40 years later, and the Easter festivals are as good as they have ever been

 

The schools rugby festivals have been part of Easter in this town since 1984. The Saints Festival would have been celebrating its 40th anniversary this year if it weren’t for Covid, St John’s have had their 25^th  birthday and this year is the 20^th KES festival.

Those who came up with the idea in the beginning could never have imagined they would have the longevity they have had and that, all these years later, when the world would be such a different place, we could have a day like Saturday.

I was at King Edwards in the afternoon, and at St John’s earlier and I don’t recall seeing crowds bigger than those. I meant to go to Saints too, but I was worried that I’d never find parking back at KES for the Jeppe game, which I (and half of Joburg, it turned out) wanted to see. I’m told there was a massive crowd there too.

The founders of that original Saints Festival who first had the vison have, sadly, all passed on now. Colin Hall, who was later to become a giant in the South African business world, was the head of the parents association back then, he died earlier this year; Mark Henning the headmaster in 1984, died in 2021; and Tim Clifford, the rugby coach who came up with the concept, passed on a year later.

I’ve been around these festivals for most of the 40 years and seen something of their inner workings. They have become big commercial undertakings, and fund-raising enterprises for the schools that run them. But the educational principles articulated in the beginning are strictly adhered to.

I’ve spent the last few festivals at KES, where they give me a place to sit in the tournament office and I leave at the end of each one newly amazed at the level of commitment and the sheer hard work put in by so many, mainly volunteers to make it all work. I’ve been a spectator to the same activities at the other two festivals, so I know the same things are going on there too – they could never run the way they do if they weren’t.

And on Saturday those dedicated workers were rewarded with the smooth running of big, big days in three different places. 40 years later the Easter festivals, amazingly are bigger than ever, and as good as they have ever been.