Are Some Schools Losing the Plot?
“There is something rotten in the state of Denmark” (Shakespeare’s Hamlet), and in the Machiavellian buying of talented sportsmen from schools by coaches to enhance their own reputations. Sadly, ethics, integrity and decency are sacrificed on the altar of a mistaken belief that success in sport equals outstanding educational institutions.
There has been an unsavoury situation in schools’ rugby for some years where northern provinces have treated the Eastern Cape Schools as a feeding trough to poach rugby players
Some perspective is perhaps to be gained by consulting excerpts from an article published in the Sunday Times by this writer early in the second decade of the 2000s:
“Some students of English may remember the ‘Faust Legend’ in which Mephistopheles sold his soul to the devil for the mortal life gains of immense wealth, unbounded knowledge and skills, and success in all pursuits on earth. The short-term gain during this worldly life clearly came to an abrupt end when the realities of the price to pay for all eternity inevitably saw Satan claim payback. One may wonder how this legend may have any relevance to education in general, and sport in particular, in South Africa now and in recent years. Let the rest of the article paint the picture for the reader to be the judge.
“The Eastern Cape is blessed with a number of excellent schools which have produced many outstanding sportsmen since competitive sport found its way into the school programme…very much a way of life in much of South Africa for many generations. This has seen the development of the iniquitous practice of some rugby franchises seeing the Eastern Cape as fair game for offering financial enticement to lure promising (mostly) black players to uproot and turn their backs on their culture, heritage and the schools where their talent was unearthed and nurtured in the first place. The Grant Khomo Week for U16 interprovincial rugby is one of the hunting grounds for scouts from certain franchises which effectively use top performing schools in our province as rich pickings for talent for their programmes. One wonders why the talent in these luring (or carrot-dangling provinces) at school level is not considered to be good enough.
“Where does the ‘Faust Legend’ have relevance and how is the collective soul of those responsible for this reprehensible practice resonating with Mephistopheles’s unholy pact with the devil?
“Young men are approached in a clandestine way, either at or shortly after the Grant Khomo Week. They are made financial offers which include free schooling, all expenses paid, clothing and a significant monthly payment for a contractual commitment to the franchise in question. They are strongly encouraged to keep the knowledge of these negotiations from their schools and often disappear during the third term break … this happened at our school on two occasions in recent years when two of our top black rugby players were placed in a Pretoria school two years in a row.
“For obvious reasons, schools take umbrage when they lose talented and performing players which their systems have developed and nurtured for many years, through the hard work of numerous coaches who plough time and effort into these youngsters’ lives, for little or no remuneration. This is particularly acute when the process teaches these young men the lesson that young talent is for sale, that loyalty counts for very little and that the value of family life and comfortable school experiences can be prostituted on the altar of a promised rugby future. Does this possibly constitute the selling of one’s soul to the devil? Is it educationally sound and in the interests of the young men for whose healthy development we are responsible?”
We also lost many players to KZN and Gauteng schools over the years, while obfuscation and hiding behind their franchises was the general defence by said schools’ authorities.
Three prominent Eastern Cape principals - at that time - of well-known, traditional boy’s schools, contributed insightful, informative and powerful paragraphs highlighting the extent of the poaching pandemic, and their righteous indignation on educational and decency grounds regarding the practice.
A similar scenario is being played out right now, but in a much more insidious way and closer to home.
Unfortunately, and very sadly, this has recently devolved to an Eastern Cape school poaching from neighbours and erstwhile friends, and rivals, in a healthy sense of competition. The damage on many levels is considerable and the fixture has been discontinued. The myopic and mercenary parties to the practice of luring gifted and well-coached players to leave their chosen schools at odd times of the year, goes against the grain of all sound educational principles. Clearly, access to seemingly unlimited supplies of money and a misguided focus on self-aggrandisement through sports team achievements, has resulted in losing sight of what sport and education are about - healthy competition and developing the talent available at their institution. A school in East London has suffered the loss of in excess of 6 talented rugby players in the U16 age group over the course of 9 months to a Grahamstown school. This, orchestrated by ex-coaches at the East London school having been lured to Grahamstown by financially enticing offers - ‘backstabbing’ in the extreme! Inside information indicates that unexplained, incongruous and furtive visits by said ex-coaches to the school in East London have resulted in substantial offers being made to players to expedite their moves to the Grahamstown school. And to exacerbate the problem enormously, U14 players from a particularly good team at the same East London school have been approached too. The questionable morality in scouting the players of another school and then exploiting the financial challenges of their parents to plunder the home-grown talent of the school is despicable. Questions that should be asked: 1. Is this practice in the best interests of the affected players, or are they merely objects for sale to those with financial means? 2. Is this an acknowledgement that it is easier to buy success than to develop it? 3. What educational message does this convey regarding team spirit, loyalty and camaraderie? 4. Are the egos and self-aggrandisement needs of the perpetrators bigger than the educational interests of the pawns in their Machiavellian game? 5. Have they lost the plot and sacrificed the honour, decency and fair play that should underlie sport and its educational value? 6. Will the end justify the means? Some would argue that the risk of considerable damage to reputations may be the price to pay for underhand, morally and educationally reprehensible dealings.
Are there shades of Mephistopheles selling his soul to the devil in the Faust Legend, for earthly riches and intellectual talents, with eternal payback at the end? Karma has a way of exacting payback for practices that are just plain wrong.
A few interesting thoughts in closing:
1. Even the Western Cape schools have been infected by the reprehensible practice of poaching talent.
2. In Stephen Foote’s article of 26/03/2019 https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2019/03/rugby-player-poaching-banne... Player poaching banned under new schoolboy rugby rules in New Zealand
3. Will rugby authorities and clear-thinking school fraternities allow this despicable practice to continue unabated?