Here is something I was able to piece together from various emails and the blog. It would be go if bloggers could add contributions to help expand it.
At first it was only Affies and the schools in the Moot-area, such as FH Odendaal, CJ Langenhoven, Hendrik Verwoerd etc, as well as Pretoria Boys High School. Menlopark was there, but athletics was their game.
Waterkloof and Garsfontein did not exist.
However dynamics and demographics had a major impact on the schools in the Pretoria and Centurion area. The economic boom and the accompanied wealth creation changed the demographics of the Pretoria East area. With the expansion came the need for more schools. The major changes started in the 70’s and 80’s when schools like Waterkloof, Garsfontein and even Eldoraigne started. Development in the Garsfontein area only started after 1983. The area was farm land before that. People moved from the Moot to the eastern suburbs and new families settled in these areas in the late 80’s early 90’s. So, the schools in the Moot started to lose out.
Garsfontein and to a large extent Die Wilgers were community based schools with Waterkloof and Menlo taking the cream of school sporting talent away from Affies. Menlopark was known for being an athletics school. Waterkloof’s principal was a performance driven person and they gave bursaries very soon after being founded – to challenge Affies and Boys High. As a result Waterkloof was very successful.
Affies responded by amongst other things improving their recruitment drive and housing boys in their hostels. As a result Garsfontein suffered but it did not matter that much on the sports field as the school was academically orientated and played in the B-league. They however moved into the A-league when their structure was changed by the rugby authorities. Even still they continued to define the term average!
Garsfontein then entered a period when they actively recruited top athletes from other Pretoria schools and enjoyed some success.
In 2010 Garsfontein was hammered by both Waterkloof and Menlopark in rugby. After those results everything changed. Garsfontein lost learners to the other schools – normal learners, not just sports star. The school’s very existence in current form came under threat as they lost numbers. Garsfontein lost funding from the state and thus state funded teachers on a large scale. This was their incentive for recruiting with bursaries.
This also changed the dynamics in Pretoria. Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere a new force emerged to challenge both Affies and Waterkloof, as well as Menlopark in the east. Affies, Waterkloof and Menlopark could no longer rely on the stars (even girls for the co-eds) from Garsfontein and Tygerpoort primary school as a given before – the status quo was no more.
The about turn had also seen Garsfontein being able to recruit the whole u/13 team of Garsfontein Primary for the first time. As such Garsfontein has decided to gradually scale down recruitment as they achieved what they wanted. Gradually, because their sport starts are still target acquisitions for rival schools.
As new kids on the block, it may take a few years before Garsfontein is probably accepted and respected by Pretoria’s elite schools.
Hi, I’m new here. I remember those dark times for Garsies well. Waterkloof beat them 102-0. I promised myself that my child will not go to Garsies. Nobody in the school can have much self-respect after such a loss. They turned it around and my son demanded to go there in 2013. I thought Wilgers at the time, as he is an average player, and I thought that he will get better exposure. As it turned out, it was a good decision. He is still an average player, but gets his game time, academics is great, and he is fundamentally happy. Not perfect, there are clicks like all other schools, but he copes well.
@Playa: Pleasure.
But demographic changes are playing a huge role in the rise and demise of schools – even previous top rugby schools. Woltrui mentioned a number of schools in Pretoria that used to be power houses, but sadly was affected by demographics. Throw in legislation changes and government intervention in terms of parent rights and a natural process of selection follows.
@Djou: Hahahaha! Thanks Djou
@Djou: No problems. I’m sure a lot of people are interested in following the direction this thread has taken. I know I am.
@Playa: @Bog: The average real economic growth rate was 5.1% from 1960 to 1972. As you can see 1963, 1964 and 1967 registered the highest growth rates. Using the rule of 70, it means that the GDP should double approximately every 14 years (70/5.1%) it the 5.1% was maintained.
Over the past 13 years, however, the average growth rate was 3.2%. Using the same heuristic rule it means a doubling of GDP in approximately 22 years (70/3.2%).
You can interpret it in the following way: The economy had performed 57% weaker over the past 13 years compared to the 1960-1972 period – as it in comparison took more than half the time longer for the GDP to double.
1960 3.0
1961 3.8
1962 6.2
1963 7.4
1964 7.9
1965 6.1
1966 4.4
1967 7.2
1968 4.2
1969 4.7
1970 5.2
1971 4.3
1972 1.7
Sorry Beet. Just needed to relief the gentlemen from their “anxiety”.
@Playa: Memory fades with age- the disadvantage. But the advantage is that wisdom increases- you just need to write it down. Yes, lets rather stop this conversation- I notice that Beet has posted a reminder of the rules.
@BOG: My most humble apologies Oom. The rate of economic growth INCREASED BY AN AVERAGE OF 22.74% p.a. (annualised 13.84% p.a.) between ’60 and ’72. It was not measured at those levels. Admittedly it was from a very low base. Memory error from my side…I must be getting old
@BOG: But those were not armed struggles taking place inside South Africa, now were they? And these were post-1976-Angola gained independence – which is hardly “long before the 80s” (again subjective). There were later alliances with FRELIMO (Mozambique) and ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe) – ’77 to ’79.
To be technical one could say that it started on 16 December 1961 when MK attacked government installations, sparked by Sharpeville. A few bombings here and there for a year and a half occurred until the Rivonianists were captured in ’63. Bring me any record of violent conflict within SA borders between ’64 and ’78. The trouble was in effect launched with the Church Street bombing in ’83, the height of the struggle was in ’85 when the state of emergency was effected. And guess who these soldiers were? The kids who went missing after the ’76 riots.
I know a lot of this, not from just reading about it, but because my father served 4 years in prison for pulling off sabotage missions in PMB in the 1980s.
Maybe we should subscribe to Politics web and have this discussion there before we annoy the sherbert out of Anti-Green
@Playa: I still maintain that growth of 15-20% anywhere at anytime in the world, would have been an economic miracle- almost impossible. But do your research, lets see what happens. As far as the conflict is concerned, I know of several clashes in Angola, in the 70s, primarily against Fapla and Swapo, but where elements of MK were involved- along with the Soviets. You may also wish to consult the charge sheets against Nelson Mandela. It may have been interrupted, with the Rivonia trial, but it certainly began before that. https://www.facebook.com/stopwhiteSAgenocide/posts/1620423411510354:0
@BOG: You mention one year’s growth, which could be correct. I am talking about annualised growth during the entire period of 1964 to 1972. I will do some research and let you have the exact number, but I know for a fact that it was in the 15-20% range. Secondly, whether foreign investment was necessary or not is irrelelvant. Fact is it doubled in that period, which whether you accept it or not contributed to economic expansion. As for the armed struggle, it was abruptly aborted with the Rivonia arrests. The exact year that it was made official was 1982 post Ruth First’s death. Before then, there were just instances of violent protest (which were a domino effect of the ’76 uprisings). Maybe 6 years is long, but that’s subjective. Research will tell you that the ANC declared the armed struggle in ’82. OR Tambo further proclaimed it in the ’83 January 8 statement.
Isn’t it great that the poor will now enjoy a lovely view as well?
@4×4: You are correct. However, the government already decided that no new Afrikaans schools will be build in the east of Pretoria, no matter the demand.
@Bog: Your numbers on economic growth is correct. And you must have noticed that some of the very expensive houses in Woodhill have a lovely view over the dumping site.
@Playa: I dont think that your growth facts of 15-20 % is correct. I have the growth for 1964 at 7.9%, which was the second highest in the world. Inflation was 2% and prime interest rate 3%. Domestic savings was at such a level that no foreign investment was required for economic expansion. And the “armed struggle” began long before the 80s. Coming back to the East of Pretoria, or Tshwane (named after Prof Tshwanepoel) as it is now called, the growth there is directly connected to the depopulation elsewhere. They have just announced the development of a large low cost housing project opposite the upmarket Woodhill golf estate , below it. So the low cost project will have a lovely view over the golf course (and the upmarket houses)
At the rate that the east of Pretoria is expanding toeards Mooikloof, we will soon have a new publick high school in that area aswell. I have heard that the Hills are sporting a new private school and Maragon is seperating their primary and secondary schools, due to high demand. I cannot forsee that Kloof and Garsies will be able to accomodate the growth coming from that area.
@kosie: No, for sure I totally understand what you’re saying. I have no knowledge of the Pretoria intricacies that have led to where the city is today. Beet’s snippet was a history lesson for me. Mine was just a response to Oom BOG, and the economic boom he missed.
@Playa: I am no econonomist and therefore do not have all the info regarding the countries economic growth rate etc. I take you word for it.
What I think the article is trying to say is that the growth of the Pretoria East area was accompanied by an upturn in the disposable income in the Pretoria area with the building that took place. The same happend at more or less the same time in Centurion South with the development of Rooihuiskraal and The Reeds areas.
This is also not unique to the Pretoria area as other parts of the country also expanded at the same time. If I read the article, that is what I gather. A change in demographics too place and people moved to new areas which included Garsfontein but not just Garsfontein. I am sure you will understand this.
@BOG: Seeing as my parents were still teenagers, I have no practical experience of what the economic situation was like. My reliance is on the privilege of a tertiary education at a recognised institution…maybe not so recocgnised by our Maties from Stellenbosch
I have read that economic growth between 1964 and 1972 ranged between 15-20% annually with foreign investment doubling. Though the rest of the world disagreed with apartheid, SA was seen as politically stable after the Rivonia trialists were imprisoned. The JSE went from 40 points to around 280 (600% rise) in that period. Having been that low as a result of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Things then changed in late 1973 with the outbreak of labour strikes at the Durban waterfront, leading to country wide unrest. The spiral then began after the 1976 protests into the armed struggle 1980s.
@Djou: Ahh I see, very interesting.
@Playa:Good question Playa. We call it “stretching the truth”
@Playa: If you are correct, my idea of an economic boom in that period, was the size of my allowance and my “basket” consisted only of a container, filled with Tassies. No, seriously, somewhere in that period, growth was 7.9%, but this influx occurred much later- as I understand it
@Playa: They lost learners to the other schools – and the amount of state funding for among others teachers is determined by a number of factors including the number of learners. So with less state funding, school fees had to increase more, putting an additional financial burden on parents. This normally has a domino effect as too high school fees contribute to an increase in bad debt, which in turn can put pressure on school fees to increase further.
@BOG: I suspect it’s the SA economic boom from 1964 to 1973.
Why did Garsies lose funding from the state? Are they full-on private now?
Not sure which “economic boom” is referred to? I certainly missed it and I cannot recall growth being even near 5%. The influx of children into Pretoria, is more the consequences of neglect and the collapse of education in the rural towns of Gauteng and Mpumalanga. For even a reasonable education, parents have no option but to send their kids to the cities.
@Woltrui: Again, context my friend. And please refer back to your other posts, you will find plenty examples of wrongful accusations, petty remarks, wrong assumptions etc.
@Djou: My dear and well educated friend. Where did I bash Garsies above?
@Woltrui: Only you who can put a negative spin on what seemed to be a clarifying article on how demographics affect schools – and just because Garsies is involved. Sies man, word jy nooit moeg om Garsies sleg te maak nie. Is dit waarom jou wereldjie draai?
Or maybe you simply did not understand the context.
And just one example of your ignorance. My uncle coached a lot of Olympic athletes and was heavily involved in school athletics. And he just assured me that Menlopark was known as the athletics school in the 70’s and 80’s. Go see how many junior world records and South African athletics records were broken by pupils from Menlopark. Remember Werner Stals, Hildegard Eloff, etc. Top athletes in Pretoria wanted to go to Menlopark. Hey, my uncle tells me they even wanted to change school to go to Menlopark, which was unique for that time in our history. He still remembers one top 800m athlete from Wonderboom who wanted to switch school to Menlopark to improve his athletics – and the uproar it caused.
And athletes still want to go to Menlopark – and do you know why? Because they had and still have very good coaches. They still win almost all athletic events.
For the rest, it is clear you don’t understand context (such as the hostel part).
But go ahead with your Garsie bashing – I must admit, it is something you excel in.
@beet: Hi Beet. Look like a classic piece from Djou?
Since Djou is my favourite enemy of the day, behind Rugbyman of course, I must make the following comments on his article
Couple of remarks.
“Menlopark was there, but athletics were their game” Historically Parkies was and is one of the stronger rugby school in Pretoria. They have many a win over Affies for example. Maybe a step behind Affies and Waterkloof the past ten seasons on the rugby field. Suppose either a Kloof or Affie supporter would call them a “athletics school”. Parkies supporters and old boys don’t see themself as an “athletic school”.
“Affies responded by amongst other things improving their recruitment drive and housing boys in their hostel”. Affies had hostels before Waterkloof were a twinkle in some Dept of Education Administrator’s eye. I suppose they housed the boys in the Hostels since they opened the Hostels.
Just two example’s of info which gives a wrong image and impression of Pretoria school boy rugby. There is also other info in the piece which give the totally wrong impression about schools and school boy rugby in Pretoria.
I suppose the info concerning Garsies in the article is correct (out of the horse’s mouth so to speak).
@kosie: If you think it is a good historical overview of Pretoria School Boy rugby, good for you my friend.
I must say that in all regions there are changes that have impacted on schools and it’s interesting to see how it all fits together. For example when I was at school Pinetown Boys High was the biggest tier-1 school in Durban but by no means a force to be reckoned with given their size. Today Hillcrest High School (a Co-ed) sits on possibly the second biggest goldmine in KZN after the rapidly growing Ballito area, yet Hillcrest has shown little interest in developing their rugby to a competitive standard for a school of their potential.
@Woltrui: Hey Wollie. No disrespect intended. I blogged it because I found it quite interesting and thought others might thing same (or not
) . There are definitely gaps worth filling in relation to the context above but it would be crazy to try and take on the whole history of the city’s schools in the kind of detail required to do it justice.
@Woltrui: I don’t see this as a slap in anybody’s face. The article deals with the real ebb and flow of human settlement and movement.
In 50 years the picture will be different to the one we take today as today’s picture is different to the one 50 years ago. No more no less. It does not imply that any school is better than any other. It mearly says the dynamics of SBR has shifted
Sorry Beet. This article falls well short of the quality we are used to from SBR blog.
More like a Public relations stunt from a certain school
Why is Pretoria named in the heading? This is definately not even close (not even a snippet) of the history of Pretoria School boy rugby. a Slap in the face to schools like Overkruin, John Vorster and Wonderboom who won the old “Stadsbeker” in the eighties(and who, despite all the BS being sold from time to time on the blog, is still excellant schools). a Slap in the face of Legendary old school boy coaches like Wilhelm Lighthelm, Lukas Strachan and Dr J Kriek.
Respect is earned! Although there was an outcry last year pertaining to the recruitment by Garsfontein, Garsfontein has nevertheless respected the inter partes agreement between the headmasters of the Pretoria schools by not approaching and/or poaching rival school’s rugby players, that earns an accolade in my books. Perhaps some elite schools have lost total sight off what schoolboy rugby is all about and the winning at all cost have priority over good neighborliness. I would suggest that it is the so called elite schools that will be losing respect as it appears that if it comes to schoolboy rugby ethics is out of the window.