Closure of The Wanderers Rugby Club for renewal

The Wanderers Rugby Club, under the current administration, has been closed down with immediate effect as of August 31.

Several reasons have been supplied to expound on the club’s decision to temporarily close down. These reasons included declining membership, performance concerns, administrative challenges, and the deteriorated state of the rugby field, as well as to address misinformation circulating about the club.

According to the statement released by the chairman of the Wanderers Club Colin Warner on September 1, the decision had been made with the utmost care and concern for the well-being of all stakeholders, including the main club.

“We are navigating through the challenges and taking ownership of this current reality,” said Warner. “We stand on a solid foundation that provides us the means to rebuild.”

In a telephonic interview with Sandton Chronicle on September 9, Warner indicated that Wanderers Rugby plans to rebuild and become a major rugby force in club rugby. According to Warner, the intention is to rebuild both senior rugby for men and women, as well as junior rugby.

“We have negotiated with a former coach of the Wanderers Rugby Club, Neil Kalify, and we are meeting with Kalify next week to finalise a contract with him and the club. He has plans to completely rebuild Wanderers Rugby to put the club in the same position it was a few years back.”

According to Warner, the aim was to appoint Kalify to the position of director of rugby.

Warner elaborated on some of the concerns which led to the decision to close the rugby club, chiefly the deterioration of their teams’ performance and the administrative challenges.

“The problem is we were getting beaten by over 100 points which cannot be allowed to continue,” emphasising that this was damaging to the club’s 137-year legacy. “We were about to lose our status in the first league of the Golden Lions rugby, which would have been devastating for the club.”

According to Warner, an investigation had been launched to review the rugby section in a professional, unbiased manner.

Related article:

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/333948/bryanston-high-school-has-a-girls-touch-rugby-team/

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/331064/st-davids-marist-inanda-school-rolls-on-with-victory-over-three-schools/