Just stop it!

I see that Danny Jones, head of amateur rugby at Western Province has been asked to intervene in the Paarl Boys’ High matter which has seen Wynberg Boys’ High and SACS both vow to have nothing to do with the Paarl School as a result of it’s poaching some of their rugby players.

That indicates that it’s being taken pretty seriously by the union down there, but one wonders what they are able to do about it.

The Zondo commission on state capture is on as I write this and what’s emerged out of the swill trough that it’s exposing is that only a truly independent investigating authority, with the power to arrest people and put them on trial is capable of putting a stop corruption. That, or those in power just must not do it anymore!

Maybe we need something similar when it comes to the scourge of schoolboy rugby recruitment. It’s a lower key issue, I know, but the same questions are being posed here as those asked about state corruption. Can it be stopped, and if it can, who is going to stop it?

I don’t have the solution, but I know that Danny Jones isn’t the answer. That’s a bit like former president Zuma’s internal investigation into the renovations at Nkandla. Western Province Rugby, remember, are the ones who allow unquestioned, Paarl Boys’ High and the other Boland rugby schools to stay part of Western Province in the first place. And given the union’s pride in their continued status as the undisputed kings of school rugby, I’d be very surprised if they weren’t in some way involved in the recruitment practices of those self-same WP/Boland schools.

It’s like asking the Golden Lions to intervene in a dispute between a Joburg boys’ school and the co-ed school that has lost a player to them on a bursary – everyone knows that the union condones, if not openly encourages, getting the best players into the “best” schools.

No, some one else has to take a hand it. But, I’m afraid we are a long way from that. In the first instance, we have to agree that trading in children between the ages of 13 and 18 is wrong. Some, incredibly, believe that when the reasons behind the practice have to do with the development of good rugby players and the maintenance of school winning records, it’s OK.

Then there’s the matter of authority. Who is actually in charge of a schoolboy (other than his parents, of course)? Well, it’s not the local rugby union.

There is legislation - The South African Schools Act of 1996 - and the SA Council for Educators covers it in its code of ethics, and there is the common law principle of in loco parentis. According to the latter, the parents delegate the authority to care for their children in their absence to the school, which translates into the school principal having the responsibility to make decisions (pastoral and educational) on their behalf and he/she, in return can be held liable for any harm done to the children in their care.

This stand-in responsibility cannot be shirked, any more than the legal and codified requirements can be ignored. As the leader of the school the principal has to make decisions that are in the best interests of the child. No-one else can be given that authority.

He or she also sets the direction for the entire school. If they believe the principle of luring talented players to other schools is wrong – and you cannot argue that being “bought” on the basis of rugby ability has no effect on a child – then they have the authority and the duty to put a stop to the practice.
 

Sure, the parents will claim that no offers were made. Paarl Boy’s High’s reply to Wynberg includes a statement from the parents insisting that it was entirely their son’s own decision and they were never approached by the school.

Maybe that’s true – I have no way of proving otherwise – but it’s a common response in these sorts of cases, and in all of them the child in question is a potential A team rugby (or other high-profile sport) player and it’s in the financial interests of the parents to go along with it.

Unlike with state capture, where no remedy seems to be in sight, there is a solution here. Just stop it! Don’t accept kids into your school who are coming to help your teams to win. Don’t go looking for players elsewhere. Stop lying about it; don’t be a hypocrite; and stop playing against any school that persists with the practice.

Then let it settle down and get on with your duty to advance transformation and give opportunities to those who are genuinely in need.

The real reasons why schools are raiding the Eastern Cape

My colleague at SARugbymag.co.za, Dylan Jack, opened the school rugby recruitment can of worms nice and early this year with this article on the luring of talent from Dale and Queens Colleges to, presumably, the elite schools of the KZN Midlands and Durban.

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/natal-schools-accused-of-player-poaching/

It got quite a bit of attention, including 114 shares, so far, of the Facebook link to it, and 131 comments. And many of those who commented believe there is nothing wrong with the practice and they wonder, some of them quite rudely, what Dylan is on about.

Those who think the “buying” of players – black African boys, mainly from disadvantaged homes in this case – is a good thing cite the reasons you often hear. It’s offering the players a better future via an education at a good school, and a chance to develop as rugby players through good coaching and competition. They will get recognition at those schools and it may lead to a future as a professional player for them.

All of which might very well happen, of course, although there are some alarming cases in which that promise of a brighter future goes up in smoke when the talented youngster doesn’t develop as expected, or is injured, or simply doesn’t fit in with his fabulous new surroundings. It’s often a ticket back to the rural Eastern Cape for him then.

Many do become great players and go on to play at the highest levels and there are schools that do commit themselves to the holistic development of all their pupils and who will keep the boy on even if he flops as a player. So, you can’t condemn the process out of hand – it’s an ill-wind that blows nobody any good – but we are kidding ourselves if we believe that the raiding of the schools, like Dale and Queens, located in the parts of the country where rugby is traditionally the sport of choice among black children is being done purely for philanthropic reasons.

No. There are two things behind it: wins for the first teams of schools and the rankings that go with that and the enforced compliance with race-based quotas in representative teams at school and senior levels. And those quotas are increasingly going to distinguish between black African players specifically and generic players of colour in the future.

As a result, schools on the hunt send their scouts to the festivals and to the under-13 and under-16 provincial weeks, on the lookout for talented players who are going to win games for them in time to come. They have the support, financial and technical, of the provincial unions who know they have to select Craven Week teams according to an ever-increasing quota, and that the pressure is on from SA Rugby to field black African players in their senior teams. It’s easier to look for ready-made rugby players in the places where they already exist than to create a development progamme and nurture them there.

That’s why the talented players at Dale and Queens are being targeted and those who engage in the practice should own up to it and not hide behind noble-sounding talk of offering opportunities to those in need.

Anyone who is able to offer those opportunities should be doing so, of course, but rugby talent shouldn’t be the main, or only, criteria for deciding who is given the chance.

If serving rugby is what you have at heart, why not leave the youngsters at schools like Dale and Queens where they are getting good coaching, and games, and spread your net to take in the many talented kids who don’t have any access to the game?

A really disturbing point made in Dylan Jack’s article is that the predator schools have become very good at getting to the parents of the boys they want, making them financial offers they can’t refuse. Not much ethical behaviour and educational principle at work there.

It’s a dishonourable business and the dishonour overshadows the good that is being done in the process. Those who have power to put an end to it are the headmasters of the schools involved. They have the authority, and they should have the morality to see it for what it really is – and end it, as early as right now!

Stop playing against the buyers of players

The decision taken by 10 Auckland, New Zealand, principals to stop playing against a school that has been aggressively recruiting established 1^st team rugby players, as reported in the New Zealand Herald

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=12171645&ref=twitter

has caused a bit of a flutter.

It’s not an original story, of course, and the movement of high performing players from schools that already have established rugby programmes to others has become quite common in our schools rugby. I’ve stated my view – it shouldn’t happen and it has to stop.

A respected headmaster of a Joburg boys school, apparently, recently pointed out to a conference of his peers that they have the power to end the practice, and it’s quite simple – stop playing schools who indulge in those practices. If the heads agree to that (and they already have in terms of the charters and agreements they have signed – not to mention by virtue of their non-negotionable duty to be educational in all they do), then there wouldn’t be a problem.

But there is, and at the end of the day we have to accept that either some headmasters are dishonest, or they have lost control of what’s happening in their recruitment departments.

An Auckland-style shunning of those who break the rules would work, although it will punish the players at the banned school who had nothing to do with it. No, we have to get everyone to stop doing it – simple as that.

I made the mistake of taking to Twitter to defend my stand on the matter and came up against all the usual excuses and justifications.

No-one is saying that providing better opportunities to kids who have potential is a bad thing. On the contrary, the success stories of those who have had their lives turned around through bursaries should be sung from the hilltops. I do some work at two Joburg schools who have foundations doing just that and have come across magnificent examples aplenty.

But that’s not what we are talking about, although those who condone the practice of elite recruitment often try to disguise it as some sort of altruistic opportunity creation. Yeah right! They are after more wins for the first team at the end of the year, nothing else, and they should try and pull the wool over other people’s eyes.

As someone in that Twitter thread I’ve spoken of pointed out, there are cases where players who are already on bursaries at good rugby schools are lured to others. There is only one way to do that: offer a better financial deal. That’s buying, not bursary granting.

I’ll give you two examples, and let’s stop stuffing around and name some names. There was an under-14 player, a black boy on a full bursary, living in a top class hostel at a school that produces multiple provincial players who didn’t come back after playing in the Glenwood under-14 Festival at the beginning of the year.

Then there was the Golden Lions Craven Week player, also on a bursary, who suddenly upped and left for Paarl Boys’ High – he didn’t move out of financial need or the desire to be at a school where he would be recognised – he already had been.

There are examples aplenty of that sort of thing and not a single one can be justified. And please stop telling us that the parents approached you. The only cases where that happens are when they have already committed to commoditising their sons and are looking for a deal (as is pointed out in the NZ Herald article) and I’ve been told of a number of examples where that has happened here too.

Our top rugby schools have excellent coaches and the players work incredibly hard, I’ve seen that up close and first hand. Of course you deserve success if you are prepared to do that, and you can’t expect success if you don’t. But if we are to be ethical and educational – and that’s not an optional extra, school sport has to be just that -  then we should work hard at developing the children who are placed in our care.

We certainly can’t go shopping about for replacements and reinforcements to ensure our place on the top of the pile. If you do that you have no right to crow, and those who try to justify what you do in terms of transformation, rugby excellence and professional career pathways are as unethical and uneducational as you are.

And everyone should agree to never play against you again.

Looking back on the best of 2018

And that’s the school sport year done – except for the boat race, and the interprovincials coming up.

So, not for any good reason, except that I always do, I’ve drawn up a list of my top 10 sporting achievements this year. I used to limit them to things I had actually seen myself but now that I work for a rugby and cricket only website, I don’t get around so much. Some of the below are therefore based on hearsay, but they are all undoubtedly amazing.

In no particular order:

1 Lythe Pillay of King Edward VII broke the boys schools athletics interhigh 100m 200m and 400m records, all of the same day and at the end of the year added the SA under-15 400m record to his tally.

2 Jeppe High School for Boys' 1^st hockey team finished unbeaten in a season which saw them play all of the top schools in the country. They successfully defended the local Aitken Cup title for the third year in a row and were the top ranked school in the land on all those odious ranking lists.

3 For the second year in a row, a local player captained the SA Schools rugby team. Last year it was Travis Gordon of KES, this year Jeppe’s Muzi Manyike led the team in their game against France when the original captain withdrew due to injury. Muzi also played for the SA under-18 Sevens team.

4 Two hardy perennials – St Benedict’s won the team competition at the SA Rowing championships for the 25th year in a row, and ...

5 Northcliff High School won the Co-Ed schools athletics A league for the 22^nd year in a row. Heaven knows who will topple them, and Bennies, from their perches. I do know that those wins don’t come easy, though, and in both cases single-minded determination and much hard work goes into it, year after year.

6 One I was at: St Andrew’s School of Bloemfontein won the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge title in Pretoria in March. They are a small school, punching way above their weight. First they ended Grey College’s long domination of Free State schools cricket, then they beat the best from around the country.

7 Everyone’s trying, but no-one has been able to shift Monument from their spot as the top local rugby team. They were beaten by Helpmekaar and Garsfontein earlier but when it counted – in the Virseker Cup final – they produced the goods to beat Helpmekaar 57-11 and take the North Vaal title (and its predecessors) for the eight time.

8 Central Gauteng (OJ Eagles, in effect) won water polo’s national championship (Currie Cup) for the 14^th time in the last 16 years. The club, made up of mainly, but not only, St John’s old boys, is coached by Vlado Trninic and they continued their incredible run of successes.

9 That Currie Cup water polo tournament was held at St Stithians after CGA had to step in, very late, to host it after Western Province withdrew due to the Cape Town drought. Saints parent and Gauteng Schools administrator, Bruno Fernandes, showed he is without peer as a tournament director by putting on another flawless show.

10 The Craven Week was in Paarl and Western Province won the “finals”of both the main tournament and the Academy Week that goes with it. The strength of schools rugby is very much in the Cape and only the Golden Lions seem to be capable of challenging that.

Here’s an 11^th – OK I lied, but this is just so nice.

11 Muzi Manyike, again. The Jeppe head boy and captain fetched, on his own initiative, this little disabled boy from a local orphanage and got him to carry the match ball out, to the cheers of the biggest school rugby crowd of the year, ahead of the second Jeppe v KES derby game.

It just won't be the same down at the pool again

Now's the time to bring out my bounce shot, I thought. It was in a big game for the Johannesburg Otters third team against Zoo Lake.

So I let loose. The ball plugged in the water, if that's possible, and drifted into the back of the head of a team mate who was was ponderously making his way, head down, into the hole. "Wait until I'm ready before you pass," he screamed at me.

The man on the break was Webby, the legendary Brian Webster in his later playing days and 40 years of service to the game of water polo and influence rubbed off onto thousands of youngsters lay ahead.

He was teaching at St David's at the time and I was running Transvaal Schools water polo. We got him on board as a coach, it must have been in the early 80s, and nothing was the same again. A razor sharp wit, an unbelievably sarcastic tongue and a complete inability to suffer fools gladly are what I remember, and what I continued to come across, as I drifted in and out of his considerable presence down the years.

He taught at King Edward School for a number of years and in that time they became the top polo school in the land - there's always heaps of talent among those boys, and his rough and ready style suited the sort of culture you get in that type of boys schools.

From there he went to St Stithians where he was as successful, in a different setting. He re-invented himself as a girls water polo coach at some stage and was instrumental in the development of the game into the fastest growing girls sport in schools in the country.

He eventually stepped down from senior coaching and took junior teams at Saints that hardly ever lost. He remained in charge there, though, and together with his wife Bridget, he invented and initially ran the Saints Invitational tournament that others are getting the credit for these days.

At the same time, he stayed involved at a provincial schools level. He ran Gauteng schools polo and expertly organised the SA Schools Championships when asked to. He also ran the club based at Saints and in the holidays he ran coaching clinics and took teams on overseas tours.

Yesterday I saw a Facebook post announcing that it was his last day in Gauteng polo - at a club game, I guess. Bridget is going to teach at a prestigious girls school in Grahamstown and Webby is tagging along. "I'm going to run the tuckshop, and probably coach some polo," he told me.

I bet he will be. But more than that, Grahamstown is going to get the Webby treatment. It will never be the same again, poolside, for them.

Brian Webster was a constant, sometimes disruptive, presence wherever water polo was being played in this town for so many years. The kids will be poorer for his leaving. I will miss him.