The administration of sport in South Africa often leaves me angry. Athletes and players for the most part achieve excellence in spite of and not because of the administrators charged with running a particular sport.
The level of ineptitude that exists among South Africa’s sports administrators is astounding and the greed staggering, the latter leading to corruption.
Witness Saru’s handling of the Southern Kings saga as a first class case of incompetence. South African football administrators are long-time masters of clumsiness and as Judge Chris Nicholson’s report indicated earlier this year the bumbling and bungling in Cricket SA matched those of their counterparts in sports administration.
The difference for Cricket SA is that, through Nicholson, it’s been offered the opportunity to start over, to create an administrative structure that is more modern, creative, forward and outward looking. To develop cricket properly, ensure those development projects are sustainable, not just to create future Proteas stars, but to provide for the enjoyment of playing the game.
The organisation has to be run on sound business principles too, where power doesn’t rest in the hands of a single person and with a board containing broad expertise in the field of business, marketing and even foreign affairs. The leadership has to be dynamic, not looking backwards (unless it’s to learn from past mistakes), but rather forwards to be more inclusive and honest.
Cricket SA has that opportunity now, to set an example firstly within cricket where provinces/unions can mimic the greater independence in their own administration, putting the sport first, unlike what’s going on in the Gauteng Cricket Board at the moment where personality clashes continue apace.
An important part of Cricket SA’s new forward looking administration will be the new board’s (comprising five independent directors and five union presidents) appointment of a CEO. It is crucial that this person is NOT someone who was attached to CSA’s previous administration i.e. prior to 2012, but rather someone with fresh ideas, a new outlook and, vitally, integrity.
When CSA’s stakeholders meet next week to decide on the five independent administrators, those stakeholders will have in front of them a clean slate, an opportunity to show that sports administration in South Africa need not be an arena rife with corruption, greed and maladministration.
Cricket SA has the opportunity to become an example for all sports organisations and I hope it continues to look forward, not backwards, for who those administrators should be.