Fleck ‘on the run’ again

If you thought that rugby in this part of the world had gone a bit mad recently, spare a thought for the rugby supporters of South Africa.

The sport in the land of the recently-crowned Tri Nations Champions has been propelled headlong into gubu-land again with an extraordinary spat between SARFU President Brian van Rooyen and former Springbok centre Robbie Fleck, amongst other bizarre and some tragic cases.

The upshot is that, according to Cape Times, van Rooyen has asked the South African National Directorate of Public Prosections to assist him in pursuing a ‘crimen injuriae’ charge against Fleck for comments made to SA Sports Illustrated magazine. Van Rooyen is looking for Bath police to arrest Fleck, as he is currently playing for the Zurich Premiership team.

Fleck, 31 times capped for South Africa but surprisingly overlooked by Rudolf Straeuli for the World Cup last year, is quoted as saying when asked for his comments on South African rugby, “”We fire one d***head, then hire another one in Brian van Rooyen. If ever there was a bloody racist, it’s that oke.

“He’s got the biggest chip on his shoulder, but he acts like he’s going to be the saviour of SA rugby and he’s f***ing it up already …

“Rudolf Straeuli was an absolute idiot, and so was [Van Rooyen’s predecessor] Silas Nkanunu, but now we have the original Boswell clown in charge.”

Van Rooyen is pursuing both Fleck and David Moseley, who wrote the article and feels that because the magazine is available in Britain, the Bath police will carry out the arrest. “The police will arrest him there [in Bath]. That is for sure,” said Van Rooyen.

“I have also brought a civil action against Moseley and Fleck, and I have also reported it to the Human Rights Commission.”

Bizarre as this is, it’s not tragic, as was a recent incident in which a rugby player was killed by his team-mate after a match in the Western Cape. Some have described it as a freak accident but the police have opened a murder investigation and nobody seems to know why the player brought a shotgun to a rugby match.

In a further ugly case, a rugby club president has been banned for life for his part in an assault on a club player. Kuils River Club President, Eddie Gurah, has been found guilty of ‘repeatedly punching and kicking, which included punhing and kicking while he lay on the ground’ Angus McKenzie, a player with Hamiltons. The player was hospitalised in the incident, which also included a dustbin lid.

And finally, a referee had to flee for his life after a match between Delicious and Rawsonville in the Boland was called off fifteen minutes early last weekend. Players and spectators feared for their lives as spectators spilled onto the pitch, forcing the game to be called off. Rawsonville coach, Andre Carston, was also hit on the head by a spectator and suffered a burst eardrum.

And we think we have problems!