If the unhappiness at the Bulls camp in George is a sign of things to come, then the Bulls will continue to occupy the lower part of the Super 14 and will also exit next year’s Currie Cup without any silverware.
Rumours abound that a great majority of the Bulls squad are unhappy at the fact that a group of senior players and management are not staying with the rest of the squad at the Hoerskool Outeniqua hostel as has been the norm over the years.
Coach Frans Ludeke has led the small but influential and senior pack away from the hostel with captain Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana and forwards coach Johan van Graan all choosing to stay in and around George in more luxurious circumstances.
They only go to the camp at the school for training, one-on-one sessions and meetings.
Furthermore, there is discord among the players in the squad as they don’t agree with certain conditions of their stay at the hostel.
They are required to pay for the breakfast and lunch provided at the hostel, and fend for themselves for supper.
“This has never happened before.
“We have always stayed together as a team at the hostel, including the coaches, but now things are being done differently,” said a prominent player who wanted to remain anonymous.
“Certain guys are not staying here as they have houses or family down here which makes life much easier for them.
“Aren’t they part of the team? Are they better than the rest of us?
“Even the coach is not here.
“As far as I know we are a team, we play together as a team and we should go through the same hardships as a team staying in this hostel,” he said.
“Where have you heard of a team building exercise where the employees have to pay?
“We now have to pay for our food but we are working.
“So far as I know, one gets paid for working. One does not pay to work,” the player said.
Apparently, Ludeke has been made aware of these grievances and has promised to address them with the bosses at Loftus Versfeld in the new year.
Since the arrival of Ludeke at the Bulls, there seems to have been a power shift with players seemingly dictating terms.
Earlier this year, a revolt by senior players led to the dismissal of much-vaunted backline coach Nico le Roux, after he spent only three weeks in his new job.
Ludeke does not seem to have the full support of his management with Pote Human leaving after the Super 14 and defensive coach John McFarland failing to return to the Bulls after his leave last month.
Ludeke will have to take charge in the beginning of the year, if he hopes to improve on his record and that of the Bulls in the Super 14 and Currie Cup.
There is little hope of new silverware, if the team continues to be so divided.
www.iol.co.za

Ooh he eh!
Paying for your own expenses on a work trip. 😯 😆
Is this the Bulls’ version of staaldraad? Wonder if there will be any kaalgat swimming.
That’s the stuff Bullie Boys. Get all that animosity out in the open.
We haven’t had any good ammo for a while now.
F%^K
AB De villiers caught behind
@KSA Shark © (Comment 5) : 😳
I always knew the Bulls were cheap – but shitbags….what’s next? if you want to play on the overseas leg of the Super 14 get your own flights?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) : Sack !
@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) : Not out ?! Or is that cause you vloeked like Piet Pienaar ?
Yeeha! Ride em, cowboys!
@Worcestershire Sauce (Comment 8) :
No Coz I posted it on the wrong thread 🙂
so guys – interesting. You reckon Matfield and the rest of his bearded kind were the REAL driving force behind the Bulls’ good run in the Currie Cup? Ludeke just a passenger?
@robdylan (Comment 11) :
Nope, I don’t think so.
The rest of SA just didn’t have the players to make it count.
Divide and rule, divide and rule.
Also very good of Ludeke to promise to address the problem in the new year, nothing like striking while the iron is hot to sort out a problem.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 12) : aaaah! That’s a good point
I hope they won’t pass to the guys who stay in the fancy hotel…
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 15) : Gee NIE die bal vir Bryan NIE, die £$%^&!!! 🙂
No doubt we’ll have a statement from dutchmen central soon saying everything is hunky dory. Simply a misunderstanding.
@McLovin (Comment 17) : 🙂
What figure is like a lost parrot?
A polygon.
What do you give a sick bird?
Tweetment!
Interesting that Bakkies is not part of the Blou Illuminati, ditto for Meisiekind.
@Salmonoid (Comment 21) : strange, innit?
@Salmonoid (Comment 21) :
How can those two be taken seriously??
The one is a metrosexual and the other says a prayer before each match so that he can bliksem his opponents. 😯
@wpw (Comment 23) : In pretoria Bakkies is metrosexual and the other one plain gay. 😉
Maybe it’s just a simple case of being dyslexic.
When the Bulls management sent the email saying “You will be staying in the Hostel” a few of them read it as “You will be staying in the Hotels”
On a serious note though.
I suspect it is the guys who have family or holiday homes in George that are NOT staying in the hostel and not really an issue of seniority.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 25) : LMAO
@wpw (Comment 23) :
Well they are senior players with the team, also there was a time when Bakkies, Habs and Olivier did things together due to sharing Habs’ toppie as their agent.
@McLovin (Comment 24) : 😆
“Ma is as selfless as I am” can be read the same way backwards.
@McLovin (Comment 29) : 😯 Wow!
@McLovin (Comment 29) : 😯
Interesting!!!!!!!!!!!
@McLovin (Comment 29) :
Kette the teacher says only if you re- 😀 arrange the spaces though.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 32) : That are correct. 🙂
When I was in the supermarket I saw a man and a woman wrapped in a barcode. I asked, “Are you two an item?”
@McLovin (Comment 34) : 🙂