A new lion roar in Gauteng

The Golden Lions Rugby Union recently announced the signing of an agreement with two of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs paving the way for an investment in the future of Lions rugby to ‘awaken the Lions pride’. There are possibilities and pitfalls.

Guma Group executive chairman Robert Gumede and international businessman and philanthropist Ivor Ichikowitz have joined forces to take up a substantial stake in the Johannesburg-based rugby union. It comes after a closed competitive bidding process.

The partnership, in which Gumede holds 51% and Ichikowitz, the TransAfrica Capital chairman, 49%, will see them purchase a 49.9% stake in Lions rugby. The investment is backed by undertakings to aggressively develop the Lions franchise over the next few years.

"We are investing for performance," explained Gumede. "Our aim is to drive this team in every respect, so that we develop the franchise at all levels, from the junior ranks all the way to the Super rugby team. We want the Lions leading the pack, taking it to its next level and contributing Springboks to this country."

Although the announcement has been welcomed by the South African Rugby Players Association and there has been positive reaction from the rugby fraternity, certain questions have to be asked.

If you do not structure your agreements with a minority shareholder to protect your own interests, your rugby-ethos and your deepest values might be eroded by your new partners in a way that will hurt Lions rugby and indeed Springbok rugby.

Secondly, a process of ‘due diligence’ is needed to make sure the new partners coming on board are commercially and financially sound. You have to do your homework and utilise a process of screening to ensure you bring the right partners into the fold.

The South-Western Districts are currently fighting for financial survival and the players have expressed their uncertainty on whether they will be paid at the end of each month. That was after the executive board accepted sponsors and partners without following a due process of screening to ascertain whether their bona fides were in order.

There are many examples of successful partnerships between private business and sporting bodies, of which the happy marriage between SAIL and the Bulls is one.

Gumede, a billionaire who reputedly spent R50 million on his wedding, returned to the Ellis Park stadium to announce he was the first black shareholder in a major South African rugby team.

“There are many people who say they support change, who say change but not in my back yard,” he said. “We are throwing that out of the window. We are going to bring change because change is good. It's change that has brought all of us here,” he told Sapa-AP

Gumede and his longtime friend and business partner Ichikowitz bought a 49.9% stake and have said they want to make the Lions appeal to fans of every race.

Their own partnership, says Gumede, represents what they want to achieve. “I think what brought us together was our vision of seeing transformation in South Africa,” he said.

Gumede, a flamboyant, successful IT mogul, and Ichikowitz, the head of Africa's largest defence and aerospace contractor, are reported to have serious money -- money they say they will plough into their mission.

The mission is to develop a multi-racial fan base. To take Lions games to Soweto and its population of more than one million. To host games at the township's 94,000-seat FNB Stadium, the venue for the FIFA World Cup final, and the Orlando Stadium, as well as Ellis Park.

“There have been missed opportunities,” a former Springbok, Owen Nkumane, told Sapa-AP. “We've won two World Cups but we haven't done what could have been done and what should have been done. We haven't developed rugby in the urban areas, especially in Johannesburg and especially in Soweto.”

“This announcement is a business announcement, but it's not about the business,” Ichikowitz said. “Robert and I see this as an opportunity to take on a brand that at one stage had absolute cult status. It marginally lost direction, but it's on the way back again. We believe we can turn it back into the cult that it was before, but not just for traditional rugby supporters, for all South Africans.”

Broadening the fan base, popularising the appeal of rugby among all South Africans, should be applauded.

But one of the biggest fears of the whole process is disrespecting or mismanaging transformation.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once famously said that you won’t change the Afrikaner by forcing anything on him. “You have to nudge him”.

Transforming the team of predominantly white players into a multi-racial Lions outfit won’t happen by driving the process but by developing and maturing players.

Rome was not built in a day, the Bulls did not become a world-class franchise overnight but became a bastion of SA rugby loved by black and white through refining the structures and then building the team and the fan base.

If Gumede and Ichikowitz follow their own heads without consulting with other successful marriage-partners like SAIL and the Bulls, the new era won’t be without considerable heartaches for the Lions.