My top 10 for 2024

 

It’s time again for my little end-of-the-year top 10 school sport highlights list. It’s an entirely subjective exercise, based only on teams and players that I actually saw in action, although – mercifully, as I get older and more home-bound – I’ve included things I saw on TV (or computer), courtesy of the wonderful innovation of SuperSport schools.

SuperSport Schools has been a game-changer for me and my trivial list year can include, as you’ll see, references to the School Boat Race, and the SA Schools Water Polo Champs, and I can say I was there – via my laptop and an HDMI cable.

1. So, and I think this is going to be a perennial, highlight number one has to be the growth in depth and quality of the SuperSport Schools coverage. I was able to watch the biggest rugby derbies, the interprovincial hockey and rugby weeks, the Boat Race and the SA Schools Water Polo tournament, while never leaving my couch. Who could have imagined that?

2. One of my other hardy perennials hasn’t stood the test of time, I’m afraid. St Benedict’s were comfortable winners of the SA Schools Rowing Championships for the 30th consecutive year and they aren’t going anywhere. They also won the schools boat race for the seventh year in a row. But the second part of this regular “cut-and-paste” paragraph had to be deleted: Northcliff High never won the Joburg co-ed schools athletics interhigh. They ruled for the previous 25 years in a row, but not in 2024. They relinquished the title in the only way most of us thought would ever be possible – they retired undefeated. The school has decided to align themselves with the summer athletics competition programme the way that the local boys’ schools have done. They wanted a new challenge, they felt, and there their athletes will meet stronger competition and become eligible for provincial and international selection. Let’s watch that space.

3. The Schools Boat Race always makes for riveting TV viewing and there was drama on the first day when St Mary’s, going for their 10^th consecutive win in the girls quad, had a rower “catching a crab” in the heats, finishing third. That meant there was a new champion this year – St Andrew’s – and credit to them for working hard and improving every year, when they seemed to be doomed to be perpetual runners-up.  

4. Jeppe’s 22-19 rugby win over Grey College has been dubbed the upset of the century, and certainly no-one saw it coming. I was there for this one and it was a classic case of the favourites underestimating their opponents, who played out of their skins. Jeppe took their chances and when it began to emerge that they might lose, the Grey players tried too hard, became individualistic, made mistakes and lost their shape. It’s not something you're ever likely to see again.

5. Let’s get all the rugby highlights out of the way. In July Western Province beat Free State in the “main game” of the Craven Week at Monument. It was their 5^th consecutive unofficial champions title and it took their winning streak at the week to 15 games. The quality of the top rugby schools in the Western Cape (and most them should really be in the Boland) is such that it’s difficult to see them losing any time soon.

6. The captain of the SA Schools side announced at the end of the Craven Week was King Edward’s Esethu Mnebele. He is the second player from Joburg’s top English rugby school to get that honour in recent years, following Travis Gordon in 2017. His journey is quite remarkable. He attended KES on a TAG Foundation bursary, meaning his way was paid by sponsors found by Jonathan and Tracy Gerber, and he was looked after throughout his school years by the foundation. He came from a poor family background and was given opportunities that he clearly made the very best of. I’ve been critical of bursary programmes that claim they have the interests of the boy at heart when they are actually only interested in the player and how he can help them win rugby games. TAG isn’t one of those.

7. Hoërskool Garsfontein beat Waterkloof 36-30 in the final of the SDC Noordvaal Cup competition. It was a clash between close neighbours, indicating that the rugby strength is in the Eastern side of Pretoria. Garsfontein are leaders in running their rugby programme on professional lines. Like it or not, it produces results.

8. Turning to hockey. Western Province won the boys U18 interprovincial title for the fourth year in a row, beating Boland 3-2 in the final. The great coaching and fine facilities at the same Western Cape schools that make WP schools rugby so strong are responsible for the power of hockey in the province (although some of the classmates of the WP Craven Week players would have been playing for the opposition in the hockey final). Southern Gauteng took the girls title, beating North Gauteng in the final.

9. Another individual. Jeppe’s Mukona “Smiley” Manavhela broke the South African record in the Boys U16 200m in 20,82 seconds at the NWU Top 30 meet in Potchefstroom in November. He wasn't beaten all year and is clearly going places.

10. Central Gauteng Aquatics came out on top at the SA Schools Water Polo Championships in East London in December. They won five of the 10 sectional titles, including both the U19 girls and boys. They got five gold medals, one silver and three bronze, to break the grip that Western Province has had on this tournament in recent years.