No more Easter rugby scurrying for me

It’s incredible how quickly a year goes by.

Next weekend is Easter which means, of course, it’s school rugby festival time. It’s a hectic time for lovers of the game at schoolboy level, and the late start to the 1st term this year, and the shortness of the coming holidays, has made it even crazier this time around.

In Joburg, apart from the three Standard Bank Festivals, at King Edward, St John’s and St Stithians, there are also festivals at Krugersdorp High and at St Dunstan’s in Benoni. The awkward term calendar has meant that the annual Parktown under-14 festival (which now includes some under-15 teams) and the Jeppe under-16 Festival, are also on the Easter Weekend.

Then there’s the Kearsney festival down in KZN and, this year, the Paarl Boys’ High World Schools Festival which kicks off on Easter Monday. There was talk that the Paarl event will also be an annual one, which would really complicate things, but that possibility has receded with the recent announcement that the two men behind it – Heyneke Meyer and Sean Erasmus – will be taking on jobs in professional rugby in Japan and at the Lions Union, respectively.

It’s at times like these that I’m really pleased that I’ve retired and no longer responsible for a publication that tried to be the “paper of record”, covering as much of all that’s happening as possible.

Not that I’ll be hanging around the house hiding Easter Eggs on Saturday - that ship has sailed, and for too many years I wasn’t able to be on board when it did – no, for a change I’ll be going to one place only for all three days and I’m really looking forward to that.

It will, I hope, transport me back to those days in the early 1980s when the Saints Festival was the only show in town and we would spend the weekend there, deciding which teams and individual players were our favourites and seeing how they get on across their three games.

When St John’s, and then KES, started their own festivals I would at first race from venue to venue trying to catch the “big games” of the weekend, then later on I started spending one full day at each.

I always felt welcome at all of them and, looking back, I watched some future greats in action while they were still at school, and I saw some great games. It was all a bit frantic though, and I was never in one place long enough to savour the atmosphere and identify the differences between the three.

This year I’ll be at King Edward for all three days. To be transparent, it’s the closest to where I live; they have asked me to do some writing for them; and I will able to watch the hosts three times and Jeppe three times there.

KES played rugby that was on an altogether higher level than anyone else last year, and it will be interesting to see how they cope without the superstars that they had in their ranks last year. I’ve always maintained that you only see how good a coach is when he takes a team that doesn’t have players who are the finished article and makes something of them as the season goes on. I’ve no idea who the Reds have in their ranks this year, but they will be missing last year’s crop.

At Jeppe last year, a very good coach had to cope with a team full of youngsters, and his task was made even more difficult through key injuries. They battled but, crucially, they got better and better as the season progressed.Those same youngsters have a year’s experience now and it will be interesting to watch the coach as he tries to elevate them to a higher plane this year.

I know it sound like I have too much time on my hands now, but it’s a side-line critic’s dream scenario. I’ll be watching closely, and I’ll let you know how it’s going as the season unfolds.

Easter Festival rugby is special for every player. I don’t think there can be too many festivals. The more schools and players who get the opportunity the better.

I’m just glad I don’t have to try to keep track of them all anymore.