Sport > Rugby 

History of Rugby at King Edward VII School

Shortly after desmond Davis, an Association Football enthusiast, retired in March 1931, plans were laid by his successor and "father" of all sport at King Edward , "Robbie" Robinson to start rugby at the School in the 1932 season. To this end he enlisted the help of a "god-father" in the person of Eric F.K. Tucker, a son of one of the original Governors, and himself subsequently a Governor, as was his son and two grand-sons and grand-daughter in their turn. Eric Tucker arranged for two sets of practice jerseys to be available for the School as well as practice facilities and coaching at the Pirates Club where the Johannesburg Station currently stands. He also persuaded the Transvaal Rugby Union to level and grass an ugly dusty slope on the School grounds to transform it into two rugby fields to be available for the 1932 season. His interest did not stop there and he led the subscription to effect the erection of the centre field's posts in 1933. and followed up by donating the posts for the third rugby field which came into use in 1939. His interest in the School's rugby lasted until the end of his life in the early 1950's, whereupon his home was sold to the King Edward Educational Trust on extremely generous terms. The house is now occupied by the Preparatory School's principal.

After a short period the School's players were able to play two Dayboys vs Boarders games and a match against the 2nd team of Houghton College during the third term. Incidently honours ended even in the intra-school games as each side won once. All three of these games were played at Houghton College, where the Houghton Primary School now exists.

On 27 April 1932 the School's fields were opened when the Chairman of the Governing Body, and ex-Matie, H.J. Hofmeyr kicked off the first ball. On that occasion Frank Robinson expressed the wish that King Edward boys would repay the Transvaal Rugby Union in due course by reproducing in senior rugby, what they had learned while at School.

As early as 1931 the School rugby colours had been decided. For the 1st XV cardinal red jerseys with white collars and a badge and white pants and red and white ringed socks. The rest of the School were to play in red white and green ringed jerseys with dark blue pants and black stockings with red and white tops. And so it has continued to this day with the obvious change to the socks and to white pants for the whole School. It was only in 1935 that the badge was incorporated. During the period 1944 to 1947 when due to unavailability of the red cloth because of the Second World War variations to the "Red" jersey were forced on the school. In 1944 (the best team of the first three decades of King Edward rugby) and 1947 the 1st XV played in white jerseys, the 1945 team played in a red that rapidly faded to a pink when washed, and a maroon in 1946. In 1997 at the St. Stithian's festival due to a clash with HTS Middleburg's colours the K.E.S. team played in blue.

The first season's programme consisted of seven games for the 1st team, mostly playing 2nd teams of the schools where rugby was established, but importantly playing St. John's College for the first time after their fields had similarly come into being by kind favour of the Transvaal Rugby Union. Of these games KES won 4. There was also a 2nd XV that year. The season ended with an overall 43% success rate. In the 1933 season four senior and one junior teams were fielded and while the 1st XV were not as successful, probably because they were playing 1st teams of all the apponents, the school overall improved to 56% success.

The 1934 season was very similar to the previous with less success overall.

The 1935 season is notable for the only abandonment of a 1st XV game due to exceptionally inclement weather in September the match against St. John's was called off mid-match. For the 1936 season an under 14 group was added to the under 15s. This season also was to prove the swansong of Association Football at the School. By then the School had the reputation of playing open spectacular rugby in Western Province style with a minimum of kicking. The 1937 season saw the introduction of the Under 13 section to complete the take over of rugby from soccer. The 1st XV played 19 matches one of which was played against a team comprising of retired first-class players, including some of provincial and international rank called Nondescripts. The game was lost, but proved to be a learning experience playing against the 1933 Springbok captain Bennie Osler, and his teammate Maurice Zimmerman of the 1931-2 tour to the British Isles (the tour that featured H.M. Forrest an ex-pupil of K.E.S. who had learned his rugby at University of the Witwatersrand). It illustrates the spirit in which the game was played that Zimmerman was "amused" when the School's wing wrong-footed him and scored a try.

By this stage it was evident that the School teams were generally more successful than the 1st XV in terms of the percentage of games played won. The 1938 season was a disaster for the 1st XV, losing all 17 games played. The only time this has happened, although the 1952 side won only once, and that by 17-16, and managed to draw with Parktown. The first decade of rugby at K.E.S. ended fielding 10 teams and yielded a 50% success rate for the 1st XV and a 67% rate for the School overall and the 1940 2nd XV who were unbeaten in 18 matches (1 draw).

The 1939 under 15A had a 100% record, the 1st "premier" team to achieve this feat. From this group came Bruce Macdonald who left the School in 1939. He later was selected for Transvaal and is the only ex-K.E.S. boy to have played in a Currie Cup final in 1947. The second decade was better for the 1st XV, achieving 63% success while the rest of the School fell back somewhat to 64%, perhaps due to the poliomyelitis threat that persisted into the 1950's. The team of the second decade was without doubt the 1944 team, playing in white, won 12 out of 14 matches (both losses were by a 2 point margin) and from their number came the first completely home-grown talent to play provincial rugby, in the person of Pat Craig. As an age group they were unbeaten in both their Under 13 and Under 14 years, while the Under 15 group only lost one Under 14 match throughout their 3 years of junior rugby. While the Under 14As of 1943 and 1946 were unbeaten with a drawn match each. There were still only 10 teams representing the School in 1951.

The third decade, excepting for a doubling of representative teams, didn't advance K.E.S. rugby at all.

The 1955 1st XV was 25% successful earning for themselves the 3rd worst rank on record. The only two 1st teams of the era which were reasonably good were the 1956 (75%) and 1961 (79%) sides. The 1956 side produced two provincial players viz. A. Miller and J. Faber, while A.H. Bladen was a member of the 1961 side, and he was eventually selected for the Junior Springboks. The decade rises for the 1st XV and the School were 46% and 59% respectively. In the rest of the School the 1960 Under 14A completed their programme with a 100% record and unscored against. The only time that this has been challenged was the 1982 Under 13A who had a 100% record and 7 points against them. From the 1962 season rugby flourished at K.E.S. with Hugh Bladen's 1st XV blazing the trail to the best hitherto record for a K.E.S. 1st XV of one loss out of 14 games played (93%), only to be surpassed by Norman Picker's (later a Transvaal player) 1968 side with a 100% record after 17 games played. It did not hurt the record that the 2nd XV were unbeaten 4 years out of the 10; the Under 15A of 1966 losing one game in 37 matches while in the junior section, to be followed by the 1967 Under 15A being unbeaten. Overall a 67% record for the 1st XV and a 72% for the School now represented by 18 teams during the 4th decade.

However the best was still to come. The 1st XV of 1973 produced a 12 win 1 draw season (92%) to be followed by the all conquering 1972 team (100%) in 14 matches. Of those players L. Barnard and S. Carty graduated to provincial rugby. The 1978 team almost equalled them drawing one of their 15 matches (93%). The Under 15's produced outstanding results during this era with A & B teams unbeaten in 1978, and the age group losing 2 matches in 49 in the 1979 season when the Under 14A had a 100% season. The Under 13A of 1976 drew one, winning the rest of their matches. The 5th decade ended with 22 teams representing K.E.S., the 1st XVs a 78% record and the whole School 80%.

And still better was to come in the 6th decade. The 1982 and 1988 1st XV each lost one match, in 1982 the last match of the season in injury time. While the 1988 matriculants in their Under 13 year in 1984 lost 2 games out of 88 for the season, and both losses occurred in the last fixture of the season. The 1987 2nd XV were unbeaten with one draw, and the Under 14A of 1984 and the Under 15A of 1985 achieved 100% records. With 23 teams representing the School a 77% record was achieved, while the 1st XVs won 81% of their games in the decade. The 1977 record of the School's overall results of 86.31% was however unchallenged. The players of the 80's to make their way to provincial honours were S. Berridge ('82 and '83) G. Grant ('82) J. Gerber ('86) G. Lawless ('86 and '87) L. Stewart ('89).

The 7th decade was disapointing in that the 1st XVs recorder their worst overall record since the 1950's in that only 61% of the games were won. The defeat by Dale College in 1993 (0-48) was the heaviest defeat any K.E.S. 1st team has suffered, not much better than the 3-45 beating inflicted on the 1994 tourists to New Zealand by Wellington College (in the mud). Not only did the first teams suffer, none more than the 1999 team with 27% the 4th worst ever, but the School's overall playing record slipped to 71% and even worse the 2001 win overall rate of 62% was the worst since 1959. Yet too harsh a view might be unfair. There were very few easy games on the K.E.S. playing schedule consisting of nearly 300 games per annum. On the contrary, some of the traditionally strongest schools are now being played regularly, with a game against a co-ed school the exception. Despite a sobering record the teams of this decade re-wrote some scoring records against our traditional opponents. The 2nd XV were unbeaten in 1995 and 1996, and the 2000 2nds only lost one match. The 1998 1st XV won 53-5 against St. John's, the biggest win ever. So too the 1997 team scored 56-8 against Parktown and 51-10 against Potchefstroom while losing 18-38 to Pretoria to establish all time records. While the 1995 Reds beat Helpmekaar 44-12, the best result since games were first played back in 1932. The players who qualified for higher honours include E. van der Merwe ('94 and '95) R. Keil ('94 and '95) S. Marot ('95) D. Malherbe ('95) J. van Niekerk ('97 and '98) who became the first King Edward boy to play for the Springboks in an international match in 2001, 70 years after rugby started at the School. The 1st XV having played 1094 matches, winning 703 of them.

It is indeed interesting that in the 3rd term of 2001 rugby was formally introduced at the Preparatory School exactly 70 years after it had been introduced at the High School. Will the Prep. School boys match their senior's record of a 72% success rate over 70 years and approximately 12000 matches played? Only time will tell.