‘Lions Rugby Union must press the reset button – and walk away from Ellis Park’

Former Lions coach Eugene ‘Loffie’ Eloff believes the Joburg-based union needs to shake off sentimentality, get big financial backing, support good business practices and get away from Ellis Park if the union wants address its current problems. The Lions currently find themselves almost back to square one as a host of current stars including captain Burger Odendaal, rising striker Vincent Tshituka and powerful and future prop Carlu Sadie have all signed contracts for walk away from the Lions at the end of the current season. It’s a continuous exodus of players…

Former Lions coach Eugene ‘Loffie’ Eloff believes the Joburg-based union needs to shake off sentimentality, get big financial backing, support good business practices and get away from Ellis Park if the union wants address its current problems.

The Lions currently find themselves almost back to square one as a host of current stars including captain Burger Odendaal, rising striker Vincent Tshituka and powerful and future prop Carlu Sadie have all signed contracts for walk away from the Lions at the end of the current season.

It’s an ongoing exodus of players that began in 2018 and has seen nearly 40 of the franchise’s top players migrate to “greener pastures” over the years.

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Eloff, who coached the Lions for several years, believes Johannesburg is the least attractive place for potential players and money is a major factor needed to attract top players to the union.

“If you ask a player where he wants to go, if he wants to go to Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria or Joburg, the last place he will choose is Joburg,” Eloff said.

“Firstly, the whole area where Ellis Park is, I personally think it has influence. Secondly, and more importantly, if you don’t have sponsors, if you don’t have financiers like (Patrice) Motsepe and (Johan) Rupert at the Bulls and the Americans at the Sharks, you have a big problem.

“I take my hat off to the way Western Province (Stormers) are playing right now if you take into consideration the off-field politics they are involved in.

“But if the players aren’t happy with the franchise (Lions) or just have the opportunity to walk away, they probably will.”

Ellis Park

Eloff continued, “Money talks. It’s the professional era, so if you don’t have the financial backing to sign decent players, you’re in trouble and that includes a quality coaching staff.

“I would say it’s time for the whole franchise to be reassessed and maybe replanned, and I personally think they should move away from where Ellis Park is.

“I know Newlands (when Western Province moved to Cape Town Stadium) people will be emotional about it, but the fact is it’s very difficult and dangerous to go and watch rugby there on evening. I think that has an influence on the players who go there.

Eloff thinks the most important thing for Lions to do is try to bring in a big backer and entrepreneur, who has the vision to make a difference, although he also thinks management could also start to put things right.

“The game plan isn’t working”

“To fix a business you need good and tough leadership. It doesn’t have to be someone who comes from a rugby background. It has to be a business man leading with a vision and a plan for how the money can be brought to the union,” Eloff said.

“I think the current management can turn things around and I’m sure they’re at a point where they realized that game plan wasn’t working.

“In rugby you can’t always stay on top, but I’m sure that’s still going to change for the better. I believe that with the right drive, leadership and direction, I’m 100 per cent sure that things will get better.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, although we’ve seen what happens overnight when you get money and you can buy the best players. It makes the coach’s job a lot more easy.