From nearly being disqualified from the Peter Mkata rugby tournament at the Miki Yili Stadium last Saturday, Mary Waters Secondary School's 1st rugby team emerged as the champions that will represent Cacadu at the provincial competition in Port Elizabeth this weekend.
Schools from Cacadu District that participated were: Mary Waters, Nathaniel Nyaluza, Nombulelo, Ntsika, TEM Mrewtyana and Khutliso Daniels Secondary Schools, and two visitors Humansdorp Secondary and Spandau Secondary School (Graaff-Reinet).
The winner of the final game was supposed to become the regional representative in the Eastern Province game – but instead this was decided behind closed doors, after confusion arose and the competition came to an abrupt end. The trouble started when officials from the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture stopped Mary Waters during their semi-final game against Humansdorp.
The officials, who refused to identify themselves to
From nearly being disqualified from the Peter Mkata rugby tournament at the Miki Yili Stadium last Saturday, Mary Waters Secondary School's 1st rugby team emerged as the champions that will represent Cacadu at the provincial competition in Port Elizabeth this weekend.
Schools from Cacadu District that participated were: Mary Waters, Nathaniel Nyaluza, Nombulelo, Ntsika, TEM Mrewtyana and Khutliso Daniels Secondary Schools, and two visitors Humansdorp Secondary and Spandau Secondary School (Graaff-Reinet).
The winner of the final game was supposed to become the regional representative in the Eastern Province game – but instead this was decided behind closed doors, after confusion arose and the competition came to an abrupt end. The trouble started when officials from the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture stopped Mary Waters during their semi-final game against Humansdorp.
The officials, who refused to identify themselves to
Only seven of the 15 Mary Waters players were able to produce IDs. After dominating the first half and leading 7-0 at the break when they were interrupted, Mary Waters had to watch from the sidelines as an on-pitch caucus between the officials and coaches ensued.
Mawas supporters, who had come in their numbers to cheer on their team, joined the gathering, asking the officials questions they couldn't answer.
While the officials claimed to have screened all the schools for IDs before the game, a player from Nombuleleo refuted this, saying no one on his team had been asked for ID.
More puzzling was the fact that Mary Waters had been allowed to play an earlier game against Nombulelo that had put them through to the semis.
Another point supporters raised was that the two visiting schools, Humansdorp and Spandau, were favoured because they had somehow qualified automatically for the playoffs without playing a single game.
They came into their games with fresh legs, and the Grahamstown schools had all already played one game. With word rife that Humansdorp would gain automatic entry to the finals, having played (and lost) only one half of a rugby game, the officials and coaches convened a meeting the officials described as "damage control" under the pavilion.
After half an hour of discussions, they came out singing a different tune. The meeting had decided that in the spirit of the game, they would allow Mary Waters to continue playing because it had apparently been decided in an earlier meeting that they would allow schools' participation without IDs.
The two visiting schools did not accept the outcome and withdrew from the tournament. Mary Waters were crowned champions and instructed to file their IDs by 8.30 on Monday morning.
The overjoyed Mary Waters players did a victory lap around the field, singing and clapping.
But before the visiting teams drove off, not too long after the announcement, the Humansdorp coach shared his views: “It can’t be in the spirit of the game when rules are broken."
He further said that they had to leave many of their first team players behind because they didn't have IDs, and their team on the field that day was "basically our B team." "We can come here to Grahamstown and play Mary Waters with our full first team – and we will show them,” he said.
Mary Waters left Grahamstown late yesterday afternoon for the weekend's provincial champs.
