There's only one Province, Western Province - sometimes

 

Here’s an old hoary chestnut, and like most of the things I whinge and whine about in this space, it has to do with what some regard as acceptable once they have decided that victory is more important than principles in school sport.

It’s about the inclusion of three schools in Paarl, and one in Stellenbosch, in the Western Province union boundaries when it comes to rugby, while they are located in the Boland for every other activity.

It wasn’t me who started the conversation this time – I came across it in the chat following the announcement of the fixtures for the final day of the Craven Week in Krugersdorp. Initially, some expressed anger at the fact that Boland was not allocated a game on the A field on Saturday. A-field slots on the final day have traditionally been the only honour that the teams play for at the week, with the greatest accolade being the final game of the week. Boland won both their earlier games and played some beautiful running rugby (which is what it’s supposed to be about) but they were relegated to the B field, behind some teams that had lost, and some who played some pretty turgid rugby.

It didn’t take long for the thread to begin asking the usual questions.

I’ve confessed before that when looking at topics like these I go back to things I’d already written and I came across several pieces on this issue. For one of them, it seems, I did a bit of Google Mapping. Here’s what I found:

It’s 71km by road from Wynberg Boys’ High to Boland Landbou; 64km from there to Paarl; and 46km to Paul Roos Gimnasium in Stellenbosch.

I then looked at King Edward VII School, in central Johannesburg. From there it’s 54km to Affies in Pretoria; 34km to Monument. And 21km to Boksburg’s EG Jansen.

The point I was making was that the Lions province can cast a net considerably smaller than the one Western Province uses, and scoop up a number of top rugby schools to greatly improve its talent pool (Garsfontein would also be in it). The Craven Week team that could be selected from those schools collectively would also, very possibly, go five years and 15 games unbeaten at the Craven Week.

Not that it will ever happen, and neither should it. Instead, Western Province should start choosing from the schools within its region only, like they do for cricket, hockey, water polo, athletics etc.

I’ve never been able to find out how this situation came about. It’s always been that way, they say. There was one Craven Week - 2001 in Rustenburg - where it was decided that the Boland schools should play for Boland, and Western Province should be chosen from the Cape Town area, just like it is in every other sport. Derick Hougaard, who went to Boland Landbou, played for Boland that year and made the SA Schools side. So did Pieter Pienaar, who was at Paarl Gimnasium. Also in the team was Schalk Burger, and Hennie Daniller, who was in Grade 11 and played for Western Province the next year.

Western Province won all three games in Rustenburg, but they didn’t get into any of the late games on the A field on Saturday, and the next year the Paarl schools were back in the WP fold. I can’t find anyone who remembers why the decision was made to do the right thing in 2001, in fact, many were astounded to find out that it happened at all. But whatever principles were applied in deciding to go that way were abandoned when they realised that without a little help from their Boland friends, Western Province had to play on a level field, and they found it tough.

One interesting explanation that was given me is rooted in the old historical social and political alliances which saw the cream of Paarl society distance itself from those who live on the other side of the Berg River (translate that to the wealthy, white, landed class aligning itself with Cape Town rather than with the poorer, mainly so-called coloured, folk of lower Paarl). I haven't been able to find out if that was true.

The rationale for having Paul Roos Gimnasium in Cape Town for rugby is tied to the school’s close association with Stellenbosch University, which as one of the oldest clubs in the land, played in the Cape Town competitions from the earliest days.

This is actually not a good year to bring all of this up again. The composition of the Western Province and WP XV teams that went to the Craven Week was pretty balanced – of the 46 in all, 22 were from the four “Boland” schools. Rondebosch and Wynberg have had good years, and they contributed eight and six representatives, respectively

There were 17 players from the two WP sides in the two SA Schools squads announced and, of them, 10 came from those schools.

The role of school sport is educational. It’s about helping young people to become good adults. It’s also about developing players for higher levels of the game.

I would argue that that both those aims will still be well met if those Boland Schools are sent back to where they belong. Building a legacy and setting unbeaten records for Western Province should have nothing to do with it, but if they are going to brag, and if the media are going to extoll their virtues, the same rules must apply to all.