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It's KES Easter festival time

 


If it’s Easter, it’s rugby festival time.

That was something we used to say in the good old days, without realising that we were taking things for granted. Covid put paid to that for a while and we were forced to do something else over that long weekend for the last two years.

Not this year, thankfully. The Joburg Easter rugby festivals are back and I’ll be spending all three days at King Edward VII School this year. I can’t wait.

In 1984 St Stithians College turned 30 years old and, as is customary when it comes to school anniversaries, it was decided to mark the occasion with sporting events to which their long-term friends and rivals would be invited.

Rugby is generally the cornerstone of anniversary celebrations programmes, so it was decided to hold a rugby festival over the Easter weekend that year. It was supposed to be a once-off occasion, but it grew into an annual event, morphing into what is now the Saints Easter Sports Festival. This year sees the 37th edition of that festival.

That first festival featured 10 schools: Alexandra High, Bishops, Capricorn, Kearsney, King Edward, Potchefstroom Boys’ High, Pretoria Boys’ High, St Andrew’s, St John’s and St Stithians.

King Edward became a permanent fixture at the Saints Festival for the next 18 years. The school used to lend its hostel beds to Saints, allowing them to accommodate a couple of schools in their hall. They were also the biggest crowd drawcard there, so contrary to the policy of inviting schools there for two years at a time only, they were invited back every year.

In 2002, to celebrate their centenary the school staged an Easter festival of their own, intending it to be a once-off and returning to Saints the next year. The Centenary Festival was, however, such a success that a decision was taken to make it an annual festival over Easter, the third one in Joburg, after St John’s started their own festival in 1996.

Being late comers meant that the pool of schools that could be invited was limited, which opened up new opportunities for them and teams that have never been to a Joburg Easter Festival before became regular features at the KES festival.

That cast the net wider and local crowds were able to watch schools that they had never seen in action before. So, for example, Union High has played there, as has Marlow and Woodridge. This year, Ben Vorster, Hudson Park and Durbanville are here – schools that are perhaps less well-known in Joburg, but who will certainly add value on the field.

As one of the oldest and best-known schools in the land, KES does of course also have long term relationship and traditional rivals and over the years those schools have lent balance to the fixture list. So, this year, Dale College, Queens College and Jeppe will be there too.

The nice thing about not having so-called top 10 schools in the lineup is that anyone can play anyone and it’s likely to be good game. There are plenty of those matchups on the programme next weekend.

As I said, I can’t wait.

Fixtures

Thursday April 14 - 8.10am Trinityhouse vs Dale College, 9.20am Nico Malan vs Durbanville, 10.30am Ben Vorster vs Centurion, 11.40am Jeppe High School for Boys Inv. vs Eldoraigne, 12.50pm King Edward VII School vs Queens College, 2pm Northwood Boys’ High vs Hudson Park.

Saturday April 16 - 8.10am Centurion vs Durbanville, 9.20m Trinityhouse vs Nico Malan, 10.30am Ben Vorster vs Eldoraigne, 11.40 am Northwood vs Queens, 12.50pm Jeppe vs Hudson Park, 2pm KES vs Dale.

Monday April 18 - 8am Northwood vs Centurion, 9.10am Queens vs Durbanville, 10.20am Jeppe vs Dale, 11.30am Ben Vorster vs Nico Malan, 12.40pm Hudson Park vs Trinityhouse, 1.50pm KES vs Eldoraigne

 


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