The Western Province General Manager of Amateur Rugby Mr Danny Jones and members of the senior management held a Skype workshop on transformation and made some far-reaching decisions that will change the face of schoolboy rugby forever in the Western Cape.
It was noted that although everybody involved did put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes, the results were nowhere what was expected. A process to get an aggressive transformation system in place was identified as crucial, this system must be a system of responsibility rather than one which relies solely on the input of individuals within the system.
Mr Danny Jones identified the two Paarl schools, Paarl Boishaai and Paarl Gim as the major obstacles in the process as they only care what their positions on the various rankings were. They are guilty of using players of colour to achieve their goals rather than allowing the players of colour to excel in their communities. In doing this these institutions ensure that township schools will never become top rugby playings schools depriving the normal learners at these township schools of top quality coaching and opportunities to become top players as well.
It was, therefore, decide to expel these two schools from all Western Province leagues and place them under the direct management of the Boland Rugby Union. Mr Ivan Pekeur, President of the Boland Rugby Union said although there was a long-standing argument for the inclusion of Paarl Boishaai and Paarl Gim in Boland Rugby it would make no sense if Boland Landbou was not included in this agreement.
He also stated that although they are excited to welcome these three schools to Boland Rugby he insisted that no player or coach of these three schools will be allowed to represent Boland Rugby at an amateur level for the next two years commencing 2021. This is necessary to ensure a level playing field and guarantee that all boys in the Boland have an equal opportunity to compete for a place in the various Boland Rugby teams.
“The WPRFU is fully committed to the Strategic Transformation Plan and is intent on improving its already impressive transformation record even further. We have to concentrate on our schools and get the system working properly because it starts there, and we have to bring more players of colour through for this to filter through to the higher levels,” Mr Jones said.
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