Gimmies vow to take action

Cape Town - Paarl Gymnasium has vowed to take action against their pupils if it is found they racially abused Wynberg Boys' players during a recent schoolboy rugby game.

A racial storm eruptedin Western Province schools rugby last weekend 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.”

The Cape Argus reported that the alleged slurs continued into the second half when Wynberg decided to walk off the field, with Paarl Gym leading 33-0.

However, according to a report on the SARugbymag website, the game was in fact ended by the referee after exchanges between the teams became too heated.

The report indicates 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.

The matter is set to go under investigation, with both schools working together in the investigation.

Paarl Gymnasium's headmaster, Eddie Bateman, said racism is not tolerated at his school and should anyone be found guilty there will be consequences.

"If the investigation reveals that action needs to be taken, this will be undertaken forthwith. It is of utmost importance to note that Paarl Gym condemns any form of racism. Racism is diametrically opposed to the value system of the school," said Batemam.

His contemporary at Wynberg, Keith Richardson, felt the issue was blown out of proportion on social media.

"This was an U16 match, so these boys are just 15. All of us made mistakes when we were that age. It's vital that they learn from this incident. We need to teach them what happened was wrong and lead them on to the right path," said Richardson.