Court dismisses St Charles cricket parent’s case

The St Charles College (Pietermaritzburg) parent that sued his son’s school because they dropped his son as captain (asking the court to reinstate his son as captain) had his application dismissed with costs on Tuesday, 22 January 2014.

The judge ruled the court had no legal right to meddle with the internal affairs of the school – and even they did, he would not have found in the father’s favour.

“St Charles College principal Allen van Blerk issued a statement saying the judgment reinforced several critical pillars for independent education, including the right to pursue excellence and to preserve the educational nature of sport” (The Mercury).

Here was the blog we had on the story last year.

http://blog.schoolboyrugby.co.za/?p=4635

St Charles cricket chaos plot thickens

There have been a number of bizarre developments at St Charles College recently in respect of one of its 1st XI players (or ex-players as the case may be).The one-time captain of the 1st XI was dropped by the coach for what appeared to be a run of poor form. He was not only dropped as captain but from the XI altogether. This triggered an unfortunate series of events.

The father of this scholar, whose identity has been withheld for legal reasons, instituted an urgent application in the Kwazulu-Natal High Court for an urgent order reinstating his son to the 1st XI. That application has been opposed by the school who have yet to file answering papers.

The father went further and instituted a damages claim for R2.1 million against the 1st XI coach, Dave Karlsen, claiming that the scholar had suffered damages to his dignity and reputation. That appears to be interesting given the natural loss of reputation that the scholar would have suffered from his run of poor form where he scored 0, 0, 2, 0, 0 and 4 in his last six innings prior to him being dropped.

In a recent bizarre turn of events, the head of cricket, Bruce Roberts (who some may remember from his Transvaal “Mean Machine” days in the 1980s and early 1990s) has been dismissed for communicating with this scholar’s father. Roberts is challenging his dismissal in the CCMA as being unfair.

It seems as if the school is trying to resolve the matter with the parent. I certainly hope that day has not arrived where a parent can bully a school into selecting his/her son by the threat of legal proceedings. That would be a sorry day indeed.

Leave a Reply

10 Comments

  1. avatar
    #10 phat55

    very sad indeed that a parent would react like this……

    ReplyReply
    27 January, 2014 at 14:41
  2. avatar
    #9 valke

    @Woltrui: Thanks. I see it is up now.

    ReplyReply
    24 January, 2014 at 11:04
  3. avatar
    #8 beet

    @Woltrui: Thanks I got it

    ReplyReply
    24 January, 2014 at 10:25
  4. avatar
    #7 Woltrui

    @beet: Beet I saw the fixtures and groups is out on rugby15 this morning. Sorry I woke up so late :oops:

    ReplyReply
    24 January, 2014 at 07:52
  5. avatar
    #6 beet

    @Woltrui: Can’t you get me a contact for this NuPower. I’m struggling to get the fixtures. I have part of it = the Garsies group and dates.

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 23:12
  6. avatar
    #5 Koos Roos

    Goeie beslissing. Hopelik stuur dit ‘n broodnodige boodskap aan sulke ouers. Geluk aan die skool wat by hul “guns” gestaan het. Maak egter geen fout nie. Ouerinmenging is springlewendig in skolerugby.

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 22:49
  7. avatar
    #4 Woltrui

    @jakes: Hi Jakes. Was it you or Valke that asked if the Nu-power groups were available? The 2 groups I heard about is as follow: EG Jansen, HTS Middelburg, Centurion and Vereeniging Gim in one group. Nelspruit, Garsies, Florida and Marais Viljoen in a group. Think that Jansies HTS game would be a humdinger.

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 13:04
  8. avatar
    #3 jakes

    Good- his over inflated ego is now going to cost him a whole lot of money. He could have used this money to enhance his child’s future…but he only embarrassed him

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 10:09
  9. avatar
    #2 Buffel

    There is no place in Cricket for this sort of behaviour. He must accept that either his son is in bad form or he is kak. I think the latter and as far as his future goes, no team is going to touch him with the fear that Dad might get involved.

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 09:38
  10. avatar
    #1 Scrum Doctor

    At last some common sense ! total embarrassment for father and son . Pity about the head of cricket though – hope he is successful with his CCMA hearing .

    ReplyReply
    23 January, 2014 at 08:34