Rugby has become the number one marketing tool for some schools COMMENT
THE recent spat between Maritzburg College and Glenwood may have been watched with mild amusement by impartial rivals, but what came close to ending up with two of Kwazulu-natal’s biggest schoolboy rugby rivals not playing each other is just the tip of a multi-peaked mountain with some very slippery slopes.
Briefly, College was upset over what they perceived as top rugby players moving to KZN’S topranked rugby school, lured by promises of scholarships and the chance to play for one of the country’s top rugby schools.
The Sunday Tribune knows of players who have moved to Glenwood and reliable sources claim to have heard a voicemail message from a former Springbok who was contacting parents, allegedly on behalf of the school.
Depending on your allegiances, Glenwood may be perceived as the villain this year, and is the centre of this particular storm, but even if they are guilty it would be foolish to think the Durban school is alone in the practice of “player poaching”.
Glenwood can provide details of swimmers and rugby players who have “left” their school for greener pastures. DHS can tell stories of a rugby player telling his teammates on a Saturday that two days later he would be pulling on the blazer of a different school.
Northwood has lost cricketers. College has lost top water-polo players. Westville, Clifton, Port Natal and whatever other school you wish to name can probably provide details of schoolboys “being poached” and/or have offered incentives themselves.
Scholarships of up to 150 percent are mentioned on the rumour mill, but schools are very cagey about what they say officially.
Teachers and parents talk off the record, but a fear of job secu- rity and victimisation means little is available for publication.
Schoolboy sport, and rugby in particular, has been “big” for a number of years, but is becoming more so as thousands of spectators watch 1st XV matches each week – the spectator attendance and the passion shown by the fans at schoolboy rugby matches are enough to make many professional sporting teams drool.
This welcome attention has meant that as schools have become more and more reliant on sponsorships, rugby has become the number one marketing tool for some schools.
It is, therefore, not surprising parents are buying into the market speak. Parents are choosing schools for their children based on the best rugby results, the best sporting facilities, the best gym, the best rugby programme and the best sports coaches and support staff, rather than the school which can provide the best education.
Parents who chose a school for their children on the basis of sports facilities are effectively opting to steer their children along a tenuous potential career path, sometimes when the children are 12 years old.
By choosing a school based on sporting criteria, rather than at least in conjunction with academic criteria, parents are giving their children a message that they can make a career in sport.
A quick look at the stats will prove that sport is at best a bad choice for all but the most talented and dedicated Little Johnny Talents.
Besides the fact that a financially rewarding sporting career rarely lasts longer than 10 years – leaving almost all professional sportsmen to look for a second career before their mid-30s – the likelihood of a 12-year-old sports prodigy making it big in the tough world of professional sport is remote, and the numbers spell out a dire warning for all parents.
So far this year, the Sharks have used 32 players for Super rugby with 10 players new to the squad (very similar figures to 2011). Of those 10, it is safe to say five will simply disappear into the rugby wilderness within a year or two after a handful of games – either due to injuries, or, to be harsh, they are one-season wonders and will probably spend a few more years eking out a living with one of the Vodacom Cup or second tier Currie Cup teams before an earlier than normal change in career path.
The reality is that very few rugby players who make a decent living from their sport in South Africa are not at least playing Super Rugby. So, assuming the Sharks in 2012 is typical of the five Super rugby provinces, each year only about 25 players (five from each of the participating unions) will join the ranks of successful professional rugby players.
In other words, if your child prodigy is not one of the best two players in the country in his position in his matric year, he is unlikely to make a successful career out of rugby.
There is nothing wrong with ambition and dreams and kids with sporting goals need to be encouraged. But when parents set their 12-year-old offspring on a journey to the stars, it is wise to have an escape capsule in case their rocket only reaches the moon. Parents need to make sure part of the back-up plan includes a good education, because when Little Johnny Talent cannot get a contract with the Sharks, he may be looking for an alternative career path – and his U13A rugby coach is probably not going to help. WITH the race for England’s Premier League going down to the wire last weekend, ratings on Supersport reflected massive interest in the title-deciding Manchester City v Queens Park Rangers fixture.
The match averaged 716 000 viewers – up 150 percent compared with last season’s finale between Manchester United and Blackpool.
Supersport also had record viewership for the Manchester United v Manchester City derby, which averaged 921 000 viewers, the highest figure yet for any EPL match.
According to DSTVI, average EPL viewership growth year-on-year on Supersport was 11 percent.
Supersport’s next big football offering will be Euro 2012. – Own correspondent
F1 tyre dispute snowballs
LONDON: Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz this week joined the list of critics who believe Pirelli’s high-wear tyres are bad for the sport – and said that they were turning the competition into a lottery.
Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher warned that the tyres were preventing the drivers from showing their best ability and total commitment.
Five different drivers have won the opening five races this year, the most open start to a season since 1983.
Mateschitz said he understood unpredictability was good for the fans, but said none of the teams had yet demonstrated they understood how the Pirelli tyres worked. – SAPA-AFP
SA canoeist Olympic hope
SOUTH African sprint canoeing star Bridgitte Hartley proved that she is on track for an Olympic Games medal by finishing fifth in the A final of the women’s 500m K1 at the season-opening World Cup at the Lake Malta regatta course in Poland.
Five women crossed the line within a second, with the blonde from Richards Bay fifth, 0.48 seconds off world champion Nicole Reinhardt, who snatched the last place on the podium, ahead of current Olympic champion Ina Ostypenko-radomska. – Own Correspondent