John Smit poised to make a spectacular return to the Shark Tank

Springbok rugby legend John Smit is poised to make a spectacular return to the Shark Tank as the new CEO of The Sharks, replacing veteran administrator Brian van Zyl, who is due to retire in February 2014, but Smit could well take over from as early as July this year.

While The Sharks were tight-lipped yesterday about the exciting development, watertight sources have confirmed that it is fait accompli that the baton will be passed from one of the best administrators in the rugby business to one of the most respected players the world has produced.

Smit’s appointment will be ratified at a Sharks Council meeting on Monday but an official statement could well come out today as the news breaks that the 34-year-old former Springbok captain will be the youngest ever CEO of a South African franchise.

Smit is currently playing out his career with London club Saracens and while he is due to play one final season with French club Toulon in 2014, the Sharks are understood to have negotiated his release.

There have been behind-the-scenes talks with Smit for some months, which will counter conjecture that there is a changing of the guard at The Sharks because of the recent wave of negative publicity stemming from violence and crime in and around the Kings Park precinct on match days, including the well-publicised murder of a Royal Marine.

Van Zyl, in fact, is highly regarded throughout South African rugby for the tough battles he has fought over a remarkable 20-year-career that has often seen The Sharks win legal disputes with opposition unions over player contracts. The battle-hardened Van Zyl has often taken on governing body SARU to protect the interests of The Sharks and regularly stood toe-to-toe with former SARU CEO Riaan Oberholzer in the ‘90s to protect “States rights”, as they would put it in American politics.

Van Zyl, who played 25 times as a rugged flanker for Natal in the ‘70s after moving to Durban from his native Pretoria, took over as CEO of the Natal Rugby Union in 1994 and together with President Keith Parkinson transformed the amateur Natal rugby team into the professional Sharks in 1996.

The Sharks pioneered professional rugby in this country in the ‘90s and rival unions copied what The Sharks, in turn, had learned from American Football and British soccer teams such as Manchester United.

Van Zyl went to school at Pretoria Boys High, the alma mater of Smit, funnily enough, and they might well swap a candid smile when the fresh-faced Smit is ushered into the hot seat by his former boss at The Sharks.

Smit, of course, is one of the favourite sons of Kings Park after having played for The Sharks for 13 consecutive years. While in matric in Pretoria he approached the Bulls but was shown the door and round about that time The Sharks offered him a junior contract and a bursary to the University of Pietermaritzburg.

In 1994 he was made captain of the Springboks and went on to break a multitude of records, including most Tests as captain (83) and most in total (111).

Former Springbok coach Jake White said that Smit’s longevity and success as a captain (a Rugby World Cup title, two Tri-Nations titles and a series win over the British and Irish Lions) was because of his humility, intelligence and unique ability to bond together black, white, coloured and English and Afrikaans players and inspire them towards a common goal.

But in addition to this The Sharks will want Smit to take the franchise into a new era, inject new blood and new ideas.

Smit was not contactable in London yesterday but before he left Durban in 2012 to join Saracens, he said: “I am truly grateful for everything given to me by The Sharks and the Springboks and I will return to pay back. Too often I see players leaving the game bitter. I have been treated like a king by The Sharks, like royalty by SARU. South Africa is my home. I love this country and I am its biggest patriot.

By Mike Greenaway