02/06/2014

Herewith a breakdown on recent news and achievements of the FIFA/CIES/NMMU post graduate sport management learning programme

We were delighted to learn that three students of the FIFA/CIES/NMMU Sport Management Programme have achieved significant professional success.  Lunga Ntuli (7th edition student) has just been appointed as Vice Chair of the Durban University of Technology Sport Studies Advisory Board - the youngest person to ever serve in this position. For his part David Gaga (6th edition alumnus) was recently appointed as Administrator to the Eastern Cape Windbreakers Basketball team which competes in a national league. Xolile Klaas (5th edition alumnus) has just received good news of his promotion to Assistant Manager in the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Department – Chris Hani District.  David, Lunga and Xolile were unanimous in recognizing the significant contribution that the FIFA/CIES/NMMU programme had made in their achievements.

In other news  two alumni from the 6th edition class namely Kosta Bellos (from South Africa) and Titus Kunamuene  (from Namibia) joined forces and organised a football tournament in Namibia called the Dr Hage Geingob Cup which featured well known teams such as African Stars and Mamelodi Sundowns. Not to be “outdone” Pandu Petrus (a current student from Namibia) organised a Football Festival for boys and girls teams in the Karasburg district of Namibia.

Mohlala Mopeli (2012 edition alumnus from Lesotho)  applied to the International Olympic Academy and was selected to attend their 54th young participants session in Athens, Greece, from the 15th to 30th June 2014. An excited Mohlala was quoted as saying “this has come as a result of all the valuable information I attained while studying in NMMU.”

In so far as the current academic programme is concerned the seventh edition students assembled in Port Elizabeth in April for their third block of lectures where they were privileged to learn from three international and two local guest speakers.

Omar Ongaro (Head of Governance and Player Status at FIFA) presented a paper on Player Agents and the FIFA Transfer System whilst Professor Dino Ruta (Department of Organization and Human Resource Management at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy) addressed the students on leadership and what the corporate world can learn from the sports world in this regard.  For his part Vincent Monnier (Senior Manager International Relations at the CIES) spoke to the students on the management and governance of large sports organizations. 

On the local front MC Botha, a Senior Partner and Director at Joubert Galpin Searle delivered a very topical presentation on the Oscar Pistorius trial whilst  Dennis Gondoza (a NMMU staff member in our Legal Services Department) presented  a lecture on disciplinary hearings.

The seventh edition students have one more week of lectures to attend in July before their graduation ceremony in September.

            Dino Ruta

Omar Ongaro