School teams won’t play ball

Colleges boycott St Kentigern in protest at recruitment policy

St Kentigern College head David Hodge has hit back at the 10 Auckland schools which are refusing to play its first XV rugby team because of the school’s recruitment policy.

The ugly spat has seen New Zealand Rugby drawn in in an attempt to resolve it.

The coalition of schools, including Auckland champions St Peter’s College, alleged St Kentigern spent huge amounts of money recruiting top rugby players from other schools.

But Hodge has accused the 10 schools of ‘‘acting out of selfinterest’’ and insists St Kentigern has played by the rules imposed by College Sport Auckland.

‘‘St Kentigern College totally respects and accepts these bylaws and has, at all times acted in accordance with them,’’ he said.

He said the 10 schools were ‘‘acting in contempt of the guidelines and bylaws set down by College Sport both for the competition and in the manner in which any disputes between schools should be headed’’.

Others boycotters are Aorere College, Liston College, Auckland Grammar, De La Salle College, One Tree Hill College, Dilworth Boys’ School, Sacred Heart College and Kelston Boys’.

The standoff threatens to see either St Kentigern excluded from the Auckland 1A competition or those schools would default to it. Some schools from other parts of New Zealand have said they agree with the stance taken by the 10 schools.

‘‘The crux of the issue is simply that each school is allowed six players new to school in the team each year,’’ Hodge told

Radio Sport. ‘‘And each school generally has those six players come in. Their problem is that our players are better than their players. And that’s really the crux of the issue.’’

‘‘They very wrongly – and we’ve addressed this with them – accused us of recruiting players. We don’t recruit players because we don’t need to.

‘‘It’s quite clear that the reason so many young boys and their families want to come to St Kentigern is because of the quality of the education that they get here,’’ Hodge said.

NZR said it was continuing to work with the Auckland Rugby Union and College Sport Auckland ‘‘to provide advice and guidance as to how they can assist with a resolution on this matter’’.

Five senior elite players from rival first XVs are understood to be bolstering St Kentigern’s first XV next year.

One of the principals who has agreed to the boycott, Mount Albert Grammar School headmaster Patrick Drumm, said the issue went beyond rugby.

‘‘This is about the purpose of schooling and supporting colleagues around the country,’’ Drumm told Stuff.

‘‘In essence, we think developing good young people is about being in a school for its entirety, from year nine to 13. And to take a very narrow, win-at-all-costs approach and bring in senior players to ensure you are going to do that really goes against the integrity and purpose of what schooling is about.’’

A spokesman for one school said there had long been concerns that other schools could not compete with the amount St Kents spent to attract players.

Drumm added there was a general belief that this recruitment approach had been happening for several years and rival schools were effectively saying ‘‘enough is enough’’. The boycott is an unprecedented response but it is one they are more than willing to follow through on.