To coin a schoolboy rugby phase “Greystaat!” Grey College = Vrystaat! Basically the entire strength of the Free State youth team setup is firmly vested in one school in the region. We known that for many years now, so what is new? Well it has been a long while since one of the other four big guns in Bloemfontein, namely Fichardtpark, Jim Fouche, Louis Botha or Sentraal have been able to go toe-to-toe with Grey College in a strength versus strength 1st XV match but what is concerning these days is their drop off in competitive sense. Jim Fouche was not in action this past weekend but look at these other results posted against a B-team:
| DATE | BLOEMFONTEIN SCHOOL | TOURING TEAM | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri.23Apr | Sentraal | 24 | 28 | Maritzburg College 2nd XV |
| Sat.24Apr | Louis Botha | 14 | 29 | Maritzburg College 2nd XV |
| Mon.26Apr | Fichardtpark | 24 | 31 | Maritzburg College 2nd XV |
Another indication is that a school like Greytown High on KZN battles to get fixtures for their 9 teams (Opens to 3rds and A&B age groups) because there just aren’t enough sizable opposition in the region (throw in budget for travel, the need for girls netball too and its almost impossible to get a decent season for all boys).
We also need to remember that Maritzburg is also in decline as a city. Not that different to Bloem. I agree with Bert that this is more indicative of a decline in rugby at all but the top few schools. Just look at how few teams there are nationally over the years (some research for you Beet??)
@beet: I don know about the decline in power ,perhaps we must look at their results against schools like Bloues in Kroonstad and other biggish co ed schools in the region
@Strepie: Ek was n ouer tydens die hele Scheepers debakel,wat ek kan se is dat ek die BL se siening heeltemal verstaan en insien…..maar ek kan Scheepers se situasie ook insien en verstaan ,gelukkig is dit nou bygele en kan die skoolas n geheel aangaan ….oor Bloem se geografiese probleem ,ek dink weer dit is n voordeel aangesien dit nie te ver van enige plek af is nie….
@Smallies: That is why i am very much prone Scheepers
@beet: they are good academic schools,and perhaps that is the crux of the matter ,are schools first and foremost academic institutions or sports body’s, we ,myself included,tend to focus more on the sport and so on while the school’s headmaster has a totally different focus …
@Smallies: When I worked on the matric results table I noticed that a couple of the Bloem schools posted good overall matric results – an indication that things are well within the schools. So this is not a dig at the schools, it’s purely an observation that rugby competativeness is declining at a faster rate than schools of similar stature in other regions.
Grey by comparison is growing in strength in relation to many other schools.
Perhaps the Bloem City League is leading the way by showing other schools that the educational priority should be to give your teams an opportunity to participate against opponents of similar strength and to move away from the notion that its a permanent scar to a reputation to be playing against B-teams.
@Smallies: Geografies gesproke is Bloemfontein in die moeilikheid.
Dit het klaar n beduidende impak op Grey ook.
HTS has been in decline for about 10 years now ,they had serious problems with dissipline a while back and from what I’ve heard around town narcotics is also a big issue at the school,the others just don’t seem to be able to get their recruitment right….or are unwilling to do the hard yards to reqruit in the small towns in the Freestate and Northern cape….