[caption id="attachment_152826" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cheeky Watson
Picture: Mark West[/caption]
Cheeky Watson may have to dig deep into his own pockets to pay up more than R600 000 after he signed surety on a deal between the Eastern Province Kings and Puma.
But while the EP rugby president claims he was not aware of what he was signing and feels misled, representatives for Puma Sports Distributors say he is simply trying to stall civil proceedings.
Watson’s woes are also set to deepen as the beleaguered Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU) hit another snag this week when Weekend Post’s sister paper, The Herald, reported that the equity partner they were relying on to bail them out with a R100-million cash injection was bankrupt and his firm unregistered in the UK.
EPRU was provisionally liquidated earlier this year due to debts. In a bid to prevent final liquidation, lawyers for EPRU proposed business rescue.
Weekend Post can now reveal that:
• The mystery equity partner, Christopher Wishlade, 45, of Integrated Sport, is in fact South African and attended school in the Eastern Cape; • SA Rugby Union (Saru) president Jurie Roux was in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday to try to salvage the equity deal; and • Following media reports, the Integrated Sport website has been taken down.
Now Watson must answer to claims by Puma Sports Distributors that he bound himself as co-principal debtor with EP Rugby for R627 212 on May 26 2009.
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