It was May 1898 and the Kingswood College Rugby Union Football team wandered across the Valley to Lower Field and met the St Andrews College team in the first of what was to become one of the most enduring school rugby matches in South Africa. While this was the first time the two schools’ 1st XV’s in fact met it was not the first time that they had played each other as in 1896 The St Andrews 2nd XV played the Kingswood 1st XV and this match was drawn. The first 1st XV’s outing was won 6-3 by St Andrews and this match has been won more often than not by St Andrews. This has become particularly noticeable from the middle of the last century up to the present. The two schools should probably not be playing each other as the number of boys at each actually put them into different classifications but the traditions and camaraderie of this fixture are what have kept it alive. The week leading up to, and the weekend itself, are what create the vibe and atmosphere which is about far more than just a rugby match.
While mention is always made of the boys’ sports it must be remembered that since 1974 there have been girls at Kingswood and this meant that Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) were included in the K-Day weekend as opposition for the girls. While this is not unique in South African School sport it has added a dimension to the Grahamstown Rivalry as there are actually three schools that form part of K-Day. In later years some of the newer schools in the area have been included to offer opposition to the lower St Andrews teams as they have more sides than Kingswood in each age group. K-Day has become a truly Grahamstown institution rather than a competition between two schools.
The sport usually begins on the Wednesday with the boys’ hockey and then the highlight of the weekend, besides the main game, is definitely the Old Boys/Girls matches. These take place on the Friday evening and are played at the non-host school. This is a time of particular camaraderie and when played at Kingswood, as they are going to be this year, the rugby and hockey matches all happen at the same facility known as City Lords. This main field is flanked by the Wyvern Club, which is the Old Boys Club of Kingswood, and as can be imagined the after match “fellowship” carries on late into the night.
The Saturday boasts the Girls Hockey, Netball and then of course the rugby with the main game happening at around 4pm. As I said earlier St Andrews tend to emerge the victor but the sweetness of the victory when Kingswood wins makes for some interesting anecdotes. I remember the win, on Lower, in 2011 when Kingswood took a one point lead 9 minutes from time and then spent those nine minutes defending their line as St Andrews, growing more and more desperate, threw everything, including the Highlander’s (Old Andrean Club) sink at them. St Andrews turned down a kickable penalty 5 minutes from time and when the final whistle was blown Kingswood had won. This was their first victory in 17 years which means that the majority of the kids at both schools had not been born the last time Kingswood won. I saw grown men cry that day! On returning to the Wyvern we heard the Kingswood School bell being rung and this old bell in the School House bell tower had one boy after the other hanging on its rope and was kept ringing for at least an hour and a half.
A number of Springboks have emerged from the two schools. Many more from St Andrews than Kingswood but it is worth mentioning a few of them. In the twenties Kingswood produced the Osler brothers, Bennie and Stanley, and Jack Slater. They between them set up a record that I have been unable to find being repeated anywhere. In 1928 when South Africa played New Zealand in Durban, South Africa won the match 17-0 and the points were scored by B Osler (two penalties and two drop goals) and Slater scored a try. This meant that all the points in the test match were scored by old boys of one school. This feat I have been unable to find replicated anywhere in international rugby when the points in the match were scored by more than one person!
Jack Slater later went on to coach Kingswood and it is said he began the tradition that the Kingswood first XV eats a ceremonially prepared springbok leg on the night before the St Andrews game. The springbok is “poached” from an old Andrean or a current students’ farm. I have heard from a member of the ’74-75 Kingswood team that this tradition was revived in their time although it seems to have now fallen away.
On the St Andrews side there have been a number of springboks but Nick Mallet must rank amongst the greatest. He was the South African coach when they went on the 17 match, record equalling, unbeaten streak and at various times he played for South Africa, WP, UCT and Oxford as well as coaching Italy at international level. On a personal note, his sister Jenny taught me in Std two at St George’s Grammar School in Cape Town and he was our cricket u10 cricket coach that year. Who would have guessed then that I would go on to Kingswood?
There has been some talk on various websites about what the biggest school boy derby is and some of it has gotten quite vitriolic. I think it can be safely said that the Graeme College – St Andrews College game is the oldest schoolboy rugby match, at the very least of those that are still being played. This game was first played on the 13th April 1878 between St Andrews and the then Drostdy School which later became Graeme College. I would seem that about 1880 is when the first matches were played in Cape Town and SACS played Bishops in 1892 for the first time, according to the records I can find. The big Cape Town Derby is between Bishops and Rondebosch, which incidentally is being played as I write this, and was first played in 1911. The arguably biggest Derby game in the country, and probably the world, in respect of number of spectators (25000), which takes place in Paarl every August between Paarl Gymnasium and Paarl Boys High, was first played as late as 1915.
So while K-Day is not the oldest , or the biggest and is not played between the top ranked schools, it has been 115 years since the first time it was played and in that time the connection and rivalry between the schools has grown. If you are ever in or around Grahamstown early in June each year plan to get to K-Day. You will not be disappointed.
While much more could be written about the history of this interschool rivalry and the many others around the country, most of them not even mentioned here, it is enough to say that K-Day does stand out as one of the leading derbies.
K-Day is on Saturday the 15th June this year and will be played on Lower Field at St Andrews. The Old Boys Rugby is at City Lords at 5.30pm on the Friday evening.
See you there!!
Deon de Waal (OK, 1985)
I think Justin’s mom had posted that her son made the border team, still seems wired that know one knows what is going on..
Bog TelePrompTer, is ten word my apple choose ha ha, but you know what I mean..right now I am in Aruba far far away from oz, NZ ..but yes as a sporting school I don’t think many can touch Grey Kollege
I am hoping for a Kingswood win, but that optimistic but hey the ball bounces funny, and people have off days..
@GCollege86: @Ludz: That was my feeling exactly. At least 4 boys from Queens were certainties in my books.Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
@GCollege86: ya I’m thinking 5 or 6 of our boys should be in there,p Bolze a dead certainty, think Hollis as well, Jerry Danquah also
@Playa: I went to the trials in EL. Cant believe that it can be true. Based on performance at the trials, at least 4 or 5 QC boys must be in the team. We will just have to wait and see.
@GCollege86: @Ludz: A blogger said last week that there are no Queenians in the Craven Week side either, hence I asked.
@Ludz: Border Grant Khomo Team – (Selborne 10) D Froneman, H Niewenhuizen, T Coetzer, G Venter, D Voigt, D Brits, T Boloko, L Selem, M Steyn, J Engelbreght, (Grens 3) N Grobler, R Engelbreght, G Joseph, (Hudson 3) J Els, A Salman, ? (Dale 6) L Khuse, B Gongpa, C Winnaar, L Qinele, ? , ? . Two of the following boys come from Dale and one from Hudson: S Mgubo, S Qoma and S Am. Coach: Phiwe Ndlomo (Selborne) and Manager: Andre Engelbreght (Grens)
@Ludz: I will post the Grant Khomo side in the next 30 min. They will be playing in Vanderbijlpark (Isak Steyl Stadium)
@GCollege86: where are they playing?
@GCollege86: do you have the sides? Would love to see them.
@Playa: none in the u16 Grant Khomo side
@Playa: Non in the Grant Khomo side. 10 Selborne, 6 Dale, 3 Grens and 3 Hudson. Dont know about the other teams. Think there is 9 Selborne boys in the Cravenweek side. U16 Grant Khomo team is playing against the Academy side on Thursday. Will only then see who is in that team.
@GCollege86: Are there really NO Queenians in the sides?
@Ludz: trong-yong!Hahahahaha!
@Ludz: The Border Cravenweek, Academy, Grant Khomo and u13’s sides has been announced. Just not formally yet.
@Playa: hahahahahaha, I can tell you now you’ll never find more comfortable shoes, the legendary trong-yong as we Queenians called them. Girls loved those shoes
@BOG: Hahahaha
and the brown shoes don’t help their cause either
@QC86: I’m sure they all had a huge pay day when they received that money.Its an absolute disgrace.
The KC and SAC boys must be thinking “The peasants have hijacked our thread”
@QC86:
SAC wheels seem to be coming off, 2 losses and a draw. Kingswood might push them
The thing i fear most about Kday is having too see those SAC cheerleaders in their brown SKINNY jeans again,flippen hell i was nervous on Saturday when we played them
@BOG: So I suppose you JJS wanbees were permitted near them.
@Playa: The Queenians are not in a position to judge the qualities of QT GHS. They (Queens) were not allowed near them. Only gentlemen were permitted there and that you did not find locally.
@Queenian: all 3 my kids play hooker,we have hi jacked the k day blog with all my ranting,sorry lets get back to SAC and Kingswoods special day.
@QC86: Rudi what position does your son play
@Ludz: Why they taking so long when Craven week is only a few weeks away
@Queenian: not even the Grant Khomo side has been announced, just a certain Coetzer (GCollege86’s son) and Venter (QC86’s son) were in the Grant Khomo side. No Queenians
@QC86: When will the Border Craven week team be announced
@QC86: well done to your boys on selection hey, am sure GCollege86 is chuffed as well. Do not allow the Bulls to sign them please
@Queenian: I can give you a 100 examples of the chaos that is Border rugby
@QC86: That is scary
GHS remains right up there with KHS, the rest all fall behind these schools
@Playa: Border are on a big drive to keep the better players in our province,they have paired up with Rhodes varsity,which is a good plan,but nobody trusts them.Two weeks ago the president of Border rugby stood in our parents meeting and told us he had R65000 for our transport needs for GC ,and that they had got 16 mill from the lotto,our team manager went to the Border office to collect the money and was laughed at and told there is no money.SARU has made that money available that i spoke about yesterday,Border ZIP.
@QC86: Indeed! And our education department, coupled with the crazy Border selection policy will not help improve that at all
@rugbyfan: those stats are scary,
@rugbyfan: WOW!Big loss indeed.
One more fact is that since 1998 there have been 10 kids from Dale OB and 18 kids from Queens OB that have played Craven Week while not been at Dale or Queens. And as far as I know 4 of them played SA schools, and 3 have played for SA.
An example of this is the GCB 1st Team Captain this year.
So all in all a big loss to these schools.
Just a thought on some info from last year was that of the 3 Border schools this was the percentage of boys that were sons of Old Boys taken for the two years 2012/1982 to see the shift.
Selborne 2012 – 28% 1982 – 43%
Dale 2012 – 1.1% 1982 -54%
Queens 2012 – 7,9% 1982 – 61%
So as you can see there has been a big shift with Dale being the hardest hit.
@BOG: @Hustle: St Andrews in Bloem is GCB oldest rival. GCB first game against a non Free State school that I am aware of was in 1923 against Queens.
Ye I always thought Girls High had stunning girls.
@Hustle: You must have gone to Queens at the wrong time mate or were blinded by the experiments in the science class
All I remember from there were stunners.We always thought the Queenians did not deserve to be in close proximity to such beauty.
@Hustle: Greys oldest rival? St Andrews(Bloem), I think.
Your opinion about the girls at QTGH confirms to me why they required REAL boys from beyond the Stormberg mountains OR things drastically deteriorated since my days. Tele Promp Ter Is that just an accusation or has he been convicted? You obviously in Oz or NZ?
@bog enjoyed the video on Grey, what a school, even if they were reading off a TelePrompTer…who is Grey’s oldest rival?
Go
Playa you must have ended up at hoerskool hangklip, or JJ Sefontien, I simply don’t remember QGH high with many stunners..I do remember them being hard working, fastidious…etc…especially in shared science class….
Congrats to SACS and Kingswood, very rich history, nice write up.
BTW where did Luke Smith
@kcman: Sorry, but please ask Beet to pass you a credit, which you in turn can give to the Border U16 s. But do me a favour, wont you show it at your promotions
Is that what you would call, a cheek of a Chinaman? In all seriousness, listening to QC86, one begins to realise the enormity of the challenges and I am sad to say, its going to get a lot worse.Frightening in fact.
@QC86: Boys now have to cough up for provincial duty
Don’t get me started on the education department there.It’s just chaotic.
@QC86: Sadly the case in the Wee Pee with the GK boys as well. They need to cough R1000 for the Bondedag in Riversdale and R2500 for the actual GK week. And that in a supposedly affluent union! Utter kak if you ask me.
@QC86: That is truly a sad state of affairs. We moan over here about selection choices etc whilest you guys actually have to deal with some real issues!..
@BOG: When I arrived in the 90s that was still the case.We had a lot of farm boys from those areas, but the in take slowly dwindled towards the end of the 90s as the demographics changed.There was still a large number when I finished in 2000.Some are still farming and have taken over their fathers’ farms.It would be interesting to see where they take their kids to school…something tells me it wont be Dale/Queens.
And touche on Queenstown Girls…even in my time, they were the cream of the crop.There was just something about those QGHS girls.
@BoishaaiPa: people don’t understand the challenges that people in the East London areas live with,our education dept is non existant.try Border rugby,some of our kids are in the Grant Khomo team,they have given the u16 side R24500 which we have not seen yet,to get our team to JHB and back and then still hire a bus for the whole week that the boys are there and to find kit,and of cos the 11 quota players parents dont come to the meetings and dont give any money towards any of the costs.sorry i am cracking up.You cant walk a team to JHB with R24500
@BOG: No Grey promos on the K-day page please!!! Hahaha!!!
http://www.qcardtelevision.co.za/channel/k-day-special
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoUNFQSShjI
@Playa: Yes, it is kind of ironic!..Barclays withdrew from SA in the late 80’s when it became FNB. Now its back in bed with its old opposition!
@QC86: @Playa: If I can recall, most of the Dale boarders came from the region, ie Hogsback, Alice and Kei Road (farmers) This apart of course a handful of old boys sons from around the country. Queens and GCB competed for the boys, mostly in the old NE Cape ie, Cradock, Molteno, Tarkastad( who on earth would want to live there?) Burgersdorp, Lady Grey, Barkly, Elliot, Ugie— Some of those kids went to other schools in Bloem- Oranje, Eunice, Sentraal, and lest we forget, the prettiest girls in the region, to Queenstown Girls (And all they had to choose from, was — I was glad to help out occasionally) Others to EL- Selborne, Grens and Baysville for kids with special needs. But I guess that the migration patterns have changed? But indicative of the economy, even GCB had an open day and a promo DVD to go with it . Check out http://vimeo.com/67409182 . The declining economy is still going to have a big impact on things
@BoishaaiPa: And Barclays now owns the bank Volkskas (and others) disappeared into…ABSA.
@QC86: Geez! Thats a huge number
@QC86: That is really sad indeed..That was such a rich cattle country…My dad was the bank manager for Barclays Bank so I know..
..All the souties banked there and the boertjies banked with Volkskas!…I use to visit those farms and farmers with my dad (those where the days that the bank manager actually still existed and customer care was at a premium) and most of those farmers sons were either at Dale or Queens..some were in SAC if Dad was an old boy…Cant remember anyone form Selborne though to be honest…
@Playa: to give you an idea,we played SAC on Saturday as you will know,all my farmer mates kids played against us,off the top of my head i can name 15
@QC86: Understood.
Forgot about SAC.They also take a number of farm boys.
It’s just that from a lot of discussion, it has been raised that a number of Old Dalians’ sons from the surrounding farms school at Selborne.Not sure how their logistics work – i.e. whether they’re in hostel or not as Selborne has never had a huge contingent of boarders.It could be that some are day boys, or it really is a myth that there are farm boys at SC, I dont know.
@BoishaaiPa: the other problem is that financially the farms are not paying ,so the farmers sons are finding jobs in the bigger towns and raising their kids in town not out on the farms like in the old days
@Playa: @BoishaaiPa: you guys have got this idea that Selborne is full of farming stock,let me tell you my sons are in the hostel,in grade 8 in the hostel there are 4 white boys of which 1 is my youngest son and one other farm kid the other from JHB,in total in Selborne hostel there are 73 boys of which only 18 are white, through out all the grades,our hostel is so badly run that most farmers now send their kids to SAC.Playa i only mention colour to prove my point,sorry
@BoishaaiPa: Gone are tose days.Maybe we should just speak to QC86 and get him to supply some good old vleis to the boarding houses
http://www.qcardtelevision.co.za/channel/k-day-special
@Playa: Queens and Dale use to get the bulk of the farming community boys in that area surrounding the two towns…Now it seems that Grey B and Selborne gets the bulk of the boys and benefit!…That’s a pity…Give them pap en vleis…lots of vleis!..
@BoishaaiPa: They’re sending their boys to Selborne now.
@kcman: Your 2nds had a good outing against Dale.Good team from the bit that I saw.Your Under 15As are also very good (must be the 2 ex Dalians in the side
). Future looks bright for KC in the next couple of years.But your challenge is similar to Dale’s…our boys just don’t grow 
@Playa: What happend to all that cattle farmers out in King area and their big sons?…They all use to be in Dale in the 70’s!
@Playa: They have yet to put it together this season, they did for 20 mins against Stirling but Stirling are no great shakes.
Let’s hope they do, I am looking forward to the 2nd XV encounter and the U15A game. The 2nds cos my son is playing and because I cant see any side stopping our U15A side.
@kcman: I hope the occasion at least leads to the KC boys lifting their game and making a competitive fixture out of it.I watched their game against Dale, where they started with some fire power…and then seemed to lose interest in the later stages of the game and let Dale run away with the game.
@Queenian: So Muir have 12 Grade 11s in their side.They must be looking forward to a bumper season next year.
@BoishaaiPa: We need some big boertjies up in King as well boet!
@BoishaaiPa: You know where to mail me mate!!!!!
@Queenian: That actually happend at St Johns in late 90’s when Paul Roos was so depleted with injuries that they asked Boishaai to help out. Although he did not play against his own school, the Boishaai players scored for both Paul Roos and Boishaai that same day.
@kcman: You just shout and I’ll point you in the right direction!..Some boertjies can do with a bit of decent schooling and scholarship!…
@Queenian: Glad you were there to enjoy our hospitality and as long as all the boys and girls are enjoying themselves it makes for a great place.
@kcman: Also think history was made on Saturday when a Muir boy an Under11A res played for Kingswood Under11B(They were short 1 player) scored for Kingswood against his own team mates the scored for Muir Under11A against Kingswood not many kids get a chance to score a try for two schools on one day.
@kcman: That there have been but my overall impression is Kingswood is still a top school and with maybe only 220 boys does extremely well. Everything was very professionally done on Saturday and thumbs up to Kingswood.
@Queenian: Lots of changes since then!!!!!
@kcman: It was good being at the City Lords ground have not been there since the early 80,s
@kcman: Ye played in the Under 13A game
@Queenian: Kingswood just went to absolute sleep in the 2nd half after looking as though they would run away with it.
I did like the 15 a lot from Muir, I never did expect any funny business but just wondered where the sudden influx came from, was your son playing?
@kcman: Ye I hope I am wrong I would like nothing more than Kingswood to pull one on the snobs.
@kcman: Also what I was saying about the ref was he was not biased in anyway just poor all round.
@kcman: 3 of the boys who are must say really class No 15/12/8 All left Muir at the end of Grade 7 2 went to Danail Pienaar and 1 to Westring and have returned in Grade 11 so no funny business there the No 15 is a carbon copy of Selwyn Davids of Nico Malan so thing look good for next year aslo Muir have brought in an Ex Paarl Gym boy as a coach and it seems to be working.
@BoishaaiPa: I think we need to start finding the big kids as well.
I am just wondering where those 12 Grade 11 Muir Boys all arrived from cos 2 years ago Muir u15A were beaten 75-0 by Kingswood u15A.
@Playa: @kcman: Watch Kingswood play Muir on Saturday at the City Lords and ye unless they got something hidden somewere they will not beat SAC they got out of jail on Saturday thanks to some inexperience of the Muir team and some bad reffing.
There No 7 had a big game as did the No 12 but not much else as I said the Muir team with 12 Grade 11 seem to be losing a lot of tight games through inexperience like not taking 3 kickable penalties and some poor decision making.
@kcman: There’s a couple of big boertjies on farms between Grahamstown and Uitenhage…time you go looking for them cause it seems Brandwag is picking them all up!..
@Playa: Mate, unless the Kingswood First XV has duped us all this year, I am battling to see how we can pull this one out the fire. Our pack does not have the firepower and we tend to run out of energy in the 2nd half due to our light pack.
We have the pace but not the brawn.
That is some great history there, thanks for sharing. I’m ashamed to say I am yet to attend a single K-Day.But I plan on changing that next year.
Earlier in the year, I predicted a Kingswood win.Looks as though I could have been wrong.Good luck to both schools!