With the various Easter rugby festival fixtures finalised, the dust has settled and the virtually impossible task facing the GEMS (Gauteng English Medium Schools) has been made clear. If there aren’t any draws in the Grogper Cup 2014, the GEMS will need a massive ask of 10 victories against their fancied English-medium school opponents from the wonderful province of KwaZulu-Natal. The GEMS will probably look to hit the ground running and may own March but after that it’s almost a given that April and May will be months their teams would rather forget.
| # | VENUE | DAY | DATE | GEMS | KZN | FESTIVAL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gau | Sat | 22/03/14 | St Alban’s | St Charles | |||
| 2 | Neu | Sat | 29/03/14 | Pretoria BH | DHS | Grey PE Fest | ||
| 3 | Neu | Mon | 31/03/14 | KES | DHS | Grey PE Fest | ||
| 4 | Neu | Mon | 31/03/14 | Pretoria BH | Kearsney | Grey PE Fest | ||
| 5 | Neu | Mon | 31/03/14 | Jeppe | Glenwood | Grey PE Fest | ||
| 6 | Gau | Sat | 12/04/14 | Pretoria BH | Maritzburg College | |||
| 7 | Gau | Sat | 19/04/14 | St Stithians | Hilton | St Stithians | ||
| 8 | Gau | Mon | 21/04/14 | KES | Northwood | KES Festival | ||
| 9 | Gau | Mon | 21/04/14 | St John’s | St Charles | St John’s | ||
| 10 | KZN | Sat | 26/04/14 | Jeppe | Northwood | |||
| 11 | KZN | Sat | 26/04/14 | Parktown | DHS | |||
| 12 | KZN | Mon | 28/04/14 | Parktown | Northwood | |||
| 13 | Gau | Sat | 10/05/14 | KES | Maritzburg College | |||
| 14 | Gau | Sat | 10/05/14 | Pretoria BH | Westville | |||
| 15 | KZN | Sat | 24/05/14 | KES | Westville | |||
| 16 | KZN | Sat | 24/05/14 | St David’s | St Charles | |||
| 17 | KZN | Sat | 31/05/14 | St John’s | Michaelhouse | |||
| 18 | KZN | Sat | 31/05/14 | St Stithians | Kearsney | |||
| 19 | KZN | Sat | 02/08/14 | Pretoria BH | Maritzburg College |
@Gungets Tuft: Correct, Glenwood didn’t play any of the GEMS last year. They used to play St Stithians annually for a while but results got a bit one sided in favour of Glenwood so stopped it. I have said ad nauseum on here that Glenwood needs to drop either Affies, Grey Bloem or Monnas and play Jeppe, KES or PBHS annually. These fixtures would be closely fought and provide the schools with a full set of fixtures even for the G teams..
@Woltrui:
Ah! I see. I thought they didn’t feature because they didn’t play any of the GP English schools
@Woltrui: Does an English speaking mascot, or water-boy qualify them, perhaps we can scare something up in the lower forms.
Actually …. Glenwood didn’t feature because they didn’t play any of the GEMS last year – no?
@Playa: 1. Traditionally Glenwood has been excluded from the Gropher cup. 2. If we (North vaal) don’t win this cup I doubt if we are going to win ANYTHING in 2014. 3. Rules are rules.
Thus: No breaks for Glenwood. UNLESS Monnas is also included
@Woltrui: Hahahaha! Out of interest…would you say Dale is a Xhosa medium or English medium school? There hasn’t been a single English 1st language speaker in the 1st XV for the last 2 years. Come on give Glenwood a break
@Grasshopper: Mr Beet categorically stated, and I quote, “the rule is there must be at least 1 English first language kid in the 1 st XV to qualify”. 8)
Maybe judge the school by the language used on their website, English = English….I don’t see a word of Afrikaans on the Glenwood site…..I wonder why….because it’s an English medium school where English is the language taught in and spoken by teachers. It does not matter what language the boys talk to each other or at home…
What!! Whoa. Stop the bus please. Game no 5. Glenwood. Braking the rules Mr Beet???
@Grasshopper: Games no 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10.
I reckon the first 4 games are in the bag for Gauteng, but the rest should be KZN. An overwhelming victory
@beet: Beet then Monnas surely must qualify. Their buses these days only have the Eiffel Tower on. Apparently the reading of their name took so long for some of their learners that the busses already passed them before they realised it was the school’s bus. Attendance of classes apparently increased dramatically with the new signage.
I trust therefore as Monnas do therefore qualify they will be included in the Grogper Cup. 
@Andre T: Soos wat ek van Bog aflei verteenwoordig jy baie van daardie ou Boggers. Is jy geregistreer as agent?
@beet: They are afrikaans but Ryno’s been in the english class since Grade 8. I think Mr & Mrs Herbst felt it’s better to get your education in english although Barend went the afrikaans way.@Ploegskaar: I wonder what happened to them. Would be interesting to know who is still here from 365 days. Who changed names and so on.
@Andre T: What happened to your hairdresser tjom Barend?
@beet: Where does that leave the Drama and Ballet school Helpmekaar College? Perhaps AT should ask his tjomma Knowthegame.
@Andre T: Okay I thought that Herbst comment was the usual AT humour. Did not realise his mother tongue is English.
The truth is the Grogper Cup has a formula even more complicated than that used by the Beeld to determine if you are a Macro or Big or Medium school. Like the Beeld it is subject to changes as well. The 1 English 1st language player rule was scrapped last year and has been replaced by the “Writing on the School Bus Rule”
Basically if a school bus has a GP registration and contain any of the following words or combination of words on the side of the bus: hoer, skool, tegniese, landbou, gimnasium (with an “I” after the “G”) or kollege, it’s disqualified from GC membership
@Grasshopper – I think you are right. PBHS play a load of KZN schools this year.
I don’t think PBHS are going to be as strong as last year. I stand under correction but I think there are only one or two starters returning.
I am looking forward to the Westville fixture as it was a total wash out last year.
@Tang: PBHS like their rooinek cousins on the coast!
Pretoria Boys are playing in 5 of the 19 fixtures (more than a quarter).
@Greenwood:
All Black – very funny , but not that far off !!!!
@beet: He has been in the english class since Grade 8
I count 7 definite wins for GEMS, 7 definite wins for K-ZEMS and 5 could go either way.
@Speartackle: “Ryno Herbst is in the english class”
@All Black: After living in Green Street near Upton Park for almost 3 years it felt as if I was living in Karachi
@Woltrui: Which 7?
@beet: Every English school has an Afrikaans class as well. Monument claiming to be English is like saying England is a province of Pakistan.
@beet: Ryno Herbst is in the english class
@Speartackle: The rule is there must be at least 1 English first language kid in the 1st XV to qualify
What about Monnas, they have an english class in every grade
I count 7 games in the bank for Gems. 6 that can go either way. Law of averages = easy win for the Gems