There is a lot of enjoyment derived from watching KZN schoolboy rugby. It’s good rugby and there is a lot of passion and commitment on display. But lets face it, there’s also a ton of sidelines drama here in the province as well. So I couldn’t help but laugh when I found out that even when all rivals are at off-season peace with each other and things feel like they have settled down, along comes the Minister of Education to get in on the act and properly ….. ! There will be a lot of holidays during the 2014 KZN school rugby season.
So far 2014 has the makings of the Titanic heading straight for the Iceberg. This is mainly because KZN with exceptions is only province that wants their rugby to end in the second term and as things stand there are not going to be that many Saturday’s during the second term.
There will be a week long holiday at the end of the first, which will not include Easter. This means that the Easter weekend will come around after the schools have started the second term.
Then with Freedom Day (27 April – public holiday on Monday, 28 April) and Workers Day (Thursday,01 May) falling in the same week, the Minister declare that whole week a school holiday as well.
There are also public holidays on Friday, 21 March (Human Rights Day) and Monday, 16 June (Freedom Day).
So a lot of holidays which eat up a lot of Saturdays.
On top of this, the three Tier-1 private schools namely Hilton, Kearsney and Michaelhouse as well as Tier-2ish St Charles and Clifton are generally laws unto themselves with regards to determining when they will take half-terms and end of term breaks.
We’ve seen this one before with Michaelhouse not being able to fit Glenwood in during 2011 as a result of having one fewer Saturday than other KZN state schools. Now the problem is compounded.
So scheduling fixtures has become a headache and a half for the KZN High Schools Rugby Association. The fixture list should be complete by the middle of September. All schools are to meet on 20 August 2013 to discuss the 2014 fixture list. It will be complicated with the long weekend and holidays.
Lets also not forget that the KZN school rugby schedule does not help the Craven Week or other representative teams to prepare for their respective provincial weeks because of inter-schools matches being played right up to the end of the term. Other provinces tend to end their inter-schools fixtures in early June, which allows their representative teams time to play together during the last few weeks of the month.
2014 State Schools Calendar for 1st and 2nd Terms
|
Details |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Rugby Sat |
|
|
05-Jan |
30-Dec |
31-Dec |
01-Jan |
02-Jan |
03-Jan |
04-Jan |
|
|
1st Term starts |
12-Jan |
13-Jan |
14-Jan |
15-Jan |
16-Jan |
17-Jan |
18-Jan |
|
|
|
19-Jan |
20-Jan |
21-Jan |
22-Jan |
23-Jan |
24-Jan |
25-Jan |
|
|
|
26-Jan |
27-Jan |
28-Jan |
29-Jan |
30-Jan |
31-Jan |
01-Feb |
|
|
|
02-Feb |
03-Feb |
04-Feb |
05-Feb |
06-Feb |
07-Feb |
08-Feb |
|
|
|
09-Feb |
10-Feb |
11-Feb |
12-Feb |
13-Feb |
14-Feb |
15-Feb |
|
|
|
16-Feb |
17-Feb |
18-Feb |
19-Feb |
20-Feb |
21-Feb |
22-Feb |
|
|
|
23-Feb |
24-Feb |
25-Feb |
26-Feb |
27-Feb |
28-Feb |
01-Mar |
|
|
|
02-Mar |
03-Mar |
04-Mar |
05-Mar |
06-Mar |
07-Mar |
08-Mar |
1 |
|
|
09-Mar |
10-Mar |
11-Mar |
12-Mar |
13-Mar |
14-Mar |
15-Mar |
2 |
|
Human Rights Day |
16-Mar |
17-Mar |
18-Mar |
19-Mar |
20-Mar |
21-Mar |
22-Mar |
??? |
|
1st Term ends |
23-Mar |
24-Mar |
25-Mar |
26-Mar |
27-Mar |
28-Mar |
29-Mar |
|
|
Holiday Week |
30-Mar |
31-Mar |
01-Apr |
02-Apr |
03-Apr |
04-Apr |
05-Apr |
|
|
2nd Term starts |
06-Apr |
07-Apr |
08-Apr |
09-Apr |
10-Apr |
11-Apr |
12-Apr |
3 |
|
Easter Weekend |
13-Apr |
14-Apr |
15-Apr |
16-Apr |
17-Apr |
18-Apr |
19-Apr |
|
|
Easter Weekend |
20-Apr |
21-Apr |
22-Apr |
23-Apr |
24-Apr |
25-Apr |
26-Apr |
|
|
School Holiday |
27-Apr |
28-Apr |
29-Apr |
30-Apr |
01-May |
02-May |
03-May |
|
|
School Holiday |
04-May |
05-May |
06-May |
07-May |
08-May |
09-May |
10-May |
4 |
|
|
11-May |
12-May |
13-May |
14-May |
15-May |
16-May |
17-May |
5 |
|
|
18-May |
19-May |
20-May |
21-May |
22-May |
23-May |
24-May |
6 |
|
|
25-May |
26-May |
27-May |
28-May |
29-May |
30-May |
31-May |
7 |
|
|
01-Jun |
02-Jun |
03-Jun |
04-Jun |
05-Jun |
06-Jun |
07-Jun |
8 |
|
|
08-Jun |
09-Jun |
10-Jun |
11-Jun |
12-Jun |
13-Jun |
14-Jun |
9 |
|
Youth Day |
15-Jun |
16-Jun |
17-Jun |
18-Jun |
19-Jun |
20-Jun |
21-Jun |
10 |
|
2nd Term ends |
22-Jun |
23-Jun |
24-Jun |
25-Jun |
26-Jun |
27-Jun |
28-Jun |
|
|
School Holiday |
29-Jun |
30-Jun |
01-Jul |
02-Jul |
03-Jul |
04-Jul |
05-Jul |
|
Is the George Campbell vs Durban high school game taking place in 2014?
@Grasshopper: Hopefully not Kearsney as we have nothing to fear there. Pionier a different story. Lots to fear.
On a serious note, Westville needs to avoid the Pionier fixtures because they do not have enough teams to give all Westville teams a game. In a festival, no problem.
I am hoping that this is a catalyst to get Westville playing into the 3rd term. I live in hope.
@Westers: are you guys going to try and avoid Kearsney and Pioneer in 2014?
@Westers: yeah, we need to avoid our banana skins Northwood and GC, Westville are usually a definite win so no need to avoid that one ;-)
@Grasshopper: Not sure why any of the Highway schools would need to make excuses. But you guys could use it to escape the GC fixture.
I smell a few excuses coming from the Highway area after this….
Beet or anybody else, could you please compile a KZN age-group ranking.