'EK WAS 'n DRIE GEDRUK' - Bryan Habana opens up about dad besteeling him

Global rugby icon and Springbok legend Bryan Habana has opened up about how he found out his father had been stealing money from him when he acted as his agent.

In the early years of his career, Habana was represented by his father Bernie, whom he credits for signing one of the biggest contracts in South African rugby at the time when he moved from the Bulls to the Stormers in 2009.

Speaking in the Business of Sport podcast, Habana detailed how he found out and how it affected his relationship with his father.

He told the podcast: “Trust is a really difficult thing to understand. My trust rested with my dad, who was managing that side of my life [finances] from a very young age, only to find out eight years later that the trust I thought I had was not being had.

“I unfortunately lost quite a bit of money because the one person I thought I could trust mismanaged my funds and used them for his own over the course of eight years.”

Detailing how he found out, he said it was while trying to buy a house in Cape Town after moving to the Stormers.

“We had to put down a deposit on a house, and I went to my dad and said, ‘Listen, I need to take a bit of money out of my nest egg because I need to buy a house,’ and he said, ‘It’s coming.’

“The more I asked, the more the money wasn’t coming.”

After mix-ups in negotiations for Adidas, Canterbury and Gillette endorsements, it became clear his dad was taking his geld.

The former Bok said: “He was living a life off the money. I thought we had signed a trust document for the Bryan Habana Trust and found out that it never existed. The Bryan Habana Trust, which I thought all of my commercial money was getting paid into, was actually my dad’s bank account.”

He added “When I did approach him with the facts, he denied everything. I did not get a cent of the Gillette money.”

Of the possibility of reconnecting with his toppie, he said: “Would I still love a relationship with my dad? Possibly, but my tribe is most important to me right now.

“It would be amazing to have a relationship with him, but I gave him an opportunity. Bump your head once, it’s a mistake. Bump your head twice, and it’s your fault.”