Over the last 10 years the change in South African school boy rugby is like chalk and cheese because of the money being pumped into the schools. This is all about the money by being ranked in the top 10 school rugby teams nationally. I have spoken about this a few times already, but to be honest it did not make sense and now I have understood the reasons behind this.
School boy rugby is steeped in tradition and rivalry in South Africa with many matches having a 100 year history. Tens of thousands of spectators flock to these matches at the weekends with many of these spectators having been a pupil at the schools participating.
The obvious is the higher the ranking the more television coverage that team benefits and the more revenue they earn. Top teams having television coverage demand more through sponsorship deals which then funds even more spending.
The top teams can leverage their ranking status generating higher financial returns through sponsorship, merchandising and inflated enrolment fees for the pupils. the spending of $1 million per year on the sports team is now very common as each school is trying to outdo each other.
There is a story I wanted to share because it is crazy at what is being offered to these kids and their families. One has to remember that the 1st team is where the real money is ,but money has also got to be invested in the 13/14 year old age groups so the standards remain building up to when these players turn 17/18 and can keep their rankings high.
Recruitment through offering bursaries and scholarships may not be enough to lure a young talented hopeful to your school and there are stories of package deals. One family were given a home and the dad was offered employment he could not refuse along with a full scholarship for their 14 year old rugby playing son. This would have been a back room deal involving ex pupils who own businesses and can influence their school team.
Most of the schools have a 5 year program and the top coaches employed will also have scouting teams looking for top young players that they can lure to the school. The high performance program is one thing, but you still need talented rugby players to develop. Schools will be spending millions on the 13/14 year old's so they know that the future is being taken care of and that they can climb the rankings. The only problem is the top 100 schools are all doing the same thing so recruiting the top kids is costing far more. One young boy played for 3 different schools over 3 weekends as he was offered better deals each time and subsequently moved to the highest bidder.
Another worry is the demand for these top sporting schools which are public schools and not private can raise their enrolment fees. If I take my old school as an example who are currently ranked at 30th and have been climbing the rankings in rugby even though they are the top ranked school in the country for hockey and in the top 10 for cricket. the school fees for the year are at around R72 000 and when you multiply that by 900 boys raising the fees by 20% you have just added an extra R14 million in annual revenue. this is still regarded as cheap compared to the private schools which are roughly 4 x more expensive.
Parents are prepared to pay to have their children receive the best possible education and dads would love to see their children have an opportunity to become professional sportsmen. Rugby is the key to earning the extra revenue for these schools due to it being so popular almost like a religion in the country. The other sports would also be benefitting through the high performance centers on offer at these schools, but not to the same extent as the rugby players.
This last weekend was a long weekend in South Africa with the sport on television being dominated by school boy rugby. What these rankings have done is made school boy rugby a national competition with teams travelling to play the top teams that they would not have normally played against.