Stop playing against the buyers of players

The decision taken by 10 Auckland, New Zealand, principals to stop playing against a school that has been aggressively recruiting established 1^st team rugby players, as reported in the New Zealand Herald

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=12171645&ref=twitter

has caused a bit of a flutter.

It’s not an original story, of course, and the movement of high performing players from schools that already have established rugby programmes to others has become quite common in our schools rugby. I’ve stated my view – it shouldn’t happen and it has to stop.

A respected headmaster of a Joburg boys school, apparently, recently pointed out to a conference of his peers that they have the power to end the practice, and it’s quite simple – stop playing schools who indulge in those practices. If the heads agree to that (and they already have in terms of the charters and agreements they have signed – not to mention by virtue of their non-negotionable duty to be educational in all they do), then there wouldn’t be a problem.

But there is, and at the end of the day we have to accept that either some headmasters are dishonest, or they have lost control of what’s happening in their recruitment departments.

An Auckland-style shunning of those who break the rules would work, although it will punish the players at the banned school who had nothing to do with it. No, we have to get everyone to stop doing it – simple as that.

I made the mistake of taking to Twitter to defend my stand on the matter and came up against all the usual excuses and justifications.

No-one is saying that providing better opportunities to kids who have potential is a bad thing. On the contrary, the success stories of those who have had their lives turned around through bursaries should be sung from the hilltops. I do some work at two Joburg schools who have foundations doing just that and have come across magnificent examples aplenty.

But that’s not what we are talking about, although those who condone the practice of elite recruitment often try to disguise it as some sort of altruistic opportunity creation. Yeah right! They are after more wins for the first team at the end of the year, nothing else, and they should try and pull the wool over other people’s eyes.

As someone in that Twitter thread I’ve spoken of pointed out, there are cases where players who are already on bursaries at good rugby schools are lured to others. There is only one way to do that: offer a better financial deal. That’s buying, not bursary granting.

I’ll give you two examples, and let’s stop stuffing around and name some names. There was an under-14 player, a black boy on a full bursary, living in a top class hostel at a school that produces multiple provincial players who didn’t come back after playing in the Glenwood under-14 Festival at the beginning of the year.

Then there was the Golden Lions Craven Week player, also on a bursary, who suddenly upped and left for Paarl Boys’ High – he didn’t move out of financial need or the desire to be at a school where he would be recognised – he already had been.

There are examples aplenty of that sort of thing and not a single one can be justified. And please stop telling us that the parents approached you. The only cases where that happens are when they have already committed to commoditising their sons and are looking for a deal (as is pointed out in the NZ Herald article) and I’ve been told of a number of examples where that has happened here too.

Our top rugby schools have excellent coaches and the players work incredibly hard, I’ve seen that up close and first hand. Of course you deserve success if you are prepared to do that, and you can’t expect success if you don’t. But if we are to be ethical and educational – and that’s not an optional extra, school sport has to be just that -  then we should work hard at developing the children who are placed in our care.

We certainly can’t go shopping about for replacements and reinforcements to ensure our place on the top of the pile. If you do that you have no right to crow, and those who try to justify what you do in terms of transformation, rugby excellence and professional career pathways are as unethical and uneducational as you are.

And everyone should agree to never play against you again.

Looking back on the best of 2018

And that’s the school sport year done – except for the boat race, and the interprovincials coming up.

So, not for any good reason, except that I always do, I’ve drawn up a list of my top 10 sporting achievements this year. I used to limit them to things I had actually seen myself but now that I work for a rugby and cricket only website, I don’t get around so much. Some of the below are therefore based on hearsay, but they are all undoubtedly amazing.

In no particular order:

1 Lythe Pillay of King Edward VII broke the boys schools athletics interhigh 100m 200m and 400m records, all of the same day and at the end of the year added the SA under-15 400m record to his tally.

2 Jeppe High School for Boys' 1^st hockey team finished unbeaten in a season which saw them play all of the top schools in the country. They successfully defended the local Aitken Cup title for the third year in a row and were the top ranked school in the land on all those odious ranking lists.

3 For the second year in a row, a local player captained the SA Schools rugby team. Last year it was Travis Gordon of KES, this year Jeppe’s Muzi Manyike led the team in their game against France when the original captain withdrew due to injury. Muzi also played for the SA under-18 Sevens team.

4 Two hardy perennials – St Benedict’s won the team competition at the SA Rowing championships for the 25th year in a row, and ...

5 Northcliff High School won the Co-Ed schools athletics A league for the 22^nd year in a row. Heaven knows who will topple them, and Bennies, from their perches. I do know that those wins don’t come easy, though, and in both cases single-minded determination and much hard work goes into it, year after year.

6 One I was at: St Andrew’s School of Bloemfontein won the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge title in Pretoria in March. They are a small school, punching way above their weight. First they ended Grey College’s long domination of Free State schools cricket, then they beat the best from around the country.

7 Everyone’s trying, but no-one has been able to shift Monument from their spot as the top local rugby team. They were beaten by Helpmekaar and Garsfontein earlier but when it counted – in the Virseker Cup final – they produced the goods to beat Helpmekaar 57-11 and take the North Vaal title (and its predecessors) for the eight time.

8 Central Gauteng (OJ Eagles, in effect) won water polo’s national championship (Currie Cup) for the 14^th time in the last 16 years. The club, made up of mainly, but not only, St John’s old boys, is coached by Vlado Trninic and they continued their incredible run of successes.

9 That Currie Cup water polo tournament was held at St Stithians after CGA had to step in, very late, to host it after Western Province withdrew due to the Cape Town drought. Saints parent and Gauteng Schools administrator, Bruno Fernandes, showed he is without peer as a tournament director by putting on another flawless show.

10 The Craven Week was in Paarl and Western Province won the “finals”of both the main tournament and the Academy Week that goes with it. The strength of schools rugby is very much in the Cape and only the Golden Lions seem to be capable of challenging that.

Here’s an 11^th – OK I lied, but this is just so nice.

11 Muzi Manyike, again. The Jeppe head boy and captain fetched, on his own initiative, this little disabled boy from a local orphanage and got him to carry the match ball out, to the cheers of the biggest school rugby crowd of the year, ahead of the second Jeppe v KES derby game.