My colleague at SARugbymag.co.za, Dylan Jack, opened the
school rugby recruitment can of worms nice and early this year with this
article on the luring of talent from Dale and Queens Colleges to, presumably,
the elite schools of the KZN Midlands and Durban.
It got quite a bit of attention, including 114 shares, so
far, of the Facebook link to it, and 131 comments. And many of those who
commented believe there is nothing wrong with the practice and they wonder,
some of them quite rudely, what Dylan is on about.
Those who think the “buying” of players – black African boys,
mainly from disadvantaged homes in this case – is a good thing cite the reasons
you often hear. It’s offering the players a better future via an education at a
good school, and a chance to develop as rugby players through good coaching and
competition. They will get recognition at those schools and it may lead to a
future as a professional player for them.
All of which might very well happen, of course, although
there are some alarming cases in which that promise of a brighter future goes
up in smoke when the talented youngster doesn’t develop as expected, or is
injured, or simply doesn’t fit in with his fabulous new surroundings. It’s
often a ticket back to the rural Eastern Cape for him then.
Many do become great players and go on to play at the
highest levels and there are schools that do commit themselves to the holistic
development of all their pupils and who will keep the boy on even if he flops
as a player. So, you can’t condemn the process out of hand – it’s an ill-wind
that blows nobody any good – but we are kidding ourselves if we believe that
the raiding of the schools, like Dale and Queens, located in the parts of the country
where rugby is traditionally the sport of choice among black children is being
done purely for philanthropic reasons.
No. There are two things behind it: wins for the first teams
of schools and the rankings that go with that and the enforced compliance with
race-based quotas in representative teams at school and senior levels. And those
quotas are increasingly going to distinguish between black African players
specifically and generic players of colour in the future.
As a result, schools on the hunt send their scouts to the festivals
and to the under-13 and under-16 provincial weeks, on the lookout for talented
players who are going to win games for them in time to come. They have the support,
financial and technical, of the provincial unions who know they have to select
Craven Week teams according to an ever-increasing quota, and that the pressure
is on from SA Rugby to field black African players in their senior teams. It’s
easier to look for ready-made rugby players in the places where they already
exist than to create a development progamme and nurture them there.
That’s why the talented players at Dale and Queens are being
targeted and those who engage in the practice should own up to it and not hide
behind noble-sounding talk of offering opportunities to those in need.
Anyone who is able to offer those opportunities should be
doing so, of course, but rugby talent shouldn’t be the main, or only, criteria for
deciding who is given the chance.
If serving rugby is what you have at heart, why not leave
the youngsters at schools like Dale and Queens where they are getting good coaching,
and games, and spread your net to take in the many talented kids who don’t have
any access to the game?
A really disturbing point made in Dylan Jack’s article is
that the predator schools have become very good at getting to the parents of
the boys they want, making them financial offers they can’t refuse. Not much
ethical behaviour and educational principle at work there.
It’s a dishonourable business and the dishonour overshadows
the good that is being done in the process. Those who have power to put an end
to it are the headmasters of the schools involved. They have the authority, and
they should have the morality to see it for what it really is – and end it, as
early as right now!
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