Craig Fry - Professional Athlete Manager

I needed a new focus, and something that would be challenging but at the same time rewarding. An account manager position was advertised within Primedia Sport, and it was to be within the football industry. So I applied and made it through the various rounds of interviews. I was advised that the position was to be account manager for Signet Licensing, a company that owns the commercial and licensing rights to Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, as well as the licensing rights to Orlando Pirates, SARU, and at that time SAFA. Hey I was excited. So I was offered the position, with the primary task of the Kaizer Chiefs Account. I was told that I had the position but before it could be confirmed I would need to be interviewed by management at Kaizer Chiefs. If they were happy then I would be appointed.
So I arrive at KC head quarters, "The Village" in Naturena, and I must say, and most that know me, know that I rarely get nervous, but I was so keen to land this job, that there was a lot riding on this interview. I was ushered into the Boardroom and in attendance was Jason Raine (Financial Manager), Vivian Casaletti (Brand Manager) and Jessica Motaung (then Marketing Manager). The interview was good, but it was more of a get to know each other discussion. Half way through the Chairman comes in, and it was very odd for me, Mr Motaung, Owner, and Chairman of the Club, and one of then most powerful, and influential individuals in the Football business in the Country came into to introduce himself. Wow, I knew then that this is definitely where I wanted to be. Needless to say I was appointed and started what would be a 7 year stint with the Club.

Managing the Commercial and Licensing activities for the "biggest sports Brand in Southern Africa" (Markinor) was indeed a huge responsibility and honour. But at the same time it was a lot of fun. I learnt so much from this experience. Yes going to meetings, and representing the Club was great, but I must say probably the most exciting part of the job, was arranging and executing raids on illegal vendors, and counterfeit factories. These at times got pretty serious, and yes, I would always have the correct warrants, and have Commercial Crimes unit of the SAPS conduct the raids, I was threatened a few times with various body harm and death by these illegal vendors. I mean lets face it, these people were trying to make a living, although illegally, and I was coming along and talking this away from them, so I would also be pretty p...d off.

After a couple of years doing this, a position as General Manager opened up at Amakhosi Magazine, which is the official magazine of Kaizer Chiefs. Knowing the club so well now, the sponsors and licensees I sent in my application, and was given the position. Yes I was successful in this as I managed to increase the circulation back to 33 000 copies per month, and increased advertising revenue by 200% within 3 months. I was not solely responsible for this but I had a big part in it. Looking back now, this was not the best move for me, and I didn't really feel comfortable doing this.

There were changes in personnel at the Club, with Vivian moving on and Dara Carroll coming in as Brand Manager. I built up a very good working relationship with Dara, and she also became a good friend to me. Whilst Jessica and I always worked very well together she was seriously a tough woman, very driven and set in what she wanted and expected. Sometimes I thought she was a bit over the top, but hey who was I to argue. If I had to take a step back and look at the picture, Jessica was the Chairman's daughter and I suppose she had a lot of pressure on her, and wanted to prove herself that she wasn't there because he Father was the owner of the club. So I suppose she had to perform at 150% as many were looking at her and she wanted to prove different, that she was there because she knew what she was doing. Clearly she did something right as she was appointed Marketing Director of the club in 2007. I became good friends with Jessica over the years. Hell yeah, we had our bad times and often had very heated exchanges over issues. More of that later.

Realising that I was not in the right place career wise, I spoke to Jessica and she knew I was feeling restless and getting frustrated. She then suggested that I contact Ken H Simmonds II, as he was the owner and President of JAKE Productions. Jessica knew that I was totally committed to the club and was extremely passionate and loyal to the brand, and I didn't want to leave the Kaizer Chiefs Family. JAKE Productions was a small but growing company, and one of their major clients was Kaizer Chiefs, and they were responsible for all the event and entertainment side of Kaizer Chiefs. This would be a different challenge but as good one. I contacted Ken and he said that he was looking for a GM, and we then met and discussed a few things and as few days later I was there, as General Manager.
Now I was responsible for a complete different side of the Club. I would be at JAKE for 3 years, and can say that it was extremely stressful at times but seriously rewarding. Now more than ever I was closer to Jessica (the firing line, haha) as pretty much game day was the face of the club, and things couldn't ever be wrong. This was live entertainment and no second chances. I was fortunate to be able to work with entertainers such as HHP, Jub Jub, Brickz, Chomee and many other top local artists, as they would perform at half time for us during matches. From organising, tickets, stadium, catering, entertainment for matches, road shows, assisting in the planning and execution of the marketing of the club, supporters club, Golf Days, Annual Awards, Kaizer Chiefs kept us very busy indeed. Jessica being a perfectionist, and sometimes a bit over the top, she and I had a major fall out one morning. To say the least it wasn't pretty!!!! But I think that this type of fall out had been on the cards for about 2 years, so it was HUGE. If anything this changed my relationship with Jessica as we then kind of got to an understanding. We didn't talk for about 2 weeks, and we just kept out each others way. She was right and wrong and so was I. But after 2 weeks we hit it off again, and it then worked better than ever. We never did have a fall out again, as in think there was a different level of respect for each other. What I can say is that there were far more fun times than bad times.

Being able to walk on the field at Soccer City when it was a match against Pirates, with 85000 people in the stands, is just a mind blow, and something that most in their lifetime would not experience.

One event that the Chairman really got involved in from an organisational part, was the Annual Kaizer Chiefs, Chairmans Golf Day. He is a good golfer and takes this very seriously. The first Golf Day I organised for the Club, I really wanted to be special and not your typical corporate golf day. So we went out to the sponsors and begged and fought hard to get the best of the best for the players and guests. A goodie bag when players arrived for registration was valued at over R1000. We organised prizes to the value for the day of R700 000. The first prize four ball was 4 LCD 40 inch TVs. This type of prize was unheard of at Golf Days, but we wanted the best for the best. The aim was to make this event the most wanted to attend Golf Day in the Country. There were numerous Sunday morning meetings with the Chairman for the Golf Day, as these had to take place on a Sunday, as his schedule during the week didn't allow for additional meetings. But I can honestly say that these days were a huge success.

I love the Brand and as they say AMAKHOSI FOR LIFE. I am proud to have this on my CV. I learnt a lot from this, and can honestly say that I have HUGE respect for the Chairman, (Mr Motaung) as I did on occasions have meetings with him, and he never said much in meetings, everyone else did the speaking, but when he did say something, you knew it would be only meaningful, as everyone kept very quiet and listened when he spoke. Now that was RESPECT, and the man has earned it.

Anyone who knows the man, will probably give his / her left arm to have this type of respect and to be as successful as he has been. It is and has been a life commitment from him, and that is admirable. Most would never stick it out for that long, but he has.
I then decided to get out of sport for a while and moved from Gauteng back to KZN to go farming. Resigning from JAKE was seriously hard for me, as this was leaving the KC Family as well as Ken who I had huge respect for and really enjoyed working for. But I was tired and needed to do something for me.

The 7 years I had with the KC family was just awesome, and I thank everyone at Kaizer Chiefs and the KC Family for their support, friendship and it was an honour to have been involved.

FARMING??? I mean WTF!!!! - A complete different challenge!!!!

August 2008, I relocated from Johannesburg to KwaZulu Natal to go vegetable farming. Comon, have you seen a "poor farmer." Anyway, I set up a few Hectares of various vegetables, Cabbage, Brinjal, tomato, lettuce and spinach. These all start growing and I then establish a market to sell to. December 2008, disaster, 24th we have a serious hail storm, and then another one on the 28th. Damn, what could I do, pretty much the whole crop was destroyed, and this was to be my income and working capital for the next 3 to 4 months. So I had sunk all my cash setting up the farm, and now pretty much had nothing. I try for the next three months to get it right. But the creditors are beating down the door, and I am literally picking spinach 24 hours a day to keep the wolves at bay.

So I decide that I should get a job to have a guaranteed income of some sort, and then this will take pressure of the farm, and it can recover. As luck would have it, a job as Media Manager comes up within the Comrades Marathon Association. I apply and go for a couple of interviews and then was appointed.

I start at CMA, in March 2009. Get chucked in at the deep end, but I'm not scared of this, I tend to thrive when the chips are down and it's all chaos. Well a huge eye opener for me. I do as best as I can and build relationships very quickly with various media people and the likes. I have a knack of doing this. It's probably my personality, being outgoing and all, as well as having a big mouth! Haha.

As I was officially the media man and the spokesperson for the CMA, I had to get to know everything about the race in a short space of time. But I coped, I think. I am soon doing press releases, and seeing my name in the paper often was quiet nice actually. Expo week, and I kid you not, from the Tuesday my phone rings pretty much 22 hours a day. I was doing radio, TV, newspaper interviews like it was coming out my head, as well as trying to organise and host various press conferences. The Friday was a particularly busy day for me, and I did my first radio interview at 4am, and then pretty much through the day. A friend commented to me on the Monday after Comrades, and said, "I'm glad Comrades is over, I am tired of hearing you on the radio all the time."
So I get over Comrades and start to think that, eish, I must get back into running. Why not, I was in the most fortunate position that one could ask for, I had access to all the top runners, coaches and team managers. So I start running myself. With training I join a group of guys in PMB, and they are very good athletes, Bongmusa Mthembu, Martin Ngwenya, Petros Sosibo, and Sandile Makhaye. I also then get to meet Stephen Muzhingi, and Collen Makaza.

I am training with these guys and they all talk and being me, I like to help people, and these guys are struggling to get shoes to run in, and they are all top athletes. This isn't right? So I make a few calls to people I know at Nike, and they help me out with sponsoring the guys. I then start to look into what these guys are getting from Clubs and what they are earning. I am completely shocked and cannot understand why top athletes are struggling like they are. I look at the soccer and rugby guys and they are earning big bucks. Ok then, I then decide to go back into managing these athletes.

This was going to cost me, and struggling to get out of the "toilet" myself I advise the guys of the percentages they will have to pay for my services. I take into account that they don't have much and go with, If I don't make them money then I don't get anything myself. So it's a win win for all. But I do this whilst working for the CMA.

I spent many hours and early mornings fetching and carrying the guys to training and races, all at my expense, but did so with a goal in mind. What you put in you will get out later, you know spend some money to make some money.
I will add that I always kept my CMA work separate from looking after athletes, and only did the athletes work after hours, so I had some seriously long days.

Comrades 2010 comes and goes, and I did a pretty good job, and then some clown at the CMA decides that me being involved with athletes is not acceptable and all hell breaks loose. I do kind of see where they were coming from, but they couldn't fault my performance as the CMA had never done so well in the public space. 2010 Comrades wasn't swallowed up by FIFA World Cup and if anything the returns in the media for 2010 Comrades were huge, so the numbers spoke for themselves.

So the pressure is on from the "Old Boys Club" at the CMA, and I resign as Media Manager of the CMA. I really did like that job, but I had this calling so to speak, that I neede to do what I do best and that is manage athletes.

I am now back on my own, and am fortunate enough to be managing, the careers of Stephen Muzhingi, Bongmusa Mthembu, Claude Moshiywa, Collen Makaza, Petros Sosibo, and a few others. This is hard money to make, but I know that I can make a difference and my main aim is to now get these guys earning the right money they deserve, and to do my bit, however big or small my contribution may be, I hope to change athletics in SA to be more of a professional sport.

I contacted Claude after his 6th position finish at Comrades in 2010, and said that I wanted to manage his career, as I felt that I could add value to him. We met and he agreed to sign on with me.

I arranged a couple of sponsors for Claude in order to get him going. Around November 2010 I was offered a good contract from Nedbank Running Club for Claude. He was representing Mr.Price at that time. So Claude agreed and we finalsied the contract with NRC and he resigned from MR Price.

We decided that he would go into Comrades 2011 as quiet as possible, but there would always be the various sponsors obligations.

I spent many Saturday mornings with Claude while he was doing his long runs around Johannesburg. I would meet him at Zoo Lake Sports Club at 5am and he would then set off. I would drive the car carrying the water and drinks for the run. This was very important, form my side so that I can learn how Claude runs. Help him with his pacing etc.

Each time he stopped for drinks, we would have a brief chat and then he would take off agian. Have you ever tried to seconid someone around JHB from 8am when traffic is busy.

I learnt so much from these runs, so I now know Claude and his way of running so well. I can tell just by the way he carries his head, or arm movement what he is feeling or how strong or weak he is at that precise moment. To know this is so important on race day at Comrades. You know we planned his race and what supplements or energy gels he would have and where. But there isnt time to adjust or for him to say "I need this or that" when he is racing, so if I see that he is lascking in something I can already have his gels or supplement ready at the next point.

I am very proud of Claude for his 3rd position this year, and do wish to thank all his running partners that assisted him.

There are big things on the horison for Claude.

More on Claude at: www.squidoo.com/claude-moshiywa
Face Book: Claude Moshiywa
Twitter: @moshiywac

Collen Makaza is the Worlod 50km Champion, and I am honored to be involved with his career. I have managed Collen for the last 18 months,and we have had mixed results, but to date more good than bad.

Collen is a fantastic athlete and friend. His main race this year in SA was Two Oceans, and he was desperate to win this, after his 11th place last year. Collen picked up an injury during Two Oceans and only managaed as 3H20 finish time. yes I was dissaspointed but there is next year and he still has the Wolrd Champs in August 2011.

Collen has a bright future and I will put it out there that within the next 2 years he will win Two Oceans, run a 2H10 Marathon.

More on Collen at:

www.squidoo.com,/collen-makaza
face Book: Collen Makaza
Twitter: CollenMakaza

I have been involved with Stephen since his first win in 2009.

I am in awe of this individual, as he has come from pretty much nothing to be arguably the greataes athlete of his generation. Stephen has an awesome sense of humour. When I first met him he was very shy and withdrawn. But now , hey the man talks as much as he runs. He and I have become really good friends and I have asll the time in thw world for him. Stephen is part of the family, not just a client.

Working for Stephen is an absolute pleasure as he never complains, and is always open for discussion. He is incerdibly humble and is one of those guys, that if you needed something he will go out of his way to assist.

I am sure there are mnay more wins in those legs. He has a huge heart, asnd I cannot fault him with his passion, commitment, dedication to his family and his running career.

More on Stephen at

www.squidoo.com/stephen-muzhingi
Face Book: Stephen Muzhingi
Twitter: Stephen Muzhingi
Blog: muzhingi5H23.wordpress.com