The KES vs Northwood game was abandoned. Who won? Who cares?

 

Old fart alert. It’s me again with my (some say) antiquated ideas about school sport and the role of winning and losing when children are playing games that are part of their educational journey.

 

I know, it was back in the latter half of the last century when I last coached a team, but I do remember that the idea of playing a game is to win it, that it’s the job of those put in charge to prepare the players as best they can, and that the players need to produce maximum effort in the cause of victory.

 

That’s the educational value of the exercise, and if it’s all done properly then the result of the game, while it will cause both great joy and awful sorrow for a while, really doesn’t matter.

 

I’ve gone down this route again after being at the KES Easter Festival when the game between the hosts and Northwood on Monday was called off, seven minutes into the second half. Northwood were 12-7 ahead at that stage, having led 12-0 at half time. KES scored shortly after the break and it was looking like they were about to launch a stirring comeback.

 

Then lightning in the area set the warning siren off and, immediately, the game was stopped and everyone was instructed to find cover. It was a pity that we were robbed of what might have been a great spectacle, but that was that. I went into the festival office in the cricket museum where I’d been working all weekend and eaves dropped on the radio conversations and heard, half an hour later, that the game was off.

 

The sun was out by then and the all-clear sounded minutes later but, I understood, Northwood still had a bus trip back to Durban ahead of them and it’s school on Tuesday, so resuming the game was not really on. That’s an educational decision and it was spot on.

 

It’s a ‘no result’ I heard someone say and that’s right, I thought.

 

Then, on Tuesday morning, I awoke to see on social media that the contest was reported as a win for Northwood, along with a debate on whether that was right or wrong. SupersportSchools published it on their Facebook page, which is pretty official, but then again they’d had their graphic artist prepare the results template with the badges of the schools on it ahead of time and they were always going to use it.

 

I’ve already said that results don’t matter, so who cares if people want to declare a winner under the circumstances? There was talk in the comment threads on Facebook about what constitutes a game, or not, and excerpts of regulations of various competitions were quoted. Someone said the referee declared it a result, which was weird, and wrong, because the referee – more than anyone else in the world – is not supposed to care about who wins or loses the game. If no-one wins, that’s the perfect outcome for him, come to think of it.

 

In my opinion, this was an easy one. It’s a festival remember. That’s the one type of competition when everyone should agree with me – the results count for nothing at all. You want to win, of course, but the games are put on for the sake of playing them only.

So, you don’t have to bother yourself with whether there was a winner or a loser. Northwood were brilliant in the first half, and KES were right back in the game when it was called off – that should be enough. 

It was for an old fart like me.  

Redemption for The Reds on Day1 of their Easter Festival

 

If you scripted a scenario for game in which the King Edward Reds laid the ghost of Stellenbosch to rest, once and for all, you could not have done a better job than what actually transpired in the final game of the opening day of the 21^st Standard Bank KES Easter Festival in Houghton on Saturday.

They put an end to their run of defeats with a 20-17 win over Rondebosch, and they did it at home, in front of a capacity crowd. Rondebosch came to Joburg unbeaten, with some big scalps on their belt and people are expecting them to finish right near the top of the rankings this year.

They may still do that – it certainly looked that way when they went straight on the attack from the kickoff and scored a try in the opening minute. What happened next must have surprised them, however. They came up against the most bloody-minded and courageous defensive effort that you are likely to see in a long time, with wave after wave of attack being repulsed on the Reds goal line.

When KES did eventually break break free, they went down to the other end and centre Sam Smith forced his way over under a pile of bodies for KES to take the lead. Bosch got another try soon after that, before Regan McGurk put the home side ahead, 14-10, a lead they never relinquished.

As much as anything, that defensive effort showed that the stumble against Paarl Gim was just a blip, and that this team does indeed have heaps of heart and courage, and that the boys certainly do know how to stop big runners in their tracks.

KES added two later penalties and led 20-10 for almost all of the second half before Rondebosch got a late try following a flurry of penalties going their way.

It was a great ending to what was one of the best days of festival rugby at KES in many years.

In the curtain-raiser, Jeppe also laid a ghost to rest following their 50-point defeat to Monument last weekend. Their skilful backs really turned it on and they scored six tries in their 38-17 win over Selborne.

The Affies vs Noordheuwel clash was billed as possibly the game of the day, and it didn’t disappoint. The sides are two of heavyweights up in this part of the country and they went at each other, hammer and tongs, for three quarters of the game before Affies scored two late tries to draw clear and win 45-27. The score was 26-15 to Affies at halftime and they were 31-27 up with 10 minutes to go.

In earlier action, the Hudson Park vs Eldoraigne clash was a thriller. It was a contrast of styles – direct play and big forwards from Eldoraigne and all-out trick running from Hudson Park. The sides swopped tries throughout the second half, with Hudson coming out ahead 32-26 at the end – a result that was popular with the big crowd that had begun to accumulate.

Northwood was too strong for Pearson in the opening game of the day, winning 61-27. Pearson’s scrumhalf, Denilo Jordaan, did score the try of the day, however. He took a tap penalty behind the goal line in the tuckshop corner, and weaved his way through the entire opposition team, to score under the scoreboard – you don’t see that every day.

Parktown was brave to start with against Queens College, but they couldn’t deal with the elusive running of the Queens backs and the went down 47-15.

I don’t recall seeing a bigger crowd at the festival and they got their money’s worth. Sunday is a rest day and we there will be more of the same on Monday.

It was all action at the KES Festival and the action hasn't even started

 

I am always amazed at the way that those running school sport find a way to heap more and more upon themselves in the cause of providing opportunities to get the children out there, playing.

Thursday was actually Day 0 at the Standard Bank KES Easter Festival – the 21^st one – but you wouldn’t think so if you went there. Last year it was decided to cut the number of rugby games played at the festival from three to two, in the interests of player safety. There is so much school rugby being played at this time of the year now that the Easter Festivals are no longer the early-season hit-out that the coaches use to do their final team selections, making three games ideal.

So, you’d think the lot that run the KES Festival - and it seems to be the same faces, led by the indefatigable Derron van Eeden, year after year – would use the quiet day to put the final touches to the mammoth task of squeezing everything in. You’d be wrong. They laid on seven rugby games – one more than on an official festival day – and gave those who did come along to watch a look at the work that the Golden Lions Union is doing in the townships of our city.

There were two under-13 Youth Club matches; games involving U16 and U18 girls team from their programme in that area; and a game between the KES 2^nd team and an U18 side selected from all their clubs.

That meant new faces and jersey colours at the festival, and the eye-opening experience of seeing that girls can play this game, and very well too. But that wasn’t enough.

The KES U15A and U16A teams played against Marais Viljoen. The Alberton school is not one that the school has met often down the years, but there is new rugby management there and, I’m sure, they were keen to see how they go against the best of English opposition, Their U15s have work to do, but the U16s gave the very good KES side some stern opposition and there are some boys there who can play.

Thursday is, of course, officially Day 1 as far as the hockey side of the Easter festival is concerned. Half a day, actually, as school was still on. The Red Sticks confirmed that they will be side to watch this year with an emphatic win over Glenwood, while the highly-ranked Maritzburg College and Jeppe had comfortable wins too. There’s a lot of hockey still to be played over the weekend – and they don’t take Sunday off.

The 1^st team rugby action gets going on Saturday and the schedule laid on is as intriguing as it has been for years. As a taster: Affies are playing Noordheuwel at 12.45pm on Saturday, ahead of games between Jeppe and Selborne; and KES against Rondebosch.

Queens College are here again with, I’m hoping, their usual big contingent of rowdy Joburg-based old boys; as is Northwood, the rising stars in Durban. The newcomers this year are Pearson High School, a Gqeberha school we’ve heard a lot about, but rarely see in these parts.

It’s going to be a good Easter,

Results

Hockey - Jeppe 4 Eldoraigne 1, Parktown 3 St Charles 1, Maritzburg College 4 Helpmekaar 1, KES 6 Glenwood 0, Northwood 2 Waterkloof 0.

Rugby - Eldorado Park U13 36 Westbury U13 0, Alexandra Wolves U13 75 Kagiso Sting U13 0, Golden Lions U16 Girls A 52 Golden Lions U16 Girls B 0, Golden Lions U18 Girls A 50 Golden Lions U18 Girls B 0, KES U15A 50 Marais Viljoen U15A 0, KES U16A 38 Marais Viljoen U16A 21, KES 2^nd XV 52 Golden Lions Development 3.

 

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.

Banning poached rugby players from provincial trials won't work, I'm afraid

So the Western Province High Schools Rugby Association, I see, has taken a resolution aimed at stopping what it calls the poaching of players at its affiliated schools.

In essence, a player that has been found to be poached, following a complaint from the school he was at, and an investigation, will not be invited to the province’s trials for its U16 Grant Khomo or U18 Craven Week teams.

It’s not a bad idea, but I doubt that it will have much effect. The selection and management of the teams that go to SA Rugby’s Youth Weeks is the only area in which the provincial schools unions hold any sway, really, so I guess that has to be what they are looking at. Whether what they are proposing will be enough of a disincentive to make schools change their recruitment policies and practices is, however, dubious.

The biggest flaw is believing that possible provincial selection is the main attraction. It’s part of it, sure, and schools with a track record of providing players to provincial teams certainly use that in their sales pitches. But it’s based on the quaint notion that offers made are in the interests of the players. They are not. Victories for the school’s 1^st rugby team is the goal and everything is in service of that.

You can’t, in any event, guarantee that every bursary player will become a provincial player, and to promise that is dishonest.

The proposals are based on another misconception. A Craven Week cap is not what it used to be. The ever-increasing racial quotas in those teams have meant that fewer and fewer white players can be chosen and that, rightly or wrongly, has had consequences. Some players at the top rugby schools have different targets now. Success for the school team at the big interschool festivals – Easter, Noord-Suid, Wildeklawer – on national TV - is as prestigious these days. And recruitment deals by the Universities and the senior unions, including overseas clubs, take place there now – the Craven Week is too late.

So, it’s quite possible that a talented white player (any colour of player, actually) can be persuaded to change schools even if that will close the Craven Week door for him.

The practice of poaching, for the school, is about buying future victories. At the same time, for the player and his parents it’s about money. School and hostel fees, kit and equipment, medical care, pocket money, and other things, are what are offered. Followed by a good chance at a Varsity Cup or junior provincial contract. And, of course, they say he will be getting a better all-round education than he was getting at the school he came from. I don’t think the threat of not being picked for the Grant Khomo Week necessarily trumps all of that.

Then, they have put in the loophole that they had to – movements of learners for reasons not related to poaching are OK. They cite two examples: a genuine case of changing schools because of relocation to a new town (or suburb), and movements that are academically in the best interests of the learner. Granting a bursary to a boy from an economically disadvantaged family that will give him access to an undeniable better education would also have to be acceptable – and that’s the justification very frequently used.

So, while it’s a start, and a move in the right direction, the sanctions proposed in Cape Town are a bit of a dead seagull, I’m afraid.

I spent derby day watching 12-year-old girls playing hockey

 

 

My sporting highlight of the weekend? ………… Well, not being at the KES vs Jeppe derby game for a change.

I see Jeppe won it by 12 points, after losing the 1^st leg by 10 back in April, which makes them narrow winners over the two games which sounds about right, given their respective seasons.

I decided I didn’t have the stomach to face the six hours of unrelenting struggle that is attending this particular fixture – they are basically jamming seven-odd thousand spectators into facilities designed for three of four thousand, and nothing good comes of that.

I was going to stay at home, but then I opened an invitation sent to me (I sometimes get invited to things by people who think I still work for a newspaper). It was to attend a primary schools girls hockey festival, marking the 145^th Anniversary of St Mary’s DSG in Pretoria.

Those 145 years caught my attention. They mean St Mary’s DSG was founded in 1879, that’s nine years before St Mary’s in Joburg - widely regarded as our oldest school - which I assumed was also the oldest school in Gauteng.

Those who know me won’t be surprised to hear that I had to find out what that was all about. OK, so I was going to Pretoria later on any way to watch the Test match on TV with friends, but I thought watching some 11 and 12-year-old girls playing hockey would be a nice change from the gladiatorial spectacle that is a KES vs Jeppe game.

So, I made the trip up the R21. I’m so glad I did. Apart from the fact that those children were playing on a field marked with white lines, and that they were busting a gut in the cause of their teams, the sporting action, and the day, could not have been more different, and it was glorious to see.

And I got to meet great people. Mrs Odelle Howard, the Executive Head of St Mary’s DSG addressed my curiosity about the school’s history and opened up the school building to show me some historic pictures and things – it has piqued my interest to dig deeper. Later, I met Melinda Vos, their Director of Sport. She’s got an educational take on sport in a school that they should bottle and send to some of the people that I’ve come across who are running sport in schools.

Meanwhile, the little girls were playing hockey. No scores were kept – they never even switched the electronic scoreboard on, and they were up for another game every 40 minutes or so, all three days long.

There were some over-excited parents, but that’s their job, I guess. Everyone was clearly having a great time.

I’m glad Jeppe won the derby game, but I’m not sorry that I wasn’t there to see it.

 

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.