An old and storied rivalry

 

I learnt in my days as a journalist not to deal in absolutes, especially when it comes to reporting on school sport. The early histories of schools are generally shrouded in the mists of time, they don’t always make logical sense and statistics are often a bit subjective - schools can have their own versions of events sometimes.

So, I’ve found, if you use terms like the oldest, the first, the biggest, the best etc, you will inevitably get someone telling you that you got it wrong.

In light of that, when I was told that the 1^st team rugby match between Jeppe and KES on August 2^nd – the second leg of their annual double-header derby fixture - is the 100th meeting between the two, my first question was, is it really?

So, I did a bit of research and, importantly, I spoke to the statisticians at KES and it is true that this game will be the 100^th meeting. The schools have been playing for 90 years, but in some years, including the last six in a row, they met twice in the same year.

KES are Jeppe’s oldest rivals, along with Parktown and Pretoria Boys’ High. The two schools met for the first time in 1935 and since then there have been 99 encounters. KES has won 63, Jeppe 30 and there have been six draws.

During the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, KES pretty much dominated the first rugby team results. Jeppe have clawed their way back in recent times. Jeppe won seven and lost four times in the years between 2010 and 2019.

It’s been honours even – five victories each – in the last 10 encounters.

Last 10 results

2018  Jeppe 40 KES 25
2019  KES 49 Jeppe 31
2019  Jeppe 25 KES 7
2022  KES 27 Jeppe 26
2022  KES 19 Jeppe 16
2023  KES 23 Jeppe 20
2023  Jeppe 41 KES 31
2024  KES 38 Jeppe 28
2024 Jeppe 25 KES 13
2025 Jeppe 37 KES 28

And it’s a proper derby game. It’s become common, in these days of festivals and tournaments, to call the traditional, one-on-one fixtures between schools, derbies. They are not.

A real derby is between neighbours and it’s a clash that goes beyond a routine traditional fixture.

It’s in the origin of the term. The original derby game was on Merseyside: Liverpool vs Everton. Look at Google Maps and you’ll see that Anfield and Goodison Park are less than 1km apart and separated by Stanley Park. The two grounds are actually both located on what used to be the Stanley Estate which was the property of the Earl of Derby. That’s why when they play each other it’s called the Derby game.

It’s not just about distance, though. I’ve never been to a Merseyside derby, but I’ve watched a couple of them on TV, and I’ve spoken to people who have been there – it’s definitely not just another Premier League fixture.

The biggest proper school derby in South Africa – in the world, the people down there claim – is the Paarl Gim vs Paarl Boys’ High game. I have been to that one. There is simply nothing like it. The town is split in half and the buildup to the game runs for weeks beforehand. Things have changed over the years and schools no longer draw pupils from their immediate surroundings, but the Paarl schools, in the past, were referred to as “onder-dorp” and “bo-dorp”: upper and lower town, the wine farmers vs the townsfolk. There’s a social and economic conflict there that adds spice to the encounter.

KES and Jeppe are just 5km apart by road, so they are also close neighbours, and The KES vs Jeppe game is similar to the Paarl game in terms of the contrast between the historical and socio-economic status of the communities involved. It’s Houghton vs Jeppestown, Northern vs Southern Joburg. The fact that the boys now come from all over town, and many of the rugby players from all over the country, notwithstanding, that difference in origins is something the old boys like to shout about – in a nice way – and it makes for a great occasion.

When the two teams met earlier this year, over 50% of the starting lineups were black, which speaks volumes about transformation and inclusivity at the two schools.

A few years ago one of the school sport websites ran a poll asking its readers to name what they saw as the biggest schoolboy rugby derbies in the country. Not surprisingly, the Paarl derby came out tops. Second was K-Day, the Grahamstown clash between St Andrew’s College and Kingswood, Jeppe vs King Edward was third.

Paarl Gim and Paarl Boys’ High first played each other in 1915, but the oldest derby rivalry on record is SACS vs Bishops (1873); Graeme College vs St Andrew’s is next oldest (1886), followed by Dale vs Queens (1891).

The Jeppe-KES game is a bit younger, but it qualifies as an old and storied rivalry.

There won’t be room for a mouse at game number 100, it’s going to be a ripper!

 

The TAG Foundation difference

 

My Sporting highlight of the weekend?

Well, two passes in the Test matches on Saturday – Russell to Sione Tuipulotu and Williams to Edwill Van der Merwe – were gorgeous, confirming for me that rugby has, at the least, equal rights with soccer to call itself the “beautiful game.”

But it has to be the Junior Springboks winning the U20 World Championship for the first time in 13 years.

Watching the Vusi Moyo masterclass in the final and reflecting on the fact that he and the hooker, Esethu Mnebelele, are both old boys of King Edward VII School, reminded me of the role that KES has played in rugby transformation in recent years.

Moyo and Mnebelele played for the SA Schools and U18 teams last year (Mnebele also did in 2023). When Golden Lions captain, Chinedu Amadi, made the SA Schools team at the end of the Craven Week this year he became the 16^th KES player to do so, beginning with Lee Barnard in 1974 – the 1^st time a national schools side was selected.

Amadi is at KES on a TAG Foundation bursary, as were Moyo and Mnebele. Thabang Mphafi, who made the SA Schools team in 2022, was also a TAG boy, as was Thando Biyella in 2023 (he was in Italy with the Junior Boks too this year). That means five of the last six KES boys to make the SA School team were on TAG Foundation bursaries.

Here’s where I get a little hypocritical around the edges. I’ve come out hard against the practice of schools recruiting rugby players on bursaries to strengthen their teams and claiming they are being altruistic.

I have, however, declared that there are exceptions. The TAG Foundation is one of those. Sure, they look for talented rugby players to assist, but no player is approached unless there are also compelling financial reasons. I spoke to the headmaster, and to someone at KES who has been very involved in the programme last week (ironically while we were watching a festival of teams who play the other beautiful game), and they described the family circumstances of all those boys. None of them could afford to go to the school on their own dime.

Not all the TAG beneficiaries are rugby players of course, and great care (along with donor-funding) makes sure they all fit in at the school and leave it after five years as the sort of men we have come to expect KES boys to be.

If it weren’t for TAG, none of those SA Schools players would have attended KES and we wouldn’t have seen Moyo and Mnebele in action in that final on Saturday.

All five of them were at KES since Grade 8, which means they were spotted as potential stars, who stood out despite their challenging circumstances, when they were 12 or 13 years old. That’s remarkable, and a huge feather in the cap of those who did the talent identification.

The majority of primary school rugby stars never make it to top high school levels, however, so the KES rugby programme had to help them over the next five years to reach their potential.

And TAG looked after them every step of the way – financially, pastorally and in their academic careers.

How’s all of that for a highlight?

It's different, but the Craven Week is still the best tournament of them all

 

I know I whine a bit about the way in which the Craven Week has become, in effect, a knockout tournament, far removed from the festival of rugby it used to be – played according to the values laid down by Dr Danie Craven himself, which expressly forbade any notion of a “winner of the week.”

The week has  become the logical outcome of the professionalisation of rugby at school level – and that has meant many of the “old ways” have been left behind.

That saddens me, especially when there are lines crossed, ethical and educational, in pursuit of victory, but it is still the greatest tournament at school level, anywhere that the game is played.

I’m going to be glued to the TV next week. And, even though I said I won’t be going through, I won’t be surprised if I end up getting into my car, or bumming a lift from someone, and taking the two-hour trip up the N4 to Middelburg on one of the days, any way.

Being selected for a provincial team has always been the ultimate dream of any schoolboy player and, although the quotas imposed on teams, has blurred the lines, I think it still is. I’ve had my say on the imposition of minimum numbers in the teams and other than saying yes - transformation is absolutely necessary, and no – it’s not being handled fairly or effectively, I’ll leave it at that.

There are 16 teams at the Craven Week, and 20 at the Academy Week and only five or six have a realistic chance of ever making the main game. For the rest of the teams not much has changed, I guess. Those boys are closing off their school rugby careers – or rugby at any level, for many of them – with something special, getting to know new team mates, and soaking up the unique experience.

And off the field there will still be those who like me have been going to the week for years, pretending to have a keen eye for emerging talent and taking down names that we are going to be hearing again in the years to come.

I know the big festivals like Noord-Suid and Wildeklawer, together with SuperSport Schools, have reduced the mystique, and much of the cream of schoolboy rugby is already well-known to us by the time Craven Week comes around.

But those events are notoriously pale in complexion. The good thing about the quota system is that the provinces have been forced to dig deep to find black boys who can play at this level, and there are schools who are developing them in numbers.

There will be gems unearthed in Middelburg next week.

It’s not quite the same anymore, but there is still nothing like the Craven Week. And every game will be on TV – that’s how special it is.

And FNB are the new sponsors. That's great news. They pioneered serious financial involvement in school rugby with their Classic Clashes, and the Easter Festivals back in the day. I have good memories of the days when I used to cover those events. I'm hoping they do what good sponsors do - pay up, back off and let the boys take centre stage. Do that and your brand will soar.