An article from the Saturday Star, written by Theo Garrun
A couple of weeks ago I wrote of the kidnapping of two under-14 rugby players by a coach at another school. I’ve not heard anything more about the matter, so I suspect it didn’t actually happen – I hope not, anyway.
A day or two later another story did the social media rounds – about two young rugby players – Xhosa speakers – who were lured to an up-country Afrikaans medium school, no doubt by bursaries and promises of big money. Apparently, they soon discovered that they couldn’t speak the language, didn’t fit in and were very unhappy.
They weren’t allowed to leave, however. Money had been spent on them – on airfares, uniforms, kit etc and the school wanted a return on it’s investment. The upshot reads like something out of a novel: they escaped, with just the clothes on their backs, via an unlocked hostel kitchen door and were spirited back to the Eastern Cape in the dead of the night by one of their parents who drove through the day to fetch them.
Here’s hoping that one’s also apocryphal. If it isn’t we’re in even deeper trouble than everyone’s saying.
And make no mistake, the state of schools rugby is in the dwang – ethically, educationally and in terms of the simple rules of right and wrong where they apply to sport.
The issue here is the recruitment of talented players, but that’s not the only scourge – all sorts of cheating is going on, and that’s exactly what happens when winning rugby matches becomes the only true value.
I interviewed the headmaster of one of Joburg’s leading private boys schools recently and was saddened, but not surprised, to hear that 2013 was one of his most difficult years at the school – because the first rugby team did not win too many games,
Now that school can only be described as hugely successful in just about every field. Their matric results are second to none, cultural activities enjoy a high priority, service to the community is a compulsory requirement of all the boys, they are tops in country in one or two other sporting codes, and in 2013 one of their old boys pulled off what some regard as the greatest sporting achievement on the planet.
Yet the rugby side was poor – so the school cannot be grouped with South Africa’s great institutions – what rubbish!
Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s going. One would hope that educationalists would see it for what it is and not allow such a narrow definition of success distract the from their true purpose – the headmaster I referred to above certainly has not.
The incidents described, and the stories I hear around the schools, tell me that not all so-called educationalists think that way. The result has been the growth of a schoolboy marketplace, with agents and marketing men scoping the available talent at the junior interprovincial weeks, identifying the targets and making offers.
SA Rugby have tried to regulate the practice, but that hasn’t worked – their member provinces are complicit in it – they often fund the bursaries, in the pursuit of black players to meet their racial quota targets.
And the parents aren’t helping either. I heard the director of sport at one school speak last week of the stream of resumes he receives each year from parents touting their boy’s services.
Fathers, I’m told, are visiting school and to find out what they’ve got to offer, and there are cases of pupils, all signed up and registered, reneging at the last minute and going somewhere else, where the deal is sweeter.
We have schools that play beautiful rugby, worthy of airing on national television, we love to report on unbeaten seasons and we all rejoice at the success of our national teams.
Rugby, they say, is very healthy in this part of the world. It isn’t, really, and as much as I love the game, I wonder if it should still be part of the school sports system’
Theo Garrun, Saturday Star
Die situasie het heeltemal handuit geruk. Die druk wat op die seuns gelaai word om te presteer is uit verhouding. Ek wil waag om te sê dat die skole absoluut vere voel vir die emosionele en gesinsbehoeftes van die kind. Hulle sal eerder nuwe maniere uitdink om of die kind of die ouers oorreed om die kind nog ‘n jaar in die skool te hou, en dit is nie in die belang van die kind nie. Ek is mal oor skool rugby , maar die huidige ” handel ” met talentvolle kinders is siek om die minste te sê. Praat met ‘n ma die ander dag wat ‘n baie talentvolle kind moes “afstaan” aan een van die top skole, omdat sy graag wil hê haar kind moet geleenthede kry ( dis wat aan haar voorgehou word ), omdat hulle finasieël swaarkry. Ek is ‘n voorstaander dat hierdie skole geskors word uit die liga. Daar is ook groot dominansie sover dit Cravenweek keuses aanbetref vanaf die superskole. Wonder maar net of ons nie meer balans en beter spanne op die veld sal sien as die speelveld tussen skole meer gelyk was nie, en dalk sal die voorspelbaarheid dan ook verdwyn. Lekker onderwerp met vele oplossings
@seabass: Interesting read. I fear there is a lot of the same going on here. Heard that e tv is in the process of getting the rights to televise some school games not scheduled with Supersport. Its getting bigger and bigger.
Sorry manne. Moet lees. Daar het nog NIE sake hof toe gegaan nie.
@Maroon: Ek het daardie weergawe gister ook gehoor. Sal graag die waarheid wil weet. Beet het onderneem om te probeer uitvind.@Tjoppa: Nee wat Tjop. Dis nie fie “lawyers” wat soveel verskil nie, daar het nog net sake hof toe gegaan wat normaalweg ‘n aanduiding is van wat die howe se houding gaan wees nie. Die enigste vaste beginsels hier is: 1- Kinders kan nie geldige kontrakte voor 18 sluit nie, behalwe as ‘n hof hom geëmansipeerd verklaar het. Dis 1 uit ‘n miljoen. 2- Ouers wat sulke kontrakte namens die kinders aangaan kan waarskynlik sekere aanspreeklikheid optel, maar die kool sal die sous nie werd wees in amper al die gevalle. So nee wat ou Tjop, hierdie onding gaan nog jare met ons wees. Die enigste oplossing wat ek sien is wetgewing wat die hele proses reguleer. Of dit egter ooit in so ‘n ernstige lig gesien sal word is ‘n ander vraag.
Excellent article and sadly an accurate one.
The evolution of the professional game and the consequent “win at all costs” mentality has inevitably filtered down to schools with all of the unethical and immoral consequences such as substance abuse and over age players etc.
I can clearly recall MHS being very unhappy at the outset with the development of the ranking systems that sprung up a while back and trying to insist that they be excluded. I believe Bishops and some others took a similar view. At the time I thought that it was an over reaction to a harmless initiative and recall discussing the school’s stance with a friend who was on the Board at the time. He felt strongly that rankings were a step in a process that would ultimately undermine the ethos of school sport and in particular the ethos that MHS subscribed to.
MHS have steadfastly refused the temptation, notwithstanding some considerable old boy and parental pressure and many offers of funding that I am aware of, to participate in what has become an effective “arms race” on the basis that it would fundamentally change the ethos of the school’s approach to sport and the role of sport at the school. They will continue to ensure, within that framework, that the facilities and resources are made available to allow boys with potential to develop fully.
I am reconciled to the reality, as much as a poor rugby season like 2013 irks me, that ups and downs in rugby performance are a necessary consequence of this approach and hope that the pendulum swings again and 2014 is more like 2012.
@Vin: yep – he’s a good ‘un – would rather have him at KES but he will be great for St Johns
@Roger: Paul is a top man he was instrumental in the turn around at St Davids and will be brilliant for St Johns nice to have him back although he landed 500m down the road from heaven.
@Vin: and the current St Andrews headmaster will be taking over – I can tell you for a fact – he will not even entertain such rubbish. Top man
@Vin: @Grasshopper: its actually embarrasing to say the least – St Johns is one of the leading private schools in the country with traditions and ethos second to none. Their waterpolo and hockey clubs are top ten in the country and their cricket is pretty top notch too. Lets not mention their academic record (I mean – imagine a school focusing on academics – perish the thought) They have never been a strong rugby school and have produced the odd decent team here and there – but who cares – they remain one of the top schools in the country and will always be.
priorities totally screwed up – I hope that parent body or old boy body or whomever gave stick were told to get knotted in no uncertain terms
Great article, it is starting to become embarrassing that this is what we’ve stooped to. The private Johannesburg school is definitely St John’s. The old boy was Chris Froome. The reason maybe the the headmaster spoke so openly is that he has resigned/been replaced.
@Grasshopper: No rather not. Leave it.
@Koos Roos: Kom nou Koos help ons om die regs situasie ten volle te verstaan mbt skool konders se kontraktering. Elke prokurower vertel ons net wat ons wil hoor net om later by ‘n ander een uit te vind dat daar gate in die vorige een se argumente is. Wil graag die ware feite hoor.
@Roger: Correct, Chris Froome winning the Tour de France. St John’s had an average season at best. Agree with this article full heartedly. I’ve even expressed my concerns at Old Boys Unions and directly to headmasters, seems it all falls on deaf ears. I was flying back to the Cape recently from Lanseria and overheard a young well spoken coloured boy and his dad talking about the offer they had just got from a school in Pretoria…..it was a sad scenario as they spoke about flights, pocket money and even a rental car in the package once he turned 18…..crazy!
@Koos Roos: Ek het weer verstaan daar was net 2 tradisionele rugbyskole wat nie wou teken nie en beide was nie in die weskaap nie.
@BOG: nope – pretty sure it was Chris Froome – St Johns Old Boy
Education/ schools is a mirror image of society- its that simple. Only the exceptions manage to elevate themselves above that.@Roger: Was his name Biff or Skittle?
Pop Quiz – which old boy of which leading JHB private school pulled off the sporting event of 2013? Beet is giving out a years free subscription to his website to the winner
@Koos Roos: while not wanting to draw a parrallel with the American Football Collegiate system, the triggers are surely there. Have a read…http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2011/11/26/football-is-corrupting-americas-universities-it-needs-to-go/
Can’t agree more! Add to that the obvious use substances that enhance performance illegaly and you have the whole picture. Was shocked to hear that only 1 top 10 school last year signed the undertaking to have players tested during the season. Well done Boishaai.