

For further inforamtion please contact:

Anthony Mackaiser
SARFU

Tel: +27 (0) 82-990-6920