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Black Knight International CEO Marc Player Responds to Recent Statement by the NMCF
Oct 10, 2007 | Filed Under: General News
On Monday, October 8th, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF), a co-beneficiary of the Nelson Mandela Invitational hosted by Gary Player, issued a statement regarding Gary Player’s participation in the 8th annual event to be staged this November.
Marc Player, CEO of Black Knight International responds as follows:
“The Nelson Mandela Invitational (NMI) hosted by Gary Player is a charity golf tournament jointly owned by Black Knight International and Octagon. The Children’s Fund & Gary Player Foundation are simply co-beneficiaries of the charitable funds raised from the event and are not involved in its organization, management or invitations to participants.
The NMI is in fact inextricably tied to Gary Player, who played a key role in conceptualizing the event with Mr Mandela and who serves each year as the official Tournament Host. Player’s energy, enthusiasm and philanthropic passion have made the NMI what it is today - South Africa’s premiere charity golf event.
Gary Player Design�s involvement in the design of a golf course in Burma has been taken entirely out of context.
See Statement from Gary Player on Burma posted on October 8, 2007.
As far as Gary Player�s role as tournament host is concerned, there must be a misunderstanding as Mr Player was categorically not asked by the Children�s Fund to step down as host of the event. In fact, he was never contacted by phone or in writing and has not agreed to step down as reported. Furthermore, the Children�s Fund are not in a position to demand that Player stand down as tournament host and, contrary to what has been reported by the NMCF, no recent meetings have been held that included Gary Player, Black Knight International or The Player Foundation.
Finally, it is Black Knight International�s intention to stage a charity golf event hosted by Gary Player in November at the Arabella Western Cape Hotel & Spa as planned. We hope that the Children�s Fund will remain on board as a beneficiary, however this is a decision that the management and trustees will need to make in due course.”
Sincerely,
Marc B. Player
CEO
Black Knight International
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