The age old debate about which boys turning 19 should or should not be allowed to play has no end in sight.
The South African Schools Rugby Association (SASRA) rule is that any player with a National Senior Certificate or equivalent IEB certificate will not be allowed to play in u18 Craven Week, Academy Week or LSEN Week. Most unions’ school associations have taken their schoolboy cue from this.
However in Western Province, a variation of the arrangement placed emphasis on the term “bona fide student”.
It allowed a learner who returned to school to improve his marks to play schoolboy rugby provided he registered for all subjects and attending school regularly.
This however created a problematic loophole.
Then following the debacle of 2023, which centred around a local school making a 1st XV rugby boosting decision to invite 2022 matriculants in possession of NSC’s from their own and other schools to join them, the WPRU were pressurised to change the wording surrounding eligibility.
So being a bona fide student is no longer the key term. The wording relayed by the WP schools meeting now reads:
Post matrieks
Geen post matriek word toegelaat om te speel nie. As hulle die kans/geleentheid gehad het om eksamen te skryf mag hulle geen sins in die liga speel nie.
As daar so geval is moet ons dit dadelik aan die Unie deurgee.Post matric
No post matric is allowed to play. If they had the chance/opportunity to write the exam, there is no point in playing in the league.
If this is the case, we must pass it on to the Union immediately.
It means in the WP, if a boy has been in matric, it is irrelevant whether he passed or failed his matric exams, he may not play schoolboy rugby in WP after that.
The effect is that two Milnerton players will not be able to participate against Bishops this coming weekend.
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #10)
Sure, but there needs to be a cut-off somewhere. What about the guy currently turning 19 in January of his matric year? He is only a month older than the guy turning 19 in December of his grade 11 year. There will always be those who narrowly miss out on any age-group competition. For me, it’s primarily a safety issue. Currently, you can have a 16 year old playing a 19 year old. Imagine your average 16 year old prop coming up against someone like Kitshoff at 19 (who played for the Stormers at that time). There is a massive difference between an 18 and 19 year old in terms of physical development. I would make school rugby under 18. Of course, some guys will now miss out on rugby in their matric year, but so be it. Netball is currently u18 at school level and there has been no large scale fallout from that.
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #10)
you must read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he addresses this same theme with regards the Ice Hockey age gradings in Canada and how the boys born early in the year have like 80% greater chance of making it to the Pros
@Deon (Comment #11)
gotta agree …
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #10)
As long as everyone gets twelve and not thirteen years to play whatever solution will work for me.
@yesnomaybe (Comment #9)
The kid who turns 18 in Dec in his Gr 11 year is still 18 during the school terms but classified as u/19. The kid turning 18 in Jan in matric is also 18 during the whole school term but classified as u/18 because of the year he was born..but there is only a months differrence. The kid only turning 18 in Nov/Dec of his matric year is also classified as u/18 but there is 10/11 months difference to the Jan born kid. There-in lies the conundrum!
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #6)
Many of us years ago only played 1 year of 1st team rugby as we started school early, we were 17 when we matriculated. That has now changed, however, it is not fair on a boy who plays 1st team and turns 17 in December that he is playing someone who turned 19 in January. That’s a huge difference. If you are U19 go play club sport & this rule must apply to all sports at school level. There is no other option. Some boys will miss out on 1st team sport in Matric, however, that’s because they were not good enough when they played with boys there own age. The only reason you good enough now is because you older than the other boys. Everyone would still get to play 2 years of U18 sport so its a far better option than what some if us had when we matriculated at 17.
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #6)
Difficult can of worms.. jy het Salomo se wysheid nodig. Weet dit is al holrug gery maar hier is my 2sente.
I guess it will have to come down to majority rules, and safety of the boys. Majority of boys who play open teams are u17 and u18. A 16-year old playing against 19yr will have to be considered. I played high school rugby in a time where there were no u16s. From st8 (grade10) everybody played open teams… rough to say the least and rugby surely lost some boys at u16 level. I assume there were very good reasons for it being changed.
Yes it is sad that the u19 boy will not play for the school in matric, but that is the reality. Many primary boys faces it at u13 level. At least he will have the opportunity in both grade 10 and 11. It is here where partnerships between schools and local clubs, even junior structures at nearby unions, can play a vital role for those boys in their matric year.
@Pamos (Comment #5)
With much respect, it is my PERSONAL OPINION that we should not use names of schoolboy players or even indicate who it is you are referring to in articles like this one. That boy will most probably read your comment and be negatively affected by it. None of us have any idea as to the reason this happened to him.
Just make it under 18. 12 years at school. That is clear cut and provides equal opportunities to everyone to compete fairly for a place in the team, since if last year’s star is still in the competition for place since it is his 13th year at school, it just does not seem to me to be in the spirit of schoolboy rugby at all. Unfair-ish.
@yesnomaybe (Comment #3)
What about the poor chap that was held back by parents and was sent to school a year late?. So he will not be allowed to participate in his matric year, in any team. Not that simple solution just to make it u/18.
@LeonVos (Comment #4)
Yes that is the case at the moment. Many schools do that and not just in Cape Town. Clifton in Durban has an *** who did grade 11 twice.
Now it appears they just hold the boys back in Gr.11
This is not rocket science guys, just make it U18 only. Simple game set match. Post matric argument done & dusted.
Isn’t this the reason why strand cancelled their fixture against durbanville this weekend and last year as well? I might be wrong but that’s the rumours that’s been flying around. If someone has more information about this please share?
These tactics are becoming a challenge for interschool relations – the real adults should take charge and put a stop to this.