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The Grey High Festival opener - a significant encounter

 


Anyone watching the live streaming from the Standard Bank Grey High School Festival?

I woke up this morning with a bit of FOMO – I used to go down there in my newspaper days – but thanks to SuperSport Schools you can watch the games from anywhere today – hasn’t that been a game-changer?

So, I got to see Parktown Boys’ High play Muir College and there’s an early contender for my highlight of the week right there. It probably won’t get the final nod – not that my whimsical ramblings count for anything at all – there are just too many big games between now and Monday at Grey, and in Kimberley where the “super schools” will be in action at the Wildeklawer Festival.

But, for me Parktown vs Muir was a significant encounter in a number of ways.

First of all, it was played on the B field at the festival, which is actually Grey’s main cricket oval – The Pollock Field – certainly one of the most beautiful school grounds not to have the Western Cape mountains as its backdrop. I’ve watched matches on it quite a few times, but this is the first time I’ve seen it on TV. The camera work showed off the majestic school building with its soaring belltower, and the cricket pavilion – a cunning architectural blend of Cape Dutch and Old English cricket pavilion – at their best.

Then there’s the history of the schools. Parktown is celebrating its centenary this year. Muir is twice as old. The school turned 200 in 2022, which would make it the oldest in the country (which is disputed by some). No matter, both schools have been around for a long time and their rugby teams run onto the field with a weighty burden of tradition on their backs.

And they are both very different places to what they were 100 and 200 years ago. The 1st XVs that played today were both made up entirely of players of colour. They produced a thrilling contest, won 21-7 by Parktown in the end, playing open, running rugby – the best of schoolboy rugby.

The players may not have all the size, speed and technical ability of the top-10ers we’ll see (thanks, SuperSport Schools) in Kimberly later this weekend, but they produced a great game, a definite contender for those who realise the importance of it having taken place at all.

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