Pretoria - Following the resignation of former Blue Bulls Rugby Union (BBRU) president Gert Wessels, the union announced on Thursday that Willem Strauss, vice-president for the past four years, has been appointed as the interim president until November 2018.
Strauss attended Sand du Plessis High School in Bloemfontein, and furthered his education at the University of the Free State. In 1991 at the age of 24, Strauss was appointed as Manager and Executive officer of the South-Eastern Transvaal Rugby Union (Mpumalanga Rugby Union).
He held that position for eight years until 1999.
Between 1996 and 1999 Strauss also filled the roll of Marketing Manager of the Northern Bulls Super12 franchise. He thereafter established his own promotion company that specializes in promoting rugby tournaments, events, incoming and outgoing tours of teams to inter alia Africa, Europe, USA, South America, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Dubai.
He arranged a test between Samoa and the Springboks, which was the first ever by a private promoter.
According to the BBRU, the @tlantic tournament which he was responsible for drew more than 1 000 school teams. Strauss also played a leading role in establishing Sevens rugby in South Africa, and in 2017 he promoted the tours of the SA Barbarians (club players) to the Czech Republic.