Sharks owner Marco Masotti believes SA Rugby’s current business approach is inequitable and is preventing the sport from growing in the country.
In a wide-ranging interview with TimesLIVE, Masotti, the Sharks’ majority shareholder, said greater co-operation and collaboration is needed between the SA franchises and the sports body.
He also lamented the child/parent relationship between Saru and the three privately owned franchises, the Sharks, Bulls and Lions.
“The franchises need to operate as partners to SARU. We need to be aligned and grow the business together. We both have to compromise and make decisions on the basis of the business as a whole,” Masotti, who heads up MVM Holdings’ majority-share acquisition in the Sharks franchise, told TimesLIVE.
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“As a franchise owner and thus stakeholder in SARU, I should get a predetermined percentage of the revenue SARU generates, like in other sports leagues, and not a situation where it is discretionary so SARU has all the leverage. It will not work otherwise.”
He added: “It is my asset and I care about how my savings are spent. But I have this other organisation, SARU, that makes decisions that impact my asset. SARU is still operating under the old model where it was a parent and each of the franchises is a child.”
Masotti also questioned SA Rugby’s resting protocols of the Springboks and its impact on the franchises’ brand, while also raising an eyebrow about who is in charge following Jurie Roux’s departure as CEO.
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He added: “We want to have the best rugby clubs in the world located in South Africa, just like the Springboks are one of the best international teams.
“For that we need the support of SARU and at times the coaches to give us access to the players in the same way that overseas clubs have access to them.
“We understand the players need to rest but if they’ve been injured and haven’t played for a long time, we ask for some flexibility.
“Is there a CEO, no CEO? Mark Alexander has been great to deal with but what’s going on? Who’s running it? Do we have the right people?”