WE GO AGAIN
KEVIN McCALLUM: SA sport will miss Zuma and the tanking of the rand
In Cricket SA’s old headquarters at the Wanderers Club earlier in 2017, I asked now departed CEO Haroon Lorgat whether President Jacob Zuma was good or bad for Cricket SA’s books. The question got a laugh. Questions involving Zuma often do.The answer was that he was a bit of both for the business of sport. Bad in the sense that investors and sponsors were a tad warier of the country than they needed to be; and good in the sense that every time he made the rand tank against the dollar, the payouts from Cricket SA’s international deals would be worth that bit more.The South African Rugby Union (Saru) would agree. In 1995, just after the Rugby World Cup, the then South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) sat down with New Zealand and Australian rugby officials and formed Sanzar. Legend has it that they formed it over three cups of coffee in the bar area of the Sandton Sun.In his book, Midnight Rugby: Triumph and Shambles in the Professional Era, Stephen Jones, the Welsh rugby writer, ...
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