MPs' bid support is not unconditional

South African rugby has been given a great incentive to put its house in order: government support for the World Cup bid of 2011.

The soon to be reconstituted SA Rugby Union has set its heart on staging the country's second Rugby World Cup, but will get nowhere in its bid without government support.

That support is now expected to be granted, especially after rugby won provisional backing from the parliamentary sports committee on Wednesday. The committee chairperson, Butana Komphela, however warned the SA rugby officials that it would not be unconditional.

"You are putting rugby into disrepute and it's losing credibility," he said, referring to yet more bickering and slow transformation within the rugby organisation. He also urged rugby not to send black Springboks on tour "just to sing".

The president of the SA Rugby Union, Brian van Rooyen, promised to deal with in.

"If the game has been brought into disrepute I will deal with those issues at the appropriate time," he said.

Van Rooyen led a four-man delegation to parliament on Wednesday. It included the chairperson of the bid committee, Mthobi Tyamzashe, the chief executive, Francois Pienaar, and the chief executive of the SA Rugby Football Union (Sarfu), Mveleli Ncula. Missing from it was Sarfu vice-president Mike Stofile, who has been at the centre of the latest rugby row.

Ncula's presence was unexplained and he did not take part in any discussion. He is one of four senior rugby officials who have been offered retrenchment packages and his fate was expected to be decided on Friday when the leadership of SA rugby meets in Johannesburg.

A key factor in winning government support for the bid is an "agreement of comfort" between rugby and soccer. South Africa will stage the soccer World Cup in 2010 and there had been fears that the rugby event might steal some of football's thunder, and possibly sponsors.

It is not known if the rugby bid was discussed with Fifa president Sepp Blatter last week when he was in the country, but it is unlikely that the SA Football Association would have given rugby its blessing if it did not have international soccer's support.

Rugby is now using soccer's successful bid to sell its own.

"It is two for one, based on the notion that we are already committed to 2010," said Tyamzashe.

He said the benefits of the government's R1,8-billion investment in the soccer bid would be extended.

"It is an opportunity for very little costs," he told the committee. South Africa is the only country in a position to deliver two world cups, one after another," he said.

"It is an opportunity not to be missed."

He said that not bidding for the Rugby World Cup would be "irresponsible".

"It would deny an entire generation the chance (to see a world cup)," he said.

South Africa last staged a Rugby World Cup in 1995, which the Springboks won under Pienaar's captaincy, and if it missed out on 2011, the next chance would be only in 2027.

South Africa's bid obviously impressed the committee and the country is likely to be an early favourite before the decision is made by the International Rugby Board in November.

The two rivals are Japan and New Zealand. Japan was at first believed to be a shoo-in because the IRB is eager to spread the game beyond Europe, South Africa, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, but a Japanese world cup could prove too expensive for fans.

New Zealand lacks especially in accommodation and, as Pienaar pointed out to the committee on Wednesday, the country will use three ocean liners to accommodate British tourists this year when the Lions tour that country.

Pienaar described New Zealand's bid as a "bridge too far", saying he believed it would pull out even before the deposit of R275 000 was due on January 31. He said Japan did not have a rugby pedigree and it is also believed that the country would struggle to fill the stadiums for even big matches.

South Africa's experience in staging the 1995 World Cup can also be drawn on. On Wednesday there were two men on the SA Rugby delegation who were closely involved in that victorious World Cup - Pienaar and Edward Griffiths.

Griffiths, who was chief executive of the SA Rugby Football Union at the time, masterminded the "one team, one nation" campaign. He has also written the bid books for Cape Town's 2004 Olympic bid and South Africa's two soccer World Cup bids of 2006 and the successful 2010 one. He has been assigned to do the same for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The recent disharmony in South Africa is expected to have little, if any, influence on South Africa's bid, even though the minister of sport, Makhenkesi Stofile, was involved in the row.

Stofile's brother, Mike, who is the third most senior official in the SA Rugby Union, accused the body of marginalising him and took out his wrath on deputy president Andre Markgraaff.

Mike Stofile's accusations prompted his brother to become involved. The minister accused rugby of "ethnic cleansing" following the reports of the retrenchments of three white men and one black man.

The involvement of the Stofile brothers is not expected to have any bearing on a cabinet decision on the bid.

Last night Van Rooyen was due to meet the minister, but no statement has yet been issued on the meeting.

The minister had been accused of a conflict of interest by the Democratic Alliance.

Mike Stofile wrote a letter to Van Rooyen in early December, setting out his grievances with SA rugby. The letter became public last week, causing a stir in rugby circles.

Markgraaff, a reclusive figure in SA rugby who does not readily give interviews, came out fighting. Using the Rapport Sunday newspaper, a favourite publicity vehicle for him, he brazenly challenged the Stofile brothers.

He said he would "never be dictated to by either Mike Stofile or his brother, the minister of sport".

The tone of Markgraaff's response indicates that he is confident of his power within SA rugby circles. Van Rooyen was also careful not to be drawn into Mike Stofile's allegations against Markgraaff.

Mike Stofile has influence with the black lobby in SA rugby, but it cannot match the support Markgraaff has. Markgraaff, after all, engineered Van Rooyen's election to the presidency last year.

Mike Stofile probably realises this too. In the voting for the deputy presidency last year, Stofile withdrew from race, leaving it open to Blue Bulls president Dolf van Huyssteen and Markgraaff. Markgraaff won comfortably.

Mike Stofile's position within the SA Rugby Union is also under a cloud. On December 30 he hired a minibus in Port Elizabeth to attend the funeral of Mawabo Dyubhele, the president of the Eastern Province Rugby Union.

The minibus was later involved in an accident that went unreported and the incident is being investigated by the EP and the SA rugby unions.

Stofile was recently exonerated after being accused of racism by an employee of SA Rugby.