Last week (14 June 2017) Florida Hoërskool completed their LVL A-league and Virsekerbeker commitment by playing fellow Golden Lions region rivals and regional rugby powerhouse Monument. However there had been unhappiness earlier in the year stemming from Monument acquiring three former Florida under-14 players.
Florida had worked very hard to recruit four talented grade-8 rugby players for their 2017 under-14 team. The four had all been speedy Golden Lions under-13 Craven Week backline players in 2016.
However all four players all left Florida to join Monument during the April 2017 holidays.
Since then one boy returned to Florida.
Florida initially had refused to sign off the other three youngsters.
So during April 2017 the parents of those boys went to see the relevant officials at the school based to the west of Johannesburg to inform they wished to take the boys back to their homes in the Western Cape.
It is believed that Florida’s headmaster agreed to sign off the boys after their parents promised to take them back home as indicated.
According to a reliable source the boys had stayed with their parents in a B&B at the time of discussions, which came as a bit of a surprise given the families’ financial status. After an agreement reached by the headmaster and parents, Florida officials went to the B&B to collect some of the boys belongings, where the owner of the establishment told them she was asked to store the goods for a few weeks, which naturally came as another surprise.
Florida also believed that their headmaster had a verbal commitment from the Monument headmaster, that should these boys arrive at Monument that they would send them back.
As promised the boys were then all written in at Cape schools.
On 23 May 2017 the Golden Lions and Blue Bulls trials teams played at Monument and it was at that time that Florida came to learn that the boys were once again back at Monument.
The reason is alleged to have been that the parents could not get the boys settled in at their Cape schools, and so basically after exactly one month they returned to Gauteng and enrolled at Monument.
As a result of leaving the Gauteng and being written in at a school outside the province, they no longer needed a Florida release and were also no longer restricted in any way from qualifying to play for Monument.
For Florida this is a “bitter pil om te sluk” as the Afrikaans people would say.
The one boy had broken his leg at the Outeniqua under-14 Festival and Florida had paid for all the medical expenses including an operation and the works. When the boy was spotted at Monument during the trial games, he was on crutches that Florida had paid for.
Understandably the thought must have crossed Florida management’s mind to cancel their rugby fixtures against Monument in June.
“Wat het van gesonde buurmanskap en gesonde mededinging geword?” was one of the comments made by someone with first hand knowledge of the matter.
Monument will turn 100 years in 2021. Acquiring talented players like these backs could go a long way to towards building a “Dream Team” for that landmark year but it may come at a cost to Monnas’ good standing in their Golden Lions region community.
@knowthegame: Nepotisme my mater Nepotisme
@BrotherBear:jammer nou eers berig gelees,was bietjie in die bos.Enigste woord dit is absoluut PATETIES.Monnas op julle beste.Hulle is ook sekerlik belowe van plekke in GK en CW.Ek nie woorde om sulke gedrag te beskrywe ni.Maar well done aan die original WITT BULLE
@jakes: I think you are right, and I think the pendulum will swing back towards a more balanced approach.
My honest opinion is that schoolboyrugby is becoming too proffesional and linked with some unethical practises going along with it. A lot of these boys will not play proffesional rugby 5 years after leaving school. Why are schools committing so much money into rugby? That is why schools are so devided regarding these issues these days.
@Couchmavin: My son played against them at Marlow under/13 week. Lochnerhof beat them in the final. It was so funny you had Cape parents supporting both teams because all the star players were from the Cape. But like people believe on this blog it’s all about opertunities? They must have been bought when they were 11 or 12, but who cares the schools know what is best for them at that age.
@Couchmavin: Do not know about these boys but in 2011 when my son was in grade 6 some of the primary schools refused to play Florida primary because they recruit from the Cape from 11/12 year old age group.
Beet,in your article you state the Western Province boys are 2016 Golden Lions Cravenweek players? Is this correct, or did you mean to write Western Province Cravenweek players? If your article is factually correct,where they already in Gauteng primary schools?
@Murrayfield: Nooit nie!
@CharlesZA: Monnas sal dit nooit doen ni!! Dit is mense wat Monnas haat wat dit versprei!!
@CharlesZA: Geen idee. Die een op krukke sukkel huidiglik met sy side step. Hy kry nie linker kruk vinnig genoeg in posisie nie.
Is die 3 laaitjies soo goed dan die skool bereid is om enige iets te doen om hulle te kry?
@Tang: I already mentioned last week Monday that I have respect for Florida. They had very little change of winning a game against Monnas and enough reason to cancell but decided to put politics aside and honour their fixture against Monnas.
Never trust an official (in this case the Monnas management) where money and/or power is involved. It corrupts many, mostly. I am not surprised at this strategy, which is very similar to the Garsfontein model. The Garsie head coach us now the Monnas head coach.
I am sure it will piss off quite a few parents. Can only imagine what the first team captain’s father would have done if that had impacted his son. There wouldn’t be enough cots or toys in the whole of the westrand to accommodate his indignation and rage.
@beet: What a sad story. How can this not be classified as a professional transaction? The parents have entered into an employment contract with Monument. In exchange for playing rugby at Monument, the boys receive school fees, hostel fees, uniform, etc. I still can’t believe that schools don’t see the heinous nature of these agreements. The parents have sold the boy’s skills to the school in exchange for payment (fees).
@Hooit: That is a matter of opinion. It could well be that Waterkloof has set the better example.
Beet a better headline would have been the following: ‘Florida sets a good example for Waterkloof’