Chaos and Court Cases: What It's Like to Cover the Most Turbulent Rugby Side in South Africa
The Southern Kings have staggered from crisis to crisis for years, failing to pay their players last Super Rugby season, and struggling to field a team this year. Kings beat writer Michael Green talks to Don Rowe about covering South Africa’s most turbulent franchise.
Southern Kings fans have seen enough chaos in the last few years to last a lifetime. The Port Elizabeth Super Rugby franchise seems to be constantly teetering on the brink of extinction, with the South African Rugby Union intervening this year to sort out its dire money troubles. Its players are at odds with team management. Fans are still waiting for a winning season. They may be waiting a long time.
For Michael Green, a rugby journo from South African daily Die Burger, Kings dramas are part of daily life. He has chronicled the rise and fall of teams, coaches and administrators in the Eastern Cape, and was present through the now-infamous death and rebirth of the the team’s Super Rugby hopes in 2013 through to the present day.
Green has written on rugby since 2002, eleven years before the Kings played their first Super Rugby season. He’s seen it all, and even been a part of it too. From fist fights to bottlings, racism and institutional rebirth, Green possesses some of the most intimate knowledge of rugby in Port Elizabeth. He talked to me about the turbulent history of South Africa’s newest rugby franchise.
When did you begin covering rugby as a journalist?
I started as a sportswriter in 1987 with a newspaper called Beeld and then Die Transvaler in Pretoria, the headquarters of the Bulls. At that stage I obviously was a junior and had to cover club rugby. When the senior writer was ill or drunk or lazy, I had to help out with the Bulls (then called Northern Transvaal). It was still the amateur era, so we watched the training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and then would file some story about a player who snapped his ankle or whatever.
In 2002 I moved to Port Elizabeth. At that stage there was no Super Rugby here so I covered Eastern Province rugby. The team was called the EP Mighty Elephants, but they played in the First Division, not the top league, the Currie Cup. Eventually in 2009, the Kings played their first match – against the British and Irish Lions. From there on there were some friendlies and odd games and, in 2013, the Kings entered the Super Rugby tournament.
In 2011, the Kings won the IRB Nations Cup, a six-team round robin with teams like Georgia, Namibia, Romania and more. Tell me about that.
I covered the tournament but only from television – the matches were shown live on TV in South Africa – and via e-mail with coach Alan Solomons. By then the Eastern Province Mighty Elephants had become the Eastern Province Kings. The team that went to Bucharest in Romania was an EP Kings side, but it was called the SA Kings. I remember the rugby as very slow, and I remember Siyanda Grey, one of the Kings’ wings scoring a hat-trick in the match against Georgia. The 2013 Super Rugby season was a mixed-bag, with wins over formidable opponents like the Brumbies and Highlanders as well as an ultimately disappointing relegation at the end of the season.
Can you describe that season? What was the mood on the ground after their first-round victory over the Force? How did things change as the end of season approached?
The atmosphere here in Port Elizabeth was amazing that season. Spectators streamed to the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium. Coach Alan Solomons didn’t have big names in his team and he kept things simple. “Defend! Defend! Defend!”, that was the chant the spectators shouted. In the first match against the Force, things went the Kings’ way, even the bounce of the ball; Sergeal Petersen scored after a lucky bounce of the ball. The team played their hearts out, but the depth in the squad was so-so and they played predictable rugby, so the other teams soon worked them out.
Towards the end of the season talk turned to promotion-relegation matches and some people started to lose self-belief. One thing you must know about the Kings is that they have always been viewed in quite a negative light by other unions and enthusiasts in South Africa. People say ‘Why must the Kings get everything on a silver platter?’ They forget that other unions used to snap up school players from this region by the bucketful when there was just First Division rugby here. Now that the EPRU are in financial trouble, the troubles are starting all over again.
The Kings played two relegation games with the Lions, dropping the first but winning the second. Their total point aggregate was too low, however, and so regardless of the win, they were relegated.
What was that like? How disappointed were the team? The fans? Did anyone know the next two years would require a total rebuild of the team, including the eventual SARU takeover?
A lot of people still blame the referee for one of the Kings’ losses in one of those matches. The loss was devastating. Behind the scenes the administrators agreed that the Kings, the EP Kings, would be promoted to the Currie Cup from the First Division, and for two years they would play there and rebuild for Super Rugby.
This was agreed to on the condition that the Kings give away their promotion-relegation option, and that they would get entry in this years Super Rugby. Unfortunately, the bulk of the Southern Kings players left, and so did the coach Alan Solomons.
The rebuilding phase never got off the ground for a variety of reasons. One was the coaching. Carlos Spencer, who I really liked, but maybe not as head-coach, was made head coach with two other inexperienced helpers, Michael Horak and Shaun Sowerby. That didn’t work out. Then, last year, the EPRU fell into a financial crisis and players weren’t paid. So eventually SA Rugby had to jump in, belatedly, to rescue the Southern Kings franchise. It’s old news now that the Kings are a month behind with their training and that they are still scrambling to build a team.
What was it like to report during a time of serious upheaval? Did you have to be careful what you wrote in order to ensure continued access to the team? How crazy did things really get?
I’m not sure what upheaval you are referring to, there have been so many. Last year with players not getting paid and some handing over a memorandum to Cheeky Watson and the court cases that is going on now, it’s not fun.
I see myself as a rugby writer, and rugby writers have to deal with this kind of unpleasantness. Relations with some administrators, like Watson, are very strained. He refuses to speak to the media now. Obviously the players were afraid to talk to the media because their careers were on the line. We had to dig deep to get the news. Eventually some players broke their silence. Crazy? No, sickening.
How crazy do things get reporting on rugby in Port Elizabeth anyway? What challenges and triumphs do you experience as a reporter that other sports journos might not? What do you have to be aware of on a daily level when reporting on the Kings and rugby in that part of the country?
Before the EP Kings got back into Currie Cup rugby and the Southern Kings into Super Rugby, we still had enough space for local club rugby in the paper. Here in the Eastern Cape, club rugby is real rough stuff. Not just for the players. At one stage the teams weren’t so racially mixed as they are now and we had a lot of fights. Between spectators too. I know the feeling of getting beer bottles being thrown at you and things like that. I have long blond hair, so I’m quite a recognizable figure. When I walked past certain people I was a target because of what I wrote and continue to write.
Rugby reporting in Port Elizabeth has been bizarre most of the time. When I came here from a stable union like the Bulls, I was shocked out of my socks by all the political stuff and back-stabbing that was and still is going on. We have had some interesting individuals as presidents of the EPRU.
I remember one called Willem Stuurman. He wasn’t popular with most of his executive. He used to send me a text message to phone him, as he didn’t have airtime. Once, he asked me to come and give him a lift as his car was broken down. So I picked him up and to my surprise he took me along to the police where he handed over a file. He wanted them to investigate corruption in his own union.
Then there was another president, George Davids. People used to make fun of ‘Uncle George’. They used to take bets of how many times he would mention the word “particular” during a speech. By the time he finished his speeches, some of us were pissing ourselves under the table laughing.
Rugby in this part of the country has been known to be hard. People know that if you go to PE, you get hammered. Our team maybe won’t win the match, but they nearly always win the fight. Obviously times have changed, but a lot of people in this area still look to the past (the 90’s), when we had amazing players like Danie Gerber, or tough guys like Barry Pinnock, Frans Erasmus and Adri Geldenhuys. I have found people are quick to criticize the team and stay away from matches but really most of them aren’t very loyal. One of the reasons is all those years the EP played in the First Division: people stayed away and watched Currie Cup matches on TV and became supporters of other teams like the Bulls and the Sharks.
The Kings have had a rocky start to the season. Where do you see the team heading this year?
It’s a shame, the Kings are really up against it. But they are really trying to do their best. There are a couple of really talented young players, like Shane Gates (centre) and CJ Velleman (flanker). But unfortunately the depth isn’t there, and after the first two matches you could see after 30 minutes the holes open up in their defensive systems.
Obviously, defence is a problem. I can tell you in Deon Davids, Mzwandile Stick and Barend Pieterse they have competent coaches, but they don’t have a full-time defense coach. Jacques Nienaber of the SA Rugby mobi unit [a high-performance think tank of specialist coaches] pops around now and then to help, but he has other things to do as well all around the country.
Maybe they will pull off a surprise here and there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments