Good news is that on Thursday 08 February 2018, Queen’s College finally put their grievances with their great rivals Dale College to bed and now the one of the oldest interschool challenges is back on the fixture list.
Interestingly talk was that Selborne was prepared to step in and help Dale on the latter’s Old Boys’ Day if Queen’s were unwilling to play.
There is no winner when traditional rivals decide to break ties but perhaps the way things transpired in this breakup and reunion, it’s Queen’s who have come away as the winners in their attempts to get Dale to commit to a more acceptable standard in the view of the Kudus.
There are two letters posted on Dale’s website: http://www.dalecollege.co.za/
Both letters addressed to the new Queen’s headmaster Janse van der Ryst and to contain juicy material.
The first one is titled “Letter of Apology”. It mentions the embarrassment of a letter on social media which “…was not written by the person who’s name appeared on the bottom thereof.” Dale letter_of_apology
The second letter titled “Statement of Intent” deals with the important issues surround improving security at the Graveyard and somewhat surprisingly mentions that the match referee to be approved by both sides (suggesting there is a control over who is appointed to take charge of the match). But the very interesting bits are things contained in point 3 that didn’t take centre stage and appear to point to some serious wrong-doings: Dale statement_of_intent
@McCulleys Workshop: I agree fully.
@Playa: Where a kid is in grade 7 and over age and therefore unable to play for his school, it makes absolute sense for him to fit in with the rugby program of the local high school. The same would apply to any Queenstown kid.
@beet: Players who play for higher teams then benching for lower teams and overage players are untested allegations. Dale agreed as it was raised by QC, and for the sake of agreement it was added to the letter of intent.
The players who do not attend Dale College who play in the under 14s usually are from Dale Junior and Central Primary. This has been happening for decades, and was common in my days at Dale. Central doesn’t have a high school, and the kids who finish grade 7 there usually go to Dale or KHS. Those boys are not allowed to play for the A team. I am not aware if this has spread to other schools but it’s possible. Further, where there is a boy who’s not a Dale student who plays for the school this has always been disclosed to the opposition. So I am very surprised how this can now be an issue. Not to say that it’s not a fair request from QC.
Needless to say, I am happy sanity has prevailed. Life just wouldn’t be the same without Border’s oldest rivalry.
The point 3 disclosure here is quite serious:
Not playing (benching) for a lower team – presumption is A team players play for B team or lower after their games.
Playing in the correct age group – presumption is that older players playing in lower age group games.
No player from outside Dale College – unless this relates to primary school players playing for u14, the presumption is just students who do not even attend the school play for the school team. If they are the right age and playing for B,C,D teams and properly disclosed to opposition, that shouldn’t be a big issue.
Sanity has won!!!
All is well that ends well, I suppose.
Trust that QCBHS will subscribe to the letter of intent as well. After all it was their students who invaded the field! Sanity has prevailed.