GAVIN RICH: Zelt Marais’s fate shows folly of clubs picking maverick officials

One non-negotiable for the outcome of SA Rugby’s administration of Western Province should be that Zelt Marais is remembered as the last president of the union to have any say in the affairs of the professional side of the game.

The lesson about Marais is a salutary one, not just on why the old system of having amateur clubs electing officials who preside over a professional sporting entity doesn’t work, but also how horribly wrong it can go when the person they elect based on his populous appeal rhetoric turns out to be a maverick who does his own thing...