In an interesting development, the organisers of the annual St John’s Easter Rugby Festival announced their decision to host a two-day festival in 2025, after considering the option of a traditional three-day format.
It was noted that St John’s had been kind enough to open up the floor to participants, inviting their opinions on whether they would prefer a shorter, two-day festival instead of the usual three days.
In 2025, the traditional Easter Festival Weekend, from Thursday, 17 April to Monday, 21 April, would have fallen outside the state school holidays, which contributed to the primary pressure. However, there was also a growing movement that deemed three-day festivals no longer to be in the best interests of player welfare, leading to the decision to opt for a two-day event.
| ST JOHN’S EASTER R/F | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 : Thu 17-Apr-2025 | ||||||
| 12h30 | EP | Kingswood | vs | Windhoek Gim | NAM | |
| 13h40 | GRF | Voortrekker (Beth) | vs | Graeme | EP | |
| 14h10 | PUM | Nelspruit | vs | Welkom Gim | GRF | |
| 14h50 | LIO | Golden Lions XV | vs | Maritzburg College | KZN | |
| 16h00 | LIO | St David’s | vs | SACS | WP | |
| 19h10 | BUL | Pretoria BH | vs | Diamantveld | GRQ | |
| 20h20 | LIO | St John’s | vs | Hilton | KZN | |
| Day 2 : Sat 19-Apr-2025 | ||||||
| 08h20 | LIO | St David’s | vs | Golden Lions XV | LIO | |
| 09h30 | GRF | Welkom Gim | vs | Diamantveld | GRQ | |
| 10h40 | GRF | Voortrekker (Beth) | vs | SACS | WP | |
| 11h50 | BUL | Pretoria BH | vs | Graeme | EP | |
| 14h10 | NAM | Windhoek Gim | vs | St John’s | LIO | |
| 15h20 | KZN | Hilton | vs | Kingswood | EP | |
| 16h30 | KZN | Maritzburg College | vs | Nelspruit | PUM | |
TWO TOUGH FIXTURES FOR PBHS
PBHS have two tough fixtures. PBHS vs Graeme is always interesting. I think 6 fixtues in total. Graeme have won 4 and PBHS have won 2. Last fixture was in 2016 at the St Stitians festival which Graeme won. I don’t think PBHS have evey played Diamantveld.
I’ve been reading all the conversations around the Easter Festivals and what role they play in light of the rise of Wildeklawer and the North/South. I guess people (and schools) have a different expectation from these festivals. For me, they are more about meeting up and socialising with fellow Old Boys/parents and less about the on-field results.
I’m looking forward to the SJC vs Hilton match on Thursday night and the Kingswood vs Hilton match on the Saturday. It’s a pity this SJC Festival has lost the Monday but I understand the player safety/rest issue. Long may these festivals last…..
@KatzRugga (Comment #1)
School rugby has changed post Covid. Now more than ever there needs to be regulated emphasis on rests between matches and the maximum permissible number of qualifying matches within a given period be it a week or a month.
I love festival rugby. Teams run onto the field to win and if they cannot, their spirit should be to try give the best possible account of themselves.
I do agree that every result matters more than ever in the big picture which increases the pressure on everyone involved from players to coaches to headmaster. I’ve felt that the latter surrenders their rights to control the course of SBR some time in the past by not banding together to introduce a central body to bring about a set of rules that were in the best interests of rugby as part of education and in line with their school ethos. Now just everyone responds to what their rivals are doing and soon what may have been unacceptable in the past has become the norm.
I like the idea of rotating the squad at festivals. It is part of the modern approach to develop depth. At a festival all the schools are in the same boat in this respect provided they are limited to squads of 23. I’ve noticed that some schools bring extra players along which then makes the playing fields uneven. I also think rolling subs have gone a long way to increasing game-time opportunities for the fringe players. If a player got 60min over 3x60min games then perhaps a fair proportion would be 40min over 2x60min games.
For St John’s I take my hats off to them. The festival is a big money spinner. One has to attend it to realise how popular it is as a social gathering. I’m sure the Saturday is the the biggest income day. Monday has huge attendance but its back to work the next day. Thursday due to it running into the evening, probably makes it bigger financial success story than any of the other Easter Festivals’ Thursday, a work day with lower attendence figures. However at the end of the day for SJC to lose a large % of revenue in the interests of pleasing their invited schools is worthy of praise.
@KatzRugga (Comment #1)
I suspect you are right about the reason.
But can you blame them if reputations and employment is on the line? Would not want to be in some of those coaches shoes with the pressure from their support base.
The risk of a season turning against you with 2/3 crucial injuries due to overplay is just to high.
Bring back true festival games and take it out of the rankings.
TWO VS. THREE GAMES PREDICAMENT!
On the question about boys welfare in regards to two vs. Three games. Who’s at fault? Once expenses has been incurred by participating school Three games could be fantastic as a big squad could be rotated and all touring boys getting decent game time… In the spirit of the game and comraderies. Isn’t the real problem Coaches that has to win all games at all cost due to pressure from rankings, old Boys and parents? This is the main reason a three game festival becomes an issue!