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Taking a leaf out Grey's book

JJ Harmse

So how far is Edinburgh from Bloemfontein? No, not Edenburg, that is just over 100km to the south, southeast of the Free State capital.

I am of course referring to Edinburgh, Scotland, where the Springboks will play Scotland on Saturday and attempt to go 3-0 on their Grand Slam tour.

Why I am using the Edinburgh/Bloemfontein example, is that the Boks would probably feel as welcome in the one as in the other, with 10 players in the match 22 hailing from Bloemfontein and no less than eight of them who call Grey College as alma mater.

It's absolutely unbelievable that one school could produce as many internationals as Grey College does, but it is even more so that you can have so many involved in one Test match.

Grey College, despite claims other schools may have, remains the top rugby school in the country and more importantly, remains the main feeder to not only the national team, but many provincial teams as well.

How many of the 14 provincial teams in the country do not have an old Grey in their midst's? I am sure I can ask how many of those provinces do not have at least two Grey boys in their squad and the answer would probably be the same. Not one!

However, this column is certainly not intended to be a marketing piece for the Bloem school, far from it.

I live in Pretoria, where there are schools who can lay claim to a number of Springboks. I think Bishops still lay claim to the most Springboks, but that is not the point. Those days are long gone.

So what do Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis, CJ van der Linde, Adriaan Strauss, Flip van der Merwe, Frans Steyn, Deon Stegmann, Ruan Pienaar and Coenie Oosthuizen (who is in the Bok travelling party) have to do with this article if it is not to punt Grey?

It all has to do with our new minister of Sport and his recently announced plans to ‘transform’ rugby.

I liked what I heard from the former ANC Youth League man. In fact, I almost presumed that he was on the sports field himself until recently, but then I remembered that age is not necessarily an issue if you are a Youth League leader!

Anyway, coming back to our new minister, his idea of transforming rugby is a great one. He wants more kids to play the game, especially more black kids. What a great idea, although not that new.

SARU has had this transformation charter for years now, compiled after a massive effort from the likes of Dr Willie Basson. One of the cornerstones of their studies and findings was exactly what the minister wants – bigger participation from the black youth.

The fact that all nine Grey boys are white, does tell one truth about the realities of schools rugby and where the real challenge lie for SARU and government.

I don’t think one can really, at this point, blame SARU for the lack of black schoolboys playing the sport. They have introduced various programmes, have a committed cause to spread the game and do have a great brand – the Springboks – to make people aware of their code.

The lack of facilities at schools, whether it is no grass on rugby fields or no changerooms, is the responsibility of government, not SARU or SASSU or whatever schools body is in charge in any particular region.

And, let me remind Fikile Mbalula, that he represents government. So if he wants more kids to play rugby, or soccer or cricket or whatever sports code, it is his responsibility, along with that institution he represents, to make sure that the playing fields become a grassed (and level) one.

It took Grey College many, many years of tradition, hard work, talent identification and the establishing of facilities to produce eight Springboks in one Test. To expect Affies or Paarl Gym or Maritzburg College to do the same is almost impossible, so what chance will Mfuleni High or Mamelodi Secondary have to do something remotely similar in the next decade?

What the minister is asking though, as a minimum, is to get kids to play sport. But again, they need facilities to do that. So if Mr Mbalula does not want his department and his tenure to become known for a catch 22 or egg/chicken situation, he needs to tell his colleagues that we need sports fields more than we need frigates. Problem is, there are no real kickbacks in getting someone to plant some grass, water it and look after it, is there?

So here is the challenge to our new minister. Congratulate Grey College for their exceptional feat. Then motivate yourself, SARU and all of us to take Grey’s bragging rights away. Not by closing them down or forcing them to take in massive numbers of black kids, but by creating the facilities, environment and opportunities for everybody that did not attend Grey College.

They will probably still beat you as they are the No 1 rugby school in the country after all... but what a benchmark to chase!

Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport.

Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
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