Boland Rugby Union’s head of referees, Linston Manuel, has come out strongly against allegations that have implicated him in recent bombshell revelations regarding match fixing at club rugby level. This, after a Sunday newspaper recently published an article about how the outcomes of club rugby games in the Boland regions are influenced by secretive payments being made to referees.
One official has already been handed a lifetime suspension by the BRU after pleading guilty to allegations of match fixing. However, in the initial shocking report, Manuel’s name came up as being somehow involved in the fixing of games.
But the referee boss hit back in a sworn affidavit that is in the possession of TelecomAsia Sport. Manuel’s affidavit read:
For the past 11 years, I have been Boland Rugby Union’s Manager of Referees. And I would like to react to an article published on Sunday, 3 August 2025, where I have been implicated as part of a match-fixing scandal.
According to the Rapport article… They have a voice message that says the following: ‘where Linston Manuels, referees manager, allegedly tells a match official that a certain team will pay them for their petrol, attendance and ‘everything’. He then says further that he is just awaiting feedback from them and he would then give more ‘clearer instructions’ to them.
This voice note message was sent to me by the reporter Bohemia [Hoffmeester]. I did my due diligence and found that the voice message [in question] was from 27 August 2024, which I had sent to [referee] Marco Ruiters, who was to officiate the home match of Young Spurs on 31 August 2024.
The instructions given in that voice note were followed up by an email to the club, wherein it stated how much the fuel costs and the costs for the referee's officiation of the match would be. It is not the first time that a club has requested that an official outside of their region be appointed as the referee, and they have always been gracious enough to cover the cost of an official [to officiate a game].
In my 11 years' service as head of Boland’s Referees Society, I have never allowed myself to be embroiled in any form of unscrupulous acts of any kind, including match-fixing. I despise referees who embroil themselves in match-fixing.
Boland Launches Match-Fixing Probe
Meanwhile, Manuel added that the BRU has started an investigation into the allegations and that he has committed himself to being fully compliant with any claims where he is allegedly linked to swaying the outcomes of games.
In a recent interview, BRU President Bennie van Rooi also confirmed the launch of a probe into the allegations
He told the Sunday paper Rapport:
We are calling on anyone who has knowledge or evidence of such improprieties or wants to make a statement, to come forward and report the information to the South African Police Service. The name and contact information of the officer where information or the laying of a complaint will be made available soon.
We won’t allow the misdeeds of a few to wreck the integrity of our rugby family.
