Schoolboy water-polo punch-up sparks messy feud
● A fight at a water-polo match between two top Cape Town schools has led to criminal charges as well as allegations of jealousy and bullying.
Now the principals of Bishops Diocesan College and Rondebosch Boys High have cancelled the schools’ annual cricket match, saying emotions are running too high.
Two of the country’s top young water polo players — Ross Stone from Rondebosch and Bingo Ivanisevic from Bishops, who have both played for South African teams — are at the centre of the controversy.
Bingo was red-carded for punching Ross in the mouth towards the end of the match at Bishops on February 3. One of Ross’s teeth was retrieved from the bottom of the pool and others were forced up into his gums. He also cracked a bone in his mouth.
His father, Murray Stone, said it would take years for his son to heal and medical bills were likely to be hundreds of thousands of rands. Now Stone snr wants answers from Bishops, which will not reveal the outcome of Bingo’s disciplinary hearing.
“I want an official announcement . . . so I can move forward. I have to look after my son for the next three, four, five years to make sure his smile comes back,” said Stone, who is concerned that the recovery process will affect his son’s studies and jeopardise his place in the South African water-polo team.
Ross is set to play in Durban next month for a place in the country’s under-18 World Cup team that goes to Hungary in August. His opportunity for a bursary to study and play in the US also hangs in the balance.
His father said he would never forget the assault. “It was a straight punch. I’ve always said to my son, jealousy is a very ugly thing and jealously can even come out as violent anger,” said Stone.
Bingo’s mother, Roxaan Ivanisevic, said the roots of the conflict lay in her decision to take her son out of Rondebosch Boys and move him to Bishops. This followed his exclusion from the water-polo A-team, she said, because he was better than Ross and other children, whose parents are on the governing body.
“Since we’ve left we’ve been the target of immense bullying, immense victimisation, and my son gets attacked on the rugby field every time he plays,” said Ivanisevic.
“Rondebosch coaches are telling their players to f**k him up. And friends of ours are saying please be careful; please don’t let Bingo play because we fear for his life.”
On the day of the game she said Bishops supporters taunted her son relentlessly.
Stone has laid a charge of assault against Bingo and Ivanisevic has laid a charge of assault against Stone’s eldest son, who she said attacked her 15-year-old after the match.
The schools are separated by a street in the suburb of Rondebosch and the principals have issued a joint statement condemning the incident.
“The altercations that occurred and, at times, the inappropriate and overzealous support from the sidelines, have led us to consider the increasingly heated context that has grown around support at school sport, not only at Bishops and Rondebosch but across schools, and throughout the country,” the statement said.
“This has prompted both schools, supported by significant old boys and concerned sportsmen, to come together to begin a campaign that promotes a code of good sportsmanship and spectatorship.”