No money, no direction and no future - that is the state of the beleaguered Border Rugby Football Union (BRFU).
The BRFU kitty has run dry, their president is facing fraud charges, employees are losing their jobs, properties are being repossessed, their most gifted players are being poached by unions with heftier bank balances, clubs are struggling to survive and their teams have become the whipping boys of domestic rugby.
Mitch Grotjohn, East London's Old Selbornians club rugby president, said: "It's all about money, money, money. In the end, nobody agrees on anything and the game suffers.
"Rugby is dying in this region; that's the sad reality we have to face. What's even sadder is that there doesn't seem to be a solution."
It seems the problems at the union began in 2010, when the SA Rugby Union (Saru) sold a 49.9% share in the professional company to Russet Trading and Investments 16, a company led by three brothers - Andre, Leon and Henri Killian. They came from KwaZulu-Natal to run a player academy as the feeder for the Border Bulldogs.
Now called Border Rugby (Pty) Ltd, it was to be responsible for all professional rugby activities in the region, while the BRFU would be responsible for all amateur rugby.
"The Killians came with a lot of fire," said former Border president Cliff Pringle, now president of Old Collegians club in Queenstown.
"The biggest gripe came when they started importing players from KZN. That is when relationships at Border really started to sour."
As a result of the conflict between the amateur union, under embattled president Pumlani Mkolo, and the company, under CEO Lefty Ngece, Saru stepped in and placed the union under administration. They appointed Saru executive council member Monde Tabata to attempt to salvage the malfunctioning body.
"I arrived here and everything was a mess; the [financial] books were just in a dire state," said Tabata.
"The strange part is that there are adequate people who can run this union and make it prosper.
"The players are here, there are facilities, there's a rich history, but we need to get the people who are in charge of rugby to dance to the same tune - everyone is pulling in different directions, while others are being sidelined."
Mkolo, who is also the political regional secretary of the ANC, is among a group of politicians in the province who are accused of having irregularly received part of R5.9-million meant for transportation of mourners to the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela.
Mkolo, who is said to earn R37000 a month from the ANC, claims to be owed R600000 by the union for a loan "which paid salaries, legal fees, vehicles and travel expenses".
He is on bail for the fraud charge and will appear in court tomorrow.
"It's all been quiet, nothing at all is being mentioned or communicated. Nobody has heard a thing," said Pringle.
"If anything, it seems Border rugby is only going backwards.
"Clubs are really battling. Most of them can't even fulfil fixtures and others owe thousands of rands to taxi owners for transporting players and officials to matches."
