THE BEGINNING

Keo.co.za was launched by rugby writer and former Springbok communications manager Mark Keohane just before the 2003 World Cup. Keohane joined Highbury Safika Media (HSM) in 2006 as publishing director, and sold the blog to the company. HSM publishes more than 20 magazines, including SA Rugby and SA Cricket.

THE AIM

Keo.co.za, gives the reader insight, opinion and everything related to rugby. The immediacy of the internet allows it to break the story before traditional media: making it the most visited rugby blog in South Africa with a cosmopolitan readership spanning the globe. Winner of the 2008 SA Sports Blog of the Year award, keo.co.za is a must for daily reading.

THE TEAM

Keohane contributes regularly to the site, and is supported by a strong team at Highbury Safika Media. HSM staff writers Jon Cardinelli and Ryan Vrede have developed into two of the best beat writers in South Africa, and were recently joined by Grant Ball and Andrew Worling. All four write extensively for SA Rugby magazine and other HSM sports titles. Simon Borchardt has edited SA Rugby since 2002, while Patrick Farrell, who has 20 years experience in newspapers and magazines, joined HSM in 2008 as group sports editor and is now HSM’s editorial director. Roy Foubister, keo.co.za’s webmaster, is responsible for the blog’s new look and oversees the technical side of things.

THE STATS

From 21st May 2009 to the 20th of June 2009, there were 4,177,176 visitors to keo.co.za from 209 countries. The average time on keo.co.za per user is nearly six minutes, while the users average three pages per visit. In this twelve-month period there were well over thirteen million page views in total.