The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE biggest sports fiesta, the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival to be held at Prince Edward in Harare from 30 April to 6 May will be without three powerhouses, Falcon College, Peterhouse and Midlands Christian College who are staying away for various reasons.
Falcon College headmaster, Reginald Querl said they decided not to be part of the festival this year after getting a raw deal in 2016 where they were given their fixtures late and had their last match against Watershed on the last day of the fiesta called off. The other reason Querl gave is that the Cambridge mid-year examinations are taking place during the same week as the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival.
“Last year we got the fixtures very late, secondly the games were not as scheduled and we lost our third match altogether. We then had boys in Harare for no reason as the Saturday game was cancelled and had no transport to bring them back to school early. In addition this year, Cambridge midyear exams fall into that same week. This year we also have had a big commitment of boys to rugby for virtually two weeks of holidays,’’ said Querl.
Falcon College have just returned from a tour of South Africa where they took part in the Saint Dunstan’s Easter Sports Festival in Benoni.
Peterhouse sports director, David Kirkman confirmed that they were not taking part in the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival because it does not suit the way they want to prepare for the season. He disclosed that coaches from the Sharks Rugby Academy are heading to Marondera to help the private school gear up for the next term.
“Peterhouse will not be taking part in Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival. It is the same as last year, it does not fit in with our rugby preparation. All top teams who take part in the festival have been on tour and have games under their belt. They use the festival as a competition. We would rather have a preparation week where we can get a realistic look at a large squad (42). We have Sharks Academy coaches coming up to assist us during the week,’’ said Kirkman.
MCC are playing some friendly matches against Christian Brothers College and Kyle College. They took on CBC yesterday and clash with Kyle this week.
Despite Falcon College, MCC and Peterhouse not attending, Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival tournament director, Tawanda Jimu said they were looking forward to this year’s event, which is running under the theme “Unstoppable Momentum.” Jimu said as organisers, they were not aware of any complaints by the schools concerned because those were never brought to their attention.
“Based on the outcome from the Schools Rugby Annual General Meeting that was held earlier this year in Harare at Prince Edward School and was attended by schools, national federation and rugby stakeholders such information wasn’t announced from any school, either did any school cite any challenges or issues that they wanted addressed from the festival outcomes.
Our offices are yet to receive such communication from the stated schools you mentioned concerning any grievances against their participation at the festival as it also falls in line with their member associations, Association of Trust Schools mission statement,’’ Jimu said.
He mentioned that they were expecting 150 schools to participate in this year’s rugby fiesta. Those from outside the country are Windhoek Gymnasium of Namibia, Botswana Under-19 and Livingstone Kolobeng College from the same country as well as Zambia Under-16. The notable local schools taking part are Saint George’s College, Kyle, Churchill, Gateway, Hillcrests, Milton, Plumtree, St John’s College and PE. Jimu indicated that the participation from girls is likely to increase from 30 from last year to 34. Besides the action on the field, there will be educational programmes like the anti-doping drive for clean rugby in Zimbabwe, Rugby Ready as well a level one course to be run during the festival.
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