Another bailout, but Border’s woes continue

Border Rugby is on the verge of receiving another government bailout, which will see the Bulldogs again play professional rugby, while the Border Rugby Union will remain under administration for the foreseeable future.

Sources at the union have revealed that Fezeka Nkomonye-Bayeni, the Eastern Cape’s MEC for sport, recreation, arts and culture, will meet SA Rugby Union (Saru) president Mark Alexander on Friday, along with Saru’s East London-based executive council member, Monde Tabata, and Border’s operations manager, Tim Dlulane, in Cape Town – in what would be the final step to securing government’s second rescue act for the region this year.

According to said officials, the bailout money should be more than the R4.2 million Border received in April. The increase would factor in a preseason, which would include warm-up matches for the Bulldogs and compensation for their coaching staff.

However, in what is probably the most politicised rugby union in the country, there are grumblings among the clubs, who are basically Border’s 100% owners, about the composition of the delegation to meet Saru. They are said to be particularly aggrieved at the presence of former Bulls and Springbok flanker Dlulane, whose involvement with Border is something of a mystery to the union’s constituents. Dlulane, who moved to East London as a property developer, was appointed to his position about five months ago.

Locals have questioned the appointment on two fronts: Who appointed him; and why was he, and not one of the retrenched Border staff, installed? (Apparently, an employee has taken the matter to both the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, and the labour court.)

The answer to the first question was given by administrator Basil Haddad, who said Saru had appointed Dlulane. This didn’t make sense, he added, as it was up to the administrator to make the appointment.

Apparently, the bigger issue for the clubs is the fact that they were told by Haddad that Dlulane had only been appointed on a four-month contract, which should have expired at the end of last month. Yet the former flanker is still representing them at meetings with a massive bearing on their future.

While no doubt happy to be able to put out a team for competitions such as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge and the Currie Cup First Division, Border’s clubs are also bracing themselves for another outsider intervention in their affairs.

The recently announced deal to buy into the Bulls by Remgro’s Johann Rupert and African Rainbow Capital’s Patrice Motsepe is said to have ambitions of also buying into Border once they have their ducks in a row.

With support for the Bulls surprisingly large in the Eastern Cape, the Bulls are said to want to make strategic partners of Border, which would help them get access to the black players they have struggled to develop in Limpopo.

It is a move the Bulls have tried before when they partnered with Border and the Boland Cavaliers a couple of years ago – the involvement with the former going up in the smoke that was their liquidation.

Despite the fact that they would get help with funding, structures and their general operations from the deal, the Border clubs are wary as they have seen this movie before and been burnt by it.

The spectre of the late Andre Killian, who bought into Border, oversaw a regime in which players from outside were recruited to play for the local team. This decision ended up with the Bulldogs having two teams divided along racial lines to represent them – and leaving them with a massive tax bill, which necessitated the Saru loan they’re still paying off today.

Border may be on course to play next season, but the battle for its soul is far from over.

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