The Monnas Centenary Festival to be hosted by the SA Schools Challenge Trust was cancelled a mere week before the event. A lot has been said in the media by several journalists and rugby supporters who were understandably upset.
However, the real reason for the cancellation has not been revealed. Monnas took the opportunity to send out "false" information to clear their "name" for the decision made by the trustees of SA Schools Challenge Trust.
I agreed with parties close to Monnas to not react to the statements made in the public until the festival was hosted by Monnas with the help of several generous sponsorships.
Personally I, Carl Fabian made three mistakes during the organising of the festival:
- I should have moved the festival to another venue by late September 2020. However, I thought the festival could still be hosted with success despite the actions of some of the organising committee. May first big mistake.
- As I became aware of the different agendas I only name ABSA as one of the sponsors. We had meetings with ABSA and they did express their interest in becoming involved with the Trust. ABSA at no stage committed to the festival. As the time went by and the return of schoolboy rugby was still unsure I did negotiate sponsorship deals with three companies as I realised that a major institution will not be able to grant "major" sponsorships on short notice. I withheld the names of the other sponsors for reason that will become evident during all the revelations to follow.
- I paid a big personal price and lost some valuable friends in the process as the success of the Monnas Centenary Festival was my main objective for the past year. Nothing and nobody else mattered.
In the programs to follow I will reveal all the events that led to my personal decision to walk away from the festival and in the process left the festival without sponsors. I had discussions with all the sponsors two weeks before the festival and they were also convinced that the festival is going to become a PR nightmare and blow up in their faces. They confirmed their loyalty to the Trust and its objectives and are currently working with me to make 2022 a great year for schoolboy rugby.