High Court Orders re-instatement of McKeever as Southern Spears CEO

In a Grahamstown High Court ruling this morning, the Judge ordered, with costs, the Southern Spears board to reinstate Tony McKeever, CEO of the Southern Spears, with immediate effect and be compensated his due salary, as well as that of the Spears players and personnel, who have yet to be paid for two months.

McKeever is the only full time member of the Spears Board of seven members and has been steadfast in upholding the rights granted to the Spears by SA Rugby on the 8^th June 2005, as is his fiduciary duty.

The re-instated CEO of the Southern Spears, Tony McKeever, declared that SA Rugby had failed the Southern Spears by reneging on a valid and binding agreement drawn up by SA Rugby’s President’s Council in a Resolution which obligated their financial support to the Spears till December 2006, entrenched them in the 2006 Currie Cup and the Super 14 for the years 2007 and 2008.

McKeever’s legal counsel produced to the High Court, as refutable proof, the Presidents Council resolution of the 8^th June 2005, plus supporting documents from SA Rugby confirming this agreement. These documents validate McKeever’s contention that SA Rugby have abandoned the franchise and failed to adhere to the agreement signed off last year and further ratified by the SA Rugby Board on the 2^nd December 2005, after which a further Franchise Participation Agreement was drawn up by SA Rugby for all 6 franchises including the Southern Spears, to sign before the 10^th February 2006.

In addition, McKeever claimed that SA Rugby’s continuous and systematic campaign of economic victimization, led to the attrition and destabilization of the Spears, and has put the Spears in multi-million Rand breach of its two sponsor agreements, signed in December 2005, which mirrored the 8^th June 2005 agreement with SA Rugby.

Since January 2006, the Spears, under the direction of McKeever have time and again called upon SA Rugby to adhere to their signed agreement signed on the 8^th June 2005, in which SA Rugby agreed to:

(1) Financially support the Spears till December 2006,
(2) Procure sponsors, (not one sponsor has been introduced, or signed up by SA Rugby)
(3) Play the Spears in the 2006 Currie Cup Premier Division (SA Rugby has unilaterally substituted the Spears with Griquas on Friday the 26^th June, in a move that smacks of bitter irony, as it was done on the same day that SA Rugby trumpeted the announcement of their Transformation Charter)
(4) Entrenchment in the 2007 and
(5) 2008 Super 14 series. (SA Rugby declared the Spears not ready in a media statement on the 19^th April 2006, just as they did 12 months ago)

This agreement was further ratified by the SA Rugby Board, at a meeting, on December 2, 2005, following which all these competition fixtures were included in a definitive Franchise Participation agreement, which the Spears signed on February 7 2006, thereby complying with everything asked of it by SA Rugby.

The Southern Spears have a core squad of 22 players, and are widely recognised as The People’s Team throughout the Eastern Cape and are drawn from, 6 players from Border, 4 from SWD and 12 from Eastern Province. Of the squad of 22, three are in the Springbok under-21 squad to play in the IRB World Championships next month. These are the Captain Ashley Johnson – No.8, Warren Malgas at No.9 and Isma-eel Dollie at flyhalf. In addition, they have coaches, management and personnel, and most importantly key sponsors, who were signed up in December, 2005, based on the binding agreement of the 8^th June 2005.

The Spears franchise, came into being as the 6^th South African franchise in the Super 14 competition, resulting from an agreement drawn up and unanimously signed by the SA Rugby President’s Council on the 8^th June 2005, in which SA Rugby obligated themselves to financially support and procure sponsors for the Spears and granted them participation in the 2006 Currie Cup Premier Division and entrenchment in the 2007 and 2008 Super 14 rugby competitions.

The Spears players and personnel have all been on the SA Rugby payroll and over the past few months of their existence, have received SA Rugby pay slips, until April, further irrefutable proof of the fact that SA Rugby have been paying the Spears players and staff personnel, directly. However, in April, SA Rugby unilaterally stopped their salary payments and the Spears players have not received May salaries from SA Rugby in spite of an SA Rugby board confirmation last month, to the South African Rugby Players Association board representative, Piet Heymans, that the Spears salaries will be paid through till November 2006.

In anticipation of being in the 2006 Currie Cup, as originally agreed upon by SA Rugby, McKeever declared that his Spears players and coaches have drawn up a short list of 35 outstanding players selected from the Eastern Cape region. These players would be announced next week and assemble in Port Elizabeth on the 10^th June, for a friendly against a provincial side on the 16^th June 2006, the day before the Springbok vs. Scotland match in Port Elizabeth.