New appointment at MRU

Oct 26 • General News • 2519 Views • Comments Off on New appointment at MRU

The CEO of Mpumalanga Rugby Union, Pieter Burger, today announced the appointment of a new Manager: Amateur Rugby at the Mpumalanga Rugby Union (MRU) Mr Roelof Kotzé.

The 47-year old Kotzé joined the Pumas last week and takes over the reins from Arrie Myburg, who has semi-retired after being with the Union for the last 25-years.

“I have a passion for sport, any sport and since my varsity days I have been lucky enough to be involved with sport in many different capacities and I enjoy every part of it. Making the transition to an administrator from being a coach is going to be tough, but I’m looking forward to taking up the challenge,” Kotzé said.

A condensed CV of Kotzé:

1992 – Sports Development Officer, Department of Sport and Recreation SA Government, Free State
1993 | 1998 – Sports Events and Tours
1998 I 2001 – Kloof High School Sport Administrator
2001 | 2002 – South African Institute of Rugby, Durban
2003 |2013 – The Sharks Academy, Durban
2014 |2015 – UAE Rugby Federation, Dubai.

Kotzé matriculated from HTS Louis Botha, Bloemfontein and studied BA Sport Science at the University of the Orange Free State.

On his new challenge: “If you want to be seen as a big Union, react and behave like one. We are all here to do good for the sport, thus the Union must be the central point of the action. I think my biggest challenge for this position is to get all involved, from primary schools to the different rugby clubs, to work together as a unit and towards one goal, with good intentions to grow the amateur rugby in the province.” Kotzé commented.

“The Pumas aren’t that unfamiliar to me, I coached several of the current contracted professional players when I was at The Sharks – Rosko Specman, Brian Shabangu, Jerome Pretorius and Khwezi Mona to mention a few.“

Kotze is married to Jill, a Crawford Teacher and has 2 daughters and a son.