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Schoolboy banned for racism

Cape Town - A Paarl Gymnasium rugby player has been banned from playing for a year after being found guilty of making racist remarks.

This comes after a racial storm erupted in Western Province schools rugby earlier this month when Wynberg's Under-16 team walked off during a match against Paarl Gymnasium after the apparent use of the k-word directed towards one of their players.

At some point a Paarl Gym boy allegedly also told a boy from Wynberg: “I will slap the coloured off your face.”

According to the SARugbymag website, Paarl Gymnasium held an independent disciplinary hearing on June 21, with the external committee including a former judge, an outside school principal and a practicing attorney.

One player was found guilty of misconduct and received a year-long ban from rugby. A further sanction was imposed, which stipulated that the student may face expulsion if found guilty of a similar offence in future.

With Paarl Gym leading 33-0 early in the second half, the game was ended by the referee after exchanges between the teams became too heated.

An earlier report indicated there was unnecessary chirping at the referee's decisions, and it reached boiling point ten minutes into the second half when a try was awarded to Paarl Gym, which appeared to contain multiple infringements during the build-up.

Wynberg players reportedly protested the awarding of the try, with a retreating Paarl player then responding by saying something offensive, which upset the Wynberg team, who then refused to move behind the tryline to allow the conversion to take place.

At this point, a Wynberg parent got involved, telling the team to move behind the posts. But the parent was then informed by one of the players that a Paarl player had used racist language. The parent then went up to the referee to suggest that the game be terminated.
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