Mark Keohane dossier

2003-10-08 09:22

Here is the full report former Springbok communications manager Mark Keohane handed to SA Rugby upon his resignation from team management.

Keohane's allegations have been reported on in full in the media over the past weeks, and News24 have decided to publish his report to give our users the opportunity to view the allegations within the context of the full report.

The report will form the basis of an investigation into alleged prejudice in SA rugby after the Rugby World Cup.

Following is the report:

Springboks 2003 - Geo Cronje and Quinton Davids incident

Sequence of events as related by Communications Manager Mark Keohane

The squad assembles on the Friday evening of the 22nd August. Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli addresses them about the seriousness of the occasion and the responsibility attached to a World Cup campaign.

Daily workings are talked about and each member of the management team is asked if he has anything to say. The most important address in terms of logistics is made by Logistics Manager Mac Hendricks. He gives the players the relevant times and it is explained that there will be no room swapping and that no player can stay at home. The forwards are told that they must be at the gym at 6.45 (Saturday morning) promptly. The backs must be there at 08.00. The sessions are split to accommodate the entire squad.

The next morning Quinton Davids does not arrive for the morning session. It is established that rooms were swapped and his roommate Geo Cronje initiated the swap I am at the gym and Rudolf confirms the story to me. My initial response is to send both home, one for tardiness and one for making a mockery of team protocol.

Rudolf says he will sort it out. Quinton arrives with the backs for the latter session. During what is an intense session Joost (in his capacity as a senior player) took on Quinton and told him if he was ever late again he personally would chase him away. This was said in Afrikaans. Team physio Clint Readhead overheard the outburst, as did I. The mood at the session, which entailed boxing and running, was very tense. Physically, it proved a demanding session for Quinton and he was worked over.

Rudolf told me after the session that he would address the issue at the afternoon practise. He was going to physically make them realise that they should have a respect for each other and team protocol.

At the afternoon session, both Quinton and Geo were singled out by the coach and told that they would be taught a lesson. The players who, according to the coach, had 'agreed' to the swap (Gcobani Bobo and Fourie du Preez) were also punished, while Corne Krige and Robbie Kempson were also part of the koppie session. Corne could not take part in the contact session and led from the front in the koppie punishment while Kempson, who also could not train, voluntarily joined the koppie run for the last 40-odd minutes.

Rudolf felt afterwards that he had sorted out the situation and that the players had now bonded. The phrase he used often in the next two days was: "When I am finished with them they will be kissing one another open mouth". This was said in afrikaans. "As ek met hulle klaar is sal hulle mekaar oopmond soen."

However, that evening Robbie Kempson was sent home because of injury. Geo, in the interim, had asked Mac Hendricks if he could move into Kempson's room.

Mac agreed, but this apparently upset the black players who wanted him to go back and room with Quinton. Schalk Burger who would be flown in to join the squad was to room with Quinton but the black players felt this was a management cop out and that they were not confronting the situation. This was discussed when the squad captain Corne Krige addressed the black players on the Sunday.

Corne had been alerted to the fact that there was unhappiness over the Quinton situation and called a meeting with all the black players.

In conversation with Corne on Sunday I was told (by Corne) that the black players were upset by the incident and that Geo, in not sharing a room with Quinton, had taken a stand. Now they were also taking a stand and they were adamant that Geo had to move back in with Quinton.

During this particular discussion with Corne he said that there was a serious problem with the black players and they were very unhappy about the Geo incident. He needed to see the coach.

He informed me as to the discussion and said the emphasis was on how Cronje had insulted all of the black players by refusing to room with Davids and not share the shower and toilet after Davids had used these facilities. Corne said that the black players were of the following view: 'He had made them feel dirty and inferior and that he had made a stand'. The only way they were prepared to look past what had happened was if Cronje and Davids moved back in together.

I asked Corne what the mood of the black players was. He said Quinton was very upset at what had happened and angry. He wanted Corne to arrange that the next session involved contact and he wanted to physically 'fuck up' Geo during this session.

Ashwin Willemse had told Corne that Geo had shown them (black players) no respect as people with his actions.

Corne told me he would not accept a white player would not share with a black player. Not in this team. He told me that as captain of this team he would not condone any form of prejudice or racism. This is why he was going to see Rudolf.

After Corne had spoken to the coach I also spoke to Rudolf about it and he said he would be calling both players in privately and sorting the matter out. He said it was important that it was finalised before team manager Gideon Sam arrived because then it would become a political issue.

My suggestion to Rudolf was to send both home and make an emphatic stand to the squad that he would not tolerate anything like this. Rudolf later told me that it had been sorted out and that there was no longer a problem.

During the Saturday afternoon session (it started at 11 am and finished just after 12.30), Rudolf Lake of the Rapport dropped in to watch. He asked me why the six players were running hills while the others were training. I said none of them could take part in the contact session for various reasons.

When Rudolf saw me chatting to Rudolf Lake he walked over and told Rudolf Lake that he was teaching a few guys a lesson, but not to write about it. I later informed the coach that I had already told the guy (Lake) that there was nothing untoward about it as the players were carrying various niggles.

He then asked me to phone Lake and make sure nothing was going to be written about it in the Sunday paper. I did not phone Lake but spoke to him at the Saturday evening Springbok Nike World Cup kit launch in Sandton.

Rudolf had expressed his concern to me on the way to the launch that Quinton was not up to standard and not good enough to go to the World Cup. He said he had a problem with his 'players of colour' (his term) and that he was going to struggle to find six to take in the 30. Quinton was to make up one of his mentioned six but he felt he was not good enough and neither was Dale Santon.

He asked me if there was a chance of getting away with only four. I said no, but perhaps he could get away with five if he was honest to Rian Oberholzer and Songezo Nayo in his assessment about Quinton, which was that the player was not good enough.

I said if they were convinced that Quinton was wasting everyone's time, then they may be able to approve five black players in 30.

At the launch I sought out Songezo (Nayo) and explained that Quinton had missed the first session because he had overslept and that any player who wanted to go to the World Cup should have a bigger hunger than that. I said his attitude was not good, he was struggling to keep up with the other players and I felt that it would be window dressing picking a player who clearly was not good enough to make the squad on merit. This is how I felt.

Songezo agreed that no allowance should be made for any player, regardless of colour. I told Rudolf that I had spoken to Songezo and that he was aware of the coach's feelings on Quinton.

On the Monday (August 25th) Dale Granger, a reporter at the Cape Argus, called me and said that he had heard there was an incident involving Geo and Quinton at the weekend, based on the one not wanting to room with the other and that both had been physically taken to task through means of a 'koppie opfok'. He said he could not believe this was happening in Bok rugby in 2003, but did ask why the hell we (as management) had put the two together.

He also asked how archaic our set-up was that the coach reverted to military-style handing out of punishment to a professional national rugby squad. I changed the focus of our conversation and we started discussing the merits of whether in this day and age players should be 'fucked up' by means of military koppie runs.

On the Monday I informed Rudolf that the papers had the story and was concerned about the ramifications. He said I was making an issue out of nothing and that it would go away as everything had been sorted out. However, he was very upset that the media knew of the incident. He asked me to try and find out who the source was. I told Rudolf (Straeuli) that it wasn't that simple and because of the political ramifications and the history associated with the South African game it had the potential to be a big story.

I spoke to Dale during the course of Monday and Tuesday on a few occasions and quizzed him on where he got his information. He told me that Quinton, very upset by what had happened, had called his girlfriend and spoken to his teammate and good friend Bolla Conradie. What had happened was spoken about at Province (among the players). Granger also informed me that Thelo Wakefield (WP manager) had confirmed the incident and nature of incident. I again took this information to Rudolf.

Rudolf said he had spoken to Quinton who denied ever calling anyone. He said that the journalist was lying. My response was that the journalist called me and told me what had happened. All I was doing was conveying the message. I did not know if it was accurate or not. All I knew was the journalist's story was pretty accurate. Rudolf said he would inform Gideon (Sam) about the incident but that I needed to find out more because he couldn't believe it had just come from Quinton. He and Corne had asked Quinton and he had denied it.

Rudolf was very concerned about the black player make-up in the squad and needed finality on whether he could get away with only four black players in the squad or if he was going to have to take six. He called Rian (Oberholzer) and asked if Rian could fly to Pretoria as he wanted to finalise the squad that day.

When Rian arrived for a meeting with Rudolf on the Tuesday to discuss the squad I joined them just after 2pm. Rudolf had told me to give them a few minutes on their own and then to join them.

I joined them and they discussed the squad composition where the main focus was on black player representation. In the meeting was Rob Benadie (SA Rugby consultant) and Adriaan Heijns (security consultant, who had also assumed the role of assistant logistics manager).

On the discussion of black players Rian made it clear that nothing less than six would be agreed on. He reminded Rudolf that he had made a promise of six and he would not go back on it.

Rudolf initially said there were only four, five at a push, but not six. Rian said he did not buy this. They discussed all possibilities and Rian asked why black players were bought to the camp that Rudolf did not believe in, among them Dale Santon and Quinton Davids.

Rudolf's response was that none of the other black players outside of the squad were good enough to play Test rugby. Rian said he did not buy this and would not even try and convince people that there were not six good enough black players in South Africa capable of making a national squad of 30.

He mentioned players like Breyton Paulse, who had been bracketed with Ricardo Loubscher and Bolla Conradie as two who had played Test rugby and were (in his opinion) good enough.

Rudolf said he could draft Bolla in and pick him if he dropped off Quinton and Dale, but he could not get to six if it was strictly a merit selection. I said there was no way we could bring Bolla in as the press release I had sent out the day before quoted Rudolf as saying Robbie Kempson's likely unavailability had meant a reshuffle in the combination permutations and that one back had to drop out and that was at scrumhalf. This is why Fourie du Preez was sent home. At least that is the story spun to the media.

We could not a day later announce Bolla had been invited. That would smack of window dressing. Rian agreed and said he would have to work with the seven black players at the training squad but refused to accept that anything less than six would make the squad.

He said the six black player issue was non negotiable and that there would be no further discussion on it.

The two of them then discussed the merits of the squad and Rudolf showed Rian his intended match 22 to play England. Just before Rian was about to leave, I asked if the issue of Geo and Quinton had been sorted out. Rian asked: "what issue?". Rudolf said there had been an incident but he had dealt with it. Rian responded: "what incident?"

Rudolf said that Geo did not want to share a room with Quinton and this had upset Quinton and the black players, but that both players were punished (one for being late at training and one for not being prepared to share the room). He told Rian not to worry and that the matter had been dealt with.

I said it was not that simple and that the media were aware of the story and proceeded to give Rian a breakdown of what the media had, and who in the media had contacted me.

Rian got angry at this point and wanted to know from Rudolf what had happened. Rudolf told him that Geo had moved out because he did not want to share with a black player and after the koppie session he was ordered to go back in. Geo then did not and opted to take Kempson's room. This upset Rian and he made an issue of the fact that even after the koppie 'opfok' the player still did not go back to the original room sharing. Rudolf, at this stage gesturing for Rian to give him a chance to speak and explain, said he had called the player in again (along with the captain Corne Krige) and it was made very clear to him that had to share the room with Quinton, that we (as a squad) did not promote any form of prejudice in this team and his only option was to do as instructed or leave the squad.

This was later confirmed to me in discussion with Corne, that both he and the coach had emphasised to the player that if he wanted to have a future in this country, not just as a rugby player, but as a South African, then he needed to learn to get to know and accept the black players in the side. He needed to show them respect as they felt him refusing to shower because Quinton had used the shower made them feel dirty and was a sign of disrespect.

Rian said he would not tolerate any form of racism in the Springbok squad and told Rudolf to remove the player. Rudolf said the player had shown remorse and was now okay with the idea of sharing. He justified the player's stance on his cultural upbringing and defended Cronje not being a racist. Rian said his action implied he was a racist and he could not believe that the player was a racist one minute but 10 minutes later after being ordered to room with a black player or miss out on the World Cup, he was no longer a racist.

Rudolf said the player was not a racist and that the player had even called his father to explain what had happened and to get advice. His father had told him it was okay to share with 'them (hulle)' as he had been in circumstances at the mines where he also had to share with 'hulle'.

Rudolf told Rian that Geo had tears in his eyes and knew that he had made a mistake. Rian said it was not good enough. There was obviously a problem in the team and that it had to be dealt with via an investigation. Rudolf said Rian was blowing the thing out of proportion.

At this point Rian said to Rudolf, 'listen to yourself - I am starting to get worried when you justify or attempt to justify this kind of thing. You are the coach'.

Rudolf tried to further explain the situation, saying the player was uneducated about the way things worked in the team. He cited an example of the players no longer praying before a game. 'He thinks the black man (Gideon) has taken that away. I had to explain to him this is not the case. It was a team decision that each player does his own spiritual thing.'

Rian reiterated that he would not tolerate such a player in the squad. Rudolf defended Cronje by saying he was not the only one who had a problem sharing and that he should not be singled out. Rudolf said it was not just white on black, but black on white and not just now - then he mentioned Joe van Niekerk moving rooms with Gcobani Bobo in Dunedin.

At this stage I said that the only reason was that Bobo was snoring and Joe could not get sleep. Bobo and Joe are also good friends, the point I made, and said that statement was unfair.

I also said that if we have a situation where whites and blacks have a problem sharing then we have an even bigger problem than just one isolated case.

At this point Rian said he was taking the matter out of Rudolf's hands and that Cronje would not be going to the World Cup. He could not afford to have the team tainted by this kind of thing.

Rudolf said that he was against dropping Cronje out of the squad. The player, he argued, added value and he warned of the backlash from the conservative white element.

Rian responded: "I have seen your match 22 against England and he is not in it, so I do not consider his absence weakening your team for that match. Secondly, I don't care about what a white minority is going to think. The player did not want to share a room with a black player and I want him out of the team.

When Rudolf again introduced the white v black debate and the ramifications of isolating white support, Rian said that the choice was not very hard to make. There are 40 million blacks and 2 million whites. I would rather live with 2 million being upset because we sent home a white player for not sharing with a black player than 40 million black people with no confidence in SA rugby because we tolerated this kind of prejudice.

He went on to say that SA rugby and he (as MD) had a commitment to transformation and that he was not prepared to compromise.

Rudolf said he was looking at this thing from a rugby perspective. "I have to make a rugby decision."

Rian said: "Don't come with that fucking (Nick) Mallett bullshit to me. We don't make just rugby decisions in this country. There is a bigger picture and you knew the deal when you took the job.

"He said Rudolf had two choices. Don't pick him and explain it as a selection thing and SA rugby would then take up the racism issue or pick him and have the player removed. Rian suggested the first because then the player's life would not be destroyed. SA rugby would be in a position to help the player with his problem. The second option would be a disaster for the player."

During the course of the discussion, Adriaan Heijns had offered the opinion that both players should be dropped out of the squad and that we move on while Rob Benadie ventured an opinion of questioning just how much the media knew and how possible was it to squash the incident. I said the media knew everything and if we even try and squash the story we are losing sight of the bigger picture in SA rugby. Benadie then started offering advice to Rian, whose response was to tell him to 'fuck off'.

"I will not squash anything here and I make the decisions here, not you. You are a consultant here. I remain the boss."

The mood was very strained and Rian left for the airport.

I contacted Rian on the cell phone a while later and he said he was very disappointed at Rudolf's attitude and stance. He was adamant Cronje would not go to the World Cup.

On the Tuesday evening (Aug 26) Gideon Sam arrived. He was informed by Rudolf as to what had happened and I also spoke to him about the incident, expressing my concern that the media were aware of it and that they could look to run the story close to the team announcement.

He said he would deal with it and that Rian had made him aware of what was going on.

On further questioning Dale between the Tuesday and Wednesday (after I had promised not to reveal his source) he told me that Martin van Schalkwyk, a Western Province player, had given him the info. He asked me not to reveal the name to management for fear of prejudice from Gert Smal (his provincial coach), who was also the Springbok assistant coach. He said what had happened was common knowledge among the province players and mentioned the shower and toilet incident as well.

I took this information to Rudolf in strict confidence on the Wednesday evening (27th) after training and much to my disgust I would find out later that he asked Rudy Joubert to call the player to confirm whether he had spoken out. Naturally, the player denied having been the one to make the call. Martin had then called Dale, who in turn called me wanting to know why I had spoken to Rudy Joubert about it. I informed him I never had and only established how Rudy was informed when I confronted Rudolf on the Friday.

On the Wednesday at the open media day Archie Henderson, the Argus Sports Editor, said he wanted to speak to me about an issue (of which I would be aware) when I had some time and I said I would call him from training that evening.

When I called him he wanted to know why Mac Hendricks, our logistics manager, had called his journalist (Dale Granger) to find out why he was writing the story about Geo Cronje and Quinton Davids. He said Mac had enquired as to who his source was and if it had come from within the team. He also said Mac had confirmed there had been an incident but that all had been dealt with and it had all only been a misunderstanding. Archie said that on the basis of the confirmation by Mac Hendricks, coupled with their sources, they would be running the story. He did not say when.

I immediately contacted Adriaan Heijns and told him to get a message to Rudolf that there was trouble coming and that I would speak to him after training. I saw Rudolf after the training and wanted to know why Mac had made the call. I said I had the situation under some kind of control and that the papers now were going to run with the story because Mac had given them confirmation that the incident had happened. I was comfortable to keep the media at bay until the team announcement because I knew Cronje would not be in the squad and because SA rugby were going to take up the incident after the team announcement. This was going to cause minimal disruption to the team preparations.

When I questioned Rudolf and Gideon about why Mac had made a media call they could not give me an answer.

I entertained the media at a media dinner (with the squad) that evening and returned to my room at around 23:30. There was a message from Dale Granger, asking me to call him. I sms'd him back saying I would call him in the morning. He then sms'd me back saying it would be too late. I phoned him and he said they were running with the story in the morning (for the afternoon papers) because they had enough information and they were aware that other publications were also aware of the story.

I asked him what the gist of his story was: In brief he said that Geo would not share with Quinton because he was black and would not shower after Quinton had used the shower. This had upset Quinton enormously. Geo then arranged, through, Joost, to swap rooms. Quinton felt Joost had taken Geo's side and was aggrieved when the next day Joost threatened to chase him away from the camp.

He also said that Joost had asked him what he thought of Bolla Conradie, a question he felt unfair given the situation. Granger said he had it on good authority that Joost had also told Davids: "Don't bring your Western Province manners here".

Granger further said he would be writing that Davids had requested a meeting with Mac Hendricks after the koppie 'opfok' (Granger's words) and there was also a meeting with Corne and the black players.

He said he wanted reaction from the team and would be calling Rian Oberholzer later in the morning. I said I would get back to him.

I woke the coach up just after midnight (Wed going into Thursday), explained everything to him and he then suggested we wake up the manager Gideon Sam and explain everything to him. I suggested we call Rian, which we did at about 1am.

Rian wanted the player removed from the camp immediately. The coach and manager said this was unreasonable and that the matter should be discussed when everyone was a bit calmer.

Both Corne and Joost were called to the room by security consultant Adriaan Heijns and all allegations were put to them. Corne confirmed the black players were upset by Cronje's stand and Joost denied he knew anything at all.

During this time there was discussion as to how best to solve the matter.

In explaining the situation of the possible media implications in the early hours of the morning with Rudolf and Gideon (on the Wednesday/Thursday), I mentioned that there was a coloured element aware of the story in Cape Town who is anti- the Boks because of a lack of representation. My information was that Thelo Wakefield and Peter Jooste knew of the incident and I had received information that Andrew Koopman was also aware of the story but I could not confirm this.

Gideon retorted that these guys were not anti Boks, they were anti black. He said the Africans in SA rugby were going to fuck the coloured ups, accusing them of racism because of their criticism that blacks could not administrate SA rugby. He said: 'Fuck the coloureds in Cape Town. We will fuck them up.

During this discussion I was asked how do I know for sure the journalist was going to write the story. I said he was not bluffing. He had too much information and it was too accurate. Hejyns then said that there was no proof of the story. Rudolf added that how could we respond to something when there was nothing on paper. I answered that this was because the story had not been written as of yet as the paper would only appear on Thursday midmorning in Cape Town.

They then asked me where the story was. I said, for all I know it is in the journalist's head, or in his laptop or in the work queue. The journalist had simply told me what he was going to write.

They asked if I could get a copy of the story once it was written. I said I would try but that he was not supposed to send a copy out.

Gideon then suggested everyone try and get an hour or two sleep and we reconvene at 6am. They then went to bed and everyone left at around 3am. I went back to the room, called Dale Granger and asked him if it would be possible to see a copy of his piece before the management would give comment.

He said he was only planning to get up at 4am to write it as he had a 7am deadline and was only going to be able to get hold of Rian at 06.30. The coach and manager felt Granger was bluffing because they had seen nothing in print. I conveyed this to him. He said he would write it before 5am and send me a copy to take to the coach and manager to show the story was going to be published.

He sent me a copy of the first edition story and I printed it out and called Rian at around 5am. I read it to Rian to prepare him for his 6.30 call. Rian reiterated that he would tell the journalist that there would be an investigation and that the player had been removed from the camp that morning.

I then went and saw the coach and manager and explained what had happened and showed them the printout. The other two senior players (Joost and Corne) joined us. Initially the coach and manager discussed the possibility of Geo making a statement apologizing to the nation for what he had done, saying he had made a mistake and that he was prepared to move forward and receive counseling. They felt the reconciliation theme was the best way forward for the team.

This had been touched on earlier in the morning. Rudolf said he would need to spend some time with Geo to establish if he would do this. I said we had about 30 minutes. They shelved the idea, said this was not the way to go and that it was important that both players' careers were saved and that the team's world cup preparations were not damaged because of this.

All four then studied the print out (attached) which had made mention of Joost's alleged provincial remarks as well as team doctor Uli Schmidt's remarks about black players, made some time ago.

When reading the statement to Rian at 05.00 he had said that it was an unfair paragraph as Uli had long since explained his situation. He asked me to speak to Dale about removing this and it had nothing to do with the incident. I did do this and Dale said he would remove it.

Rudolf read the printout and wanted other things removed and changed. I said to him that I did not have the power to remove things. On the Uli paragraph the writer had acknowledged there was no relevance to the immediate situation. I told Rudolf this was not a press release we were sending out but a copy of the news story. We were not even supposed to have a copy, but the only way I prized this out of the journalist was to tell him that before we commented we wanted proof he had written the story.

Rudolf and Gideon wanted a copy of the amended version, with Rian's comments. I said I would call the sports editor Archie Henderson and the reporter Dale Granger but I doubted they would do this. It was not allowed. I did make the calls and both said they could not do this.

Dale did take the Uli Schmidt paragraph out and rephrased the allegations of provincial bias initially directed at Joost.

I eventually got a printout of the story off the internet just after 8.30 and took it to Gideon Sam and Rudolf Straeuli. Gideon said we were waiting for a SA Rugby Statement and then he would address the team.

The SA rugby statement arrived at 09.45 and Gideon addressed the team at 10.00.

What stunned me at this meeting was how all the emphasis had shifted towards SA Rugby Pty Ltd. Gideon read out the statement from SA rugby, emphasised it was them who wanted the investigation and that we had to abide by it. Both Geo and Quinton were seated with the squad during all of this.

Rudolf then addressed the team and said that they should not believe what they read in the papers and that the truth will out. He offered his support to both players during this difficult period.

Corne also got up and told the players that the squad stood behind them, but that everyone had to accept the outcome of SA Rugby's investigation and move on.

Not one of the three talked of racism, of prejudice or of team protocol being abused. I was amazed that this incident was not used to reinforce to the squad that nothing of this sort would be tolerated. In my opinion, both players' departure was glorified.

Geo would go home and be back once everything had been cleared and Quinton would spend a few days at a hotel to take the media pressure off him. The irony here was that he would have been more protected in the squad set-up because the squad was off-limits to the media.

Rudolf, however, was concerned that the Bulls players would react negatively to Quinton staying and Geo going.

I was then informed by Rian that Adri Brandt and Christo Ferreira would be arriving in Pretoria at around 2pm to conduct interviews and complete an investigation.

On the Thursday (early evening) I needed to talk to Rudolf and could not contact him. I called Adriaan Heijns, who said they were at the hearings. I asked him where this was being done and he said at a hotel, but did not give me the specifics of the hotel.

"I asked if Mac Hendricks was there. He said yes and that a few players were also present."

I later established that outside of Quinton and Geo, Lawrence Sephaka, Dale Santon, Gcobani Bobo, Joost van der Westhuizen and Corne Krige were interviewed.

On arriving back that evening I asked to see Rudolf as I was disturbed that I had not been informed about the hearings and that I got the feeling I was not being trusted with information in my capacity as the communications manager.

He said he would see me in the morning.

I then confronted Mac Hendricks and asked him why he had called Dale Granger when he had nothing to do with the media. I asked if he was given an instruction to do so. He said he was not and he felt he could save the situation. He said it was his own initiative. He thought he could save the situation. I told him that media was my field and asked him why I was not consulted. He could not give me an answer.

On the Thursday evening I asked for a meeting with Rudolf. He said he would see me in the morning.

He called me just after 6am and we met just before 6.30am. He said he was going to put some tough questions to me and he wanted some honest answers. I said fine, but that I too would be putting some tough questions to him and I wanted some honest answers.

He asked me if I thought Geo was a racist. I said I felt he was given what had happened with the Quinton issue, given the conversation I had been privy to between Rian and Rudolf and on information received from within the team set-up.

I had also been in the physio room when the player enquired 'of die apie nog kolf' (is the monkey still batting) referring to Monde Zondeki in the cricket test match. This I had mentioned to Rudolf when the incident first happened and I said I was concerned about it because of the racial nature. I had also mentioned it to Corne when he told me about his meeting with the black players. Back then Rudolf had told me not to blow it our of proportion, he would sort it out.

Rudolf asked me if I felt there was racism in our team. I said there definitely was and gave him examples. (see attached examples I spoke about)

It is my job to canvas opinion all the time, to be the eyes and ears of the management and to pre-empt potential pitfalls. The aim is not to squeal on any individual and this is what upset me when Rudolf said that Quinton was not a team player if he spoke out about the incident.

He also said that we should not rule out that Quinton could be playing the race card trick for fear of losing out on squad selection. I took exception to this and said I too would have spoken out if it had happened to me. That is not squealing. We simply had to look at it in the context of our country's history and our rugby history. The black player felt he had been prejudiced because of a white player's actions.

I told him that black players feel the subtle forms of prejudice and racism. Examples I gave him were players who felt the white player got ample opportunity but opportunities were limited for the black player. They felt that they were still making up a quota, be it four, five or six. They said they were not given confidence by the coaches, but felt they would be further prejudiced if they spoke out. I explained this to Rudolf and he got defensive, asking if they had ever accused him of being a racist. I said no, but there were examples of how they felt uncomfortable with statements made, which I expanded on the next day when we spoke about the issue of race in our team prior to the team announcement.

He asked me if I felt he was a racist. I said no but that he was culturally too close to the Cronje issue and was looking at how his stance would be interpreted by the whites, especially up north. Because he had previously spoken about the impact Cronje's axing (along racial lines) could have on him in the community, I said it could be that he was looking at the consequences of acting against Cronje instead of looking at the incident. I felt he was not looking at the incident and judging it on his merits.

I said conservative attitudes were being backed because of the team composition. He said he would root out the racism at the boot camp. I said he could not.

This was going to take time and for us to fix it we had to acknowledge there was a problem. Racism is not one player verbally abusing another! It has all different forms and shapes.

He said that he, Gideon, Corne and Joost had come to the conclusion that I had leaked the story to the media. I asked him what he based this on and he could not give me an answer other than saying that looking at how the story had developed they had suspected me and did not trust me.

I made it clear that if I wanted to leak it I would have done a better job and I would have caused myself less stress. I certainly would not have woken everyone up at midnight and worked through until 2pm later in the day in an attempt to ensure the situation was going to be properly handled.

When Rudolf accused me of leaking the story. I took great exception to this and told him I would meet individually with the other guys.

He asked me if I had ever manipulated his decisions through the media and I said no. I only need to speak to him and convince him of my point of view if I wanted to manipulate a decision. I certainly did not need to complicate it by working through the media.

He asked me what my greatest criticism of him was. I said his paranoia, the clandestine manner in which the team was being run in, the listening to people who further fuel his paranoia, the lack of communication, the mindgames played with individuals, the constant changing of things, the instability in his decision-making and his being too aware of pleasing every provincial and racial faction before making a decision. I said he had to make the calls, good or bad, and live or die by those decisions. I said we also needed to seriously address racial issues in our team.

I said that there were contradictions in his selections knowing what he had told me in the past. I also said he wanted total control and he felt he could fix every situation. I highlighted the Cronje incident and said I felt that he thought he could fix it internally and it was bigger than that.

We discussed other rugby philosophy issues and at the conclusion he asked where we stand. I said I wanted to go to the World Cup but that things had to change. I could not operate if there was not a trust element.

After the meeting Rudolf said he needed to speak to Rian. I suggested he fly to Cape Town to see Rian to meet in private as their relationship would have taken a severe pounding after the Tuesday discussion. Alternatively find out when Rian was coming to Pretoria. He was only flying in the next (Saturday) afternoon, so Rudolf subsequently flew to Cape Town later that morning (Friday).

I then met with Gideon and informed him of the basis of my discussion with Rudolf. I reiterated that I will not be party to any racial cover up in this team. I told Gideon that it was my job to spin stories around selection and match results, but that I refused to lie when it came to prejudice or racism.

I said that I had concerns that his management style did not allow for the 'reading of the rugby mood'. I felt there were inconsistencies. He said this had come about because of the ongoing changes in daily schedules and agreed upon schedules. He blamed Rudolf for these inconsistencies.

I mentioned the build-up to the All Blacks test in Pretoria as being a shambles, especially the fact that no one was prepared to tell anyone where the squad was staying on the Friday night. It created uncertainty and anxiety.

Gideon told me that not even he (as manager) knew where we were staying and agreed the week was a disaster (my expression and not his).

I also expressed my disappointment at the lack of trust in me and referred him to several incidents where I felt I, in my capacity as Communications Manager, had not been trusted with information necessary to do my job.

I asked to see Corne and he said he could only see me in the afternoon.

In between seeing Corne and having seen Gideon I was called by Rian. He said he had seen the investigators findings and it smacked of a cover up. Nothing appeared to have happened and he refused to believe this given the conversation between himself and Rudolf a few days earlier.

I said I was appalled at the cover up and asked why I was never questioned. He could not give me an explanation.

I made it clear to him as well that I would not be implicated in a racism cover up. I said this was against everything I stood for and that there was no way I would accept the investigation's findings, knowing what had gone on. I could also not work with people who had lied.

When I met with Corne I also expressed my disgust that I had been accused of leaking the story. Corne apologised for doubting me and I said I had three years of opportunity to 'sink' the team, why would I leak stories now five weeks before the World Cup? I also added that the issue was not about who spoke out. Surely, it was about the incident itself. Corne said he could not answer me as to why he doubted me specifically but added that when someone plants enough seeds of doubt, you start doubting. I asked him who planted the seeds of doubt and he said the security consultant Adriaan Heijns.

I said I would speak to Adriaan about this. I then continued speaking to Corne about the Cronje incident and reminded him that he had also informed me of the seriousness of the situation after his meeting with the black players. I put it to him why he felt the need to see the coach following the black players' meeting if it was not serious.

He again agreed it was serious.

I also reminded him of his stance to me that he will not tolerate any racism in this team and any player who does not want to share with a black player does not belong in this team.

I repeated his values, which he had told me, within the team and asked him how he could not have told the real story at the hearing. Rian said to me that from what he had seen the person whose account closest resembled what he had been told earlier was Corne's, but it was not as hard-hitting as was the initial story he had been told.

I asked Corne why this was so and he said he did not want to be the one person responsible for ending a player's career in this country or destroying a player's life. He felt he had given the investigators enough for them to probe further without sinking Cronje.

I told him that he knew we could not wish away the situation and that it had to be dealt with. He said he knew the seriousness of what had happened and that there was no way Cronje could go to the World Cup. He also said there was no way that less than six black players could go.

I told him that I knew Bobo had met with him in Brisbane and explained his unhappiness about simply making up black numbers on the tour. Bobo had been late for a meeting and was fined. He told me in private that he felt like not pitching at all and that he had expressed this to Corne.

The Bok captain said he was aware of the issues and that they would be addressed.

The final person I confronted on the lack of trust issue was the security consultant Adriaan Heijns. He admitted he had made the assumption, but that he was wrong and apologised.

I was extremely pissed off and told him as much.

Later in the afternoon I was called by Rian and put on a conference call to discuss the press release that would go out following the investigation into the Cronje incident. It was told that evidence of racism was inconclusive.

When I suggested that this would evoke angry reaction and criticism of a cover up, which I also felt it to be, and suggested that they at least highlight that there was an incident and team protocol was broken, Rian interrupted me and said that his investigators found no evidence of an incident.

I responded by saying: "That's great because the coach has fucked them both up physically for an incident and the logistics manager has admitted there was an incident to the media. Now your investigation team cannot even find evidence of an incident.'

Based on this, the team protocol contravention was worked into the press release and it was agreed that it would go out on Saturday afternoon so as to minimize reaction and let Cronje's omission and let-off be secondary to the team announcement.

On the Friday evening I was having dinner with Anne Lee Murray when at around 9.45 she got an SMS from Zelda, PA to former President Nelson Mandela, who was looking for Rudolf urgently. The SMS wanted to know if Cronje was in or out?

I could not get hold of Rudolf on his phone and tried Adriaan Heijns. He said Rudolf was with him and that they were talking to Geo Cronje.

Rudolf was going to convince him to go for counseling, something Rudolf confirmed to me on the Saturday morning, as this is what was discussed in Cape Town between Songezo Nayo and Rian Oberholzer.

I told Rudolf that Mr Mandela was looking for him and he said he had already got hold of him. He did not expand on the details of the conversation.

I called Rian Oberholzer and informed him that Mr Mandela was getting involved, should he not be aware of it.

On the Saturday, 30th August, I met with Rudolf again. He was upset about the press release that SA Rugby had put out, saying they had left the case open and that there was no closure.

He said it was a clear indication that they wanted to sink him and hang him out to dry. He wanted the statement changed. He wanted closure otherwise he said the squad would go to the World Cup with a suspicion of racism. He did not want that.

He also said that if Geo was set up in the media he would never go for counseling now. He said it was important that Geo not be branded a racist and that his career be saved now.

He called Songezo Nayo and wanted to call off the team announcement, saying he was not prepared to announce a squad with a stigma of racism attached and a possible investigation pending. He left a message for Rian, who was flying to Johannesburg from Cape Town.

In the meantime Gideon, Rudolf, Corne and myself had lengthy discussions about the implications of the Cronje incident. I again raised the issue of racism in the squad.

Adriaan Heijns, in discussion, said it was not for us to fix the problems of South Africa, but of the team. This was my point exactly. I said that before we can fix it we have to acknowledge it was there.

We had a race problem and it was causing problems. Rudolf asked why everything ran smoothly in 2002 and I said look at the squad composition in players and management.

Corne agreed here, saying the Bulls players were a problem. I said the black players felt isolated by the Bulls players.

Corne confirmed an incident when Bulls players were walking from the gym and a group of black supporters wearing Bulls jerseys were approaching for autographs. The Bulls players walked in another direction and Corne spoke to the supporters and signed their jersey. He says he took up the issue with the Bulls players, explaining how the Boks and every province needed black support. He was upset at their attitude towards the black supporters.

I said that racism came in all forms and the worst form could be the subtle one where black players are alienated in subtle ways.

I mentioned examples of players telling me that the white players' attitude is different when he is around other white players as opposed to when he is on his own in the company of black players.

I also said it was in things that were said where those saying it may not even realise they are prejudiced. Rudolf asked if black players had ever had an issue with him.

I said they did not have an issue but Bobo mentioned a conversation between the two of them in the week after his initiation.

The tradition is for the new caps to sit with the coach. He tells of chatting with Rudolf and the coach telling him how well he had done to make the team and that he was there on merit (something he took exception to because the implication was that not everyone was there on merit). He says the coach, in praising him, said that he owed it to his people not to mess it up as players like Owen Nkumane and Kaya Malotana did.

I also mentioned an example (from Bobo) of Joost telling Bobo that he has chance to be an icon for his people after Bobo had complimented Joost on playing 80-plus tests and being a Bok icon.

Bobo?s response to me was that he wants to be an icon for South Africans, not for his (black) people.

Other incidents concerning Bobo included: In the Australian test he was in tears on the bench with 15 minutes to play (as also witnessed by Clint Readhead, the team physio), having felt that he was not being given a chance because the coaches did not believe in him. He further told me as recently as Friday evening, August 29 (again in the presence of physio Clint Readhead) that he had a history with Bok assistant coach Rudy Joubert which went back to when he was 19. He gave up playing rugby and Rudy (in his capacity as Sarfu Director of Coaching) was furious that they wanted to invest more time and money in him. Bobo related the story that Rudy told him that he was not worth all the money that had been invested in him and could not believe Sarfu even wanted to take him back. Now the one was coaching the other at national level. He felt prejudice at the training runs. He would get an opportunity, the white player would get more than one opportunity.

I told him I had heard he did not speak out at the hearing. I asked him why he did not speak out at the hearing. He said black players were in the minority. The subtle prejudices would always be there. The best advice was to say nothing and get on with making the World Cup squad.

Bobo said he wanted to make the World Cup squad and speaking out would count against him.

Ashwin Willemse also told me that when Quinton Davids initially spoke to him about the Cronje incident he told him to ignore it and accept this was the way it was. To simply get on with it. When he was not dealing with it, the black players told Quinton to see Mac.

Willemse, when I spoke to him, asked me if I had been sent to canvas opinion and hear what the black guys were thinking. I said I had, but my intention was not to burn the black players but to try and find a solution because we had problems in our team set-up and no one was prepared to tackle these issues.

Willemse and I had spoken at length overseas about the subtle forms of prejudice within the squad.

Now, he seemed unconvinced that there was a solution, saying an open forum or one off meeting solved nothing when you look at the colour make-up of the squad. The black players were in the minority. He said he did not care for colour. He wanted respect for his ability as a rugby player and respect as a human being. He was willing to give that to every player and management member in the squad.

He said he was thinking of going overseas in 2004 to play club rugby as black players were constantly up against it. He mentioned that he had been made to feel like an outsider from day one and that a player like Derick Hougaard, who had not played in one test, was treated with more respect and made to feel more welcome in the national set-up. He said it upset him.

When I mentioned these examples to Rudolf he said that players could also be over sensitive.

I said it was not just the black players. There was a feeling that the Bulls players did not show Corne the necessary respect by insisting on calling Joost 'cappie'. This irritated other players from outside the Bulls region.

Rudolf said players were being too sensitive and that he would get rid of racism and differences on the boot camp where the squad would learn to become a unit.

Other race issues that disturbed me and were reported to the coach.

Physio: White players not wanting to be treated by the black physio Matime Diali I gave Rudolf the stat given to me by white physio Clint Readhead that in the week of Dunedin, there were 38 consultants/treatments. Diali was responsible for eight. Readhead was responsible for 30. Readhead mentioned to me that he was concerned about it and that it had become very uncomfortable. They had tried to find a solution in Brisbane by making players book appointments under physio one and physio two. This did not work as the players would stand at the physio room door and ask Readhead which physio he was.

I was also told of Geo Cronje refusing to be strapped by Diali in Cape Town in the build-up to the Australian test in July. Speak to Readhead about this.

Team selection race issues

Every team selection announcement was preceded with a discussion about the number of black players in the squad and how I could explain this to the media. In 2002 Rudolf had selected as many as five black players in his match 22 and started with four on occasion.

However, in 2003 the number to start never exceeded 3 and on two occasions only one black player started, which was an issue to the media and to me. Rudolf justified it by saying he had to pick the strongest team and that we could have no passengers in the big games. He also said that if he selected more than three or four for the lesser internationals, then people would expect that for tests against Australia and New Zealand.

The irony is that when we beat Australia in Cape Town three black players were on the field and when we competed well against New Zealand three black players started the match.

The breakdown of black players starting in 2003
V Scotland: 2
V Argentina: 2
V Australia: 1
V NZ: 2
V Australia: 1
V NZ: 3

Gideon Sam's verbal attack on me in Dunedin (please see attached account of incident). White players and management felt, as I did, that it was a racist attack. There was also unhappiness among management members that Gideon was quick to discipline white management but excused kit master Philip Malakoane's mistakes on the basis of him being under pressure. It was felt that everyone should be treated equally, in good and bad times.

Jaco van der Westhuyzen's omission from the World Cup squad. The player wanted to know if Ricardo Loubscher had made the team. It was felt among the white players that this was a race selection.

I will also list various incidents that led to the breaking down of my trust with the coach and why I felt I could no longer continue working with him.

These include the following examples

Player dishonesty:

Players told they were going to the World Cup training squad in Pretoria in person by the coach. Andre Snyman, Wickus Van Heerden and Craig Davidson. All three went public and I was asked to look into the situation. SA rugby was also considering a breach of contract for those still under contract. I asked Rudolf if he had ever promised them. He said he had, but that he had changed his mind. I asked if he had called the players prior to the announcement to say they would not be in. He said 'no' and that he would see them in Durban when the World Cup squad trained there. I subsequently had to spin this to the media that it was not team protocol for the coach to phone players. Newspaper reports can be sourced to confirm this.

Bakkies Botha biting incident in Brisbane. I, in my capacity as Communications Manager, was denied access to Botha as I prepared to deal with the media. When I contacted Botha in his room, he said he was not allowed to speak to me or anyone. I mentioned this to Corne Krige in an SMS (he had left the hotel to go to church).

I was annoyed that the coach had not contacted me from the hearing to inform me what the outcome of the disciplinary hearings were with Botha and Kempson. When I had asked him the night before what time I should be ready to attend the hearings, he said to stay at the hotel and keep the SA media busy. Keep my phone on and he would call me. He never did, opting rather to use Mac Hendricks to communicate what was going on with Bakkies.

I addressed this in private with the coach and manager that their lack of communication had made us look foolish because the media was telling me what was going on in our team. They informed me of the verdicts, yet I had to explain and spin a story to them to make it look better than it actually was.

I raised this at the management meeting in Dunedin and Rudolf denied there was any intention to keep information away from me. On returning to South Africa we met in Cape Town and Rudolf, when I confronted him about the Bakkies' incident, said he was merely trying to protect the player. The player had admitted to him in private that he had bitten Brendon Cannon and on that basis (because of his honesty) Rudolf did everything to try and get him off. He was concerned that Bakkies, under pressure, may speak out and admit to the biting. That is why he shielded him from everyone. I said I was the Communications Manager and it was a problem if he could not trust me.

Spying allegations

The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story quoting unnamed SA rugby sources as saying they were aware of a spying incident of the Wallabies final captain's run in Cape Town. I brought this to Rudolf's attention and he dismissed it, although he got a hint that I knew this had happened.

I was aware that security consultant Adriaan Heijns had taken along team video analyst Dale McDermott to film the session from a private suite at Newlands. McDermott was uncomfortable with the entire thing and failed to complete the filming of the entire session, saying he suspected someone had seen him. They then left.

Rudolf confirmed to me that no filming took place at Newlands and that the only secret filming that did take place was in Port Elizabeth when the Boks played Argentina on June 28.

Again I had to spin a story to the media knowing that I was lying. This troubled me and added to the mistrust that finally broke down completely when my loyalty to the squad was questioned.

Injury reports

Rudolf's not wanting to give accurate medical reports to the media on enquiry. Again I had to mislead the media as to length of injury and time out of the game when the team doctor was telling me another story. Examples included Bob Skinstad, Andre Snyman (after Scotland test in Durban), Brent Russell, Andre Pretorius, Marius Joubert and Robbie Kempson..

Pretoria test build-up

The paranoia around the build-up, the secret training locations, the not knowing where we were going to stay on the Friday evening in Pretoria and all the lies told in the build-up to the test within the squad. It was very secretive. I expressed all my concerns and spoke on behalf of the players at the team meeting the Sunday following the All Blacks defeat in Pretoria.

Rudolf took exception to it and asked if it was a vote of no confidence in him from the management. We heard nothing further from this, but I did suggest that we speak about these things as a squad.

Brisbane team meeting

I had also spoken to Corne about the need for a 'getting everything off the chest' meeting in Brisbane. He said he had given it a lot of thought after the Pretoria defeat and wanted to call one just with the players. I said I felt it important the entire squad be there. What he did was call one just with the players and also one with the entire management. This was similar to a meeting held by the players in Cape Town prior to the Australian test where they also wanted a lot of things changed in terms of the management style and Rudolf's policing of them.

At the meeting Corne, Joost, myself and Robbie Kempson were the main speakers from the floor. I suggested to the squad that there was no trust among each other and that there were provincial issues and prejudice. Joost spoke about the trust element being missing and Kempson spoke more of the practical inadequacies that centred around the team at training etc. The players felt there was poor communication from the management, too many mindgames and not enough clarity and honesty. However, few were prepared to speak out.

It got so bad that Gideon got up and said it was a disgrace that players were not using the forum to speak out, to clear their hearts and to find solutions to obvious problems within the squad. He said the players now had to take their destiny into their own hands and speak up for what they felt was right. He said, that as manager, he did not want to read about him being a 'kak manager' 10 years from now and a manager who did not give them a forum or opportunity to speak.

The players hardly responded, opting rather to say nothing.

I found the meeting disturbing because it highlighted just how much fear the players had for their own positions and how they feared any kind of discussion may be held against them. They felt that they were being spied on by their own security and that the coach gave them no space or privacy. These were things that had previously been discussed in Cape Town and brought to the attention of the coach by the captain Corne Krige.

I contacted Songezo Nayo and filled him in on my fears and concerns, as I had done during the build-up to the All Blacks test in Pretoria.

He shared my concern.

Unfortunately, the latest incident with Geo Cronje and Quinton Davids was the one that convinced me that there was no genuine change from within our team leadership to transformation.

When I joined SA Rugby three years ago I bought into vision 2003, which is to transform the game, grow the game and win.

Transformation has been my biggest motivation and my track record during 10 years as a rugby writer is testament of this. However, despite all the wonderful phrases used and words spoken in the past 18 months by the team leadership when they were confronted with their first real test case, they avoided the issue and sought to victimize the messengers, in this case myself, Rian and Quinton (Davids).

Still, their focus is not on addressing there was an issue, we do have prejudices and racial issues in our squad and we need to find solutions. Still, the only concern is who spoke out about the Quinton Davids/Geo Cronje incident - and as late as Wednesday evening at 23.00 on September 3rd Rudolf was contacting journalist Dale Granger trying to find out who the source of his story was.

It was another reminder why I can no longer work for the Springboks.

- News24