Bok coach in sex allegations

2008-09-06 15:24

Johannesburg - Peter de Villiers and the South African Rugby Union have "categorically denied" in a statement that there have ever been any attempts to blackmail or coerce De Villiers over the selection of any player to the national squad as alleged in a newspaper report on Saturday.

The Weekender newspaper reported that De Villiers was the victim of a blackmail attempt over player selections. The blackmail attempt allegedly involved a Saru official and a player who were threatening to release video footage of a sexual nature to the media if the said player is dropped from the Springbok squad.

However, Saru and De Villiers dismissed the blackmail claim in the newspaper, although they did not deny the "sexual activity" claims, according to reports.

The statement further reads: "However Saru can confirm that a company employee did approach Mr De Villiers on August 15 in Cape Town. The employee made certain extraordinary claims which Saru has since looked into but has been unable to find any basis to support in fact.

"The employee was advised on August 25 that he would be called to an internal misconduct hearing, the charge sheet for which is still being prepared."

Andy Colquhoun, Saru's Strategic Communications Manager, on Saturday said that they were not going to elaborate on the statement or comment further.

The Weekender report named Chris Hewitt, the Springbok Communications Manager, as the Saru employee at the centre of the sex claims scandal. Hewitt refused to comment about the video and whether he is using it as leverage in his dispute with Saru.

"I can't say anything, because I am involved in a contractual dispute with my employers," Hewitt told the Weekender.

Hewitt was dropped as Springbok Communications Manager before the start of the Tri-Nations tournament in July, after apparently arriving late for a press conference - although other claims, such as language bias, were also leveled at him. Rayaan Adriaanse has since returned to the Bok role in place of Hewitt.

According to the Weekender report claims were made that video footage (recorded without his knowledge) existed of De Villiers in an activity of a sexual nature in East London earlier this year. According to the newspaper the video was being used as leverage to retain a player in the Springbok team, which is being denied by Saru and De Villiers.

However, they did not deny that the claims of sexual activity existed and that these claims are at the heart of the disciplinary action involving Hewitt, who reports that De Villiers's manager Rian Oberholzer had denied to the Weekender that any incident had occurred that might prejudice his client.

- SAPA