Rugby tournament sees 450 high school players do battle
Phulutho Activities, an NGO run by Phumelele Hlati, hosted a one-day Heritage High School Tournament at John Noah High on Human Rights Day.
Hlati said he applied for support from the provincial department of sports, recreation, arts & culture last year and was awarded a tender to organise a netball and rugby tournament for high schools.
“It was scheduled for September last year but because of technical issues, we had to reschedule it to March 21 2024,” he said.
“The tournament was very successful. “We had 420 players participating, making this one of the biggest tournaments in our area.”
Hlati said he started Phulutho Activities because school sport was dead in the townships and rural areas.
“We started reviving school sports in our township and village schools three years ago.”
The tournament saw nine rugby teams from around the province battling for the top spot, which was won by Thembelihle High from Gqeberha, who beat
Newtown High from Fort Beaufort 17-3. Thembelihle High’s coach, Theo Pieterse, who has been with the school for 45 years, said: “Our boys played very well. There were four games in one day and that’s tough but they got up for this last game and played very well. It was tough in the beginning with some mistakes.
“I told them to start following the plan and once they did this, the tries came.”
The champions’ point scorers were Liyema Natala, Mbembe Maqoma, Mta Dolonga, with a conversion by Likhaya Mzantsi.
Pieterse said it was “great to play in the tournament” and they looked forward to returning Komani to defend their title.
Newtown High coach Kurt Fester said: “It was a tough tournament. This was the first rugby match we played this year.
“I am very proud of my boys for making it to the final and putting up that performance.”
The top four finishers received two rugby balls and kit, and the winners were awarded a trophy and gold medals, with the runners-up receiving silver medals.
With the commitment from schools, Hlati said they wanted to make the tournament an annual event.