Wynberg Boys’ High has ended its relationship with Paarl Boys’ High after the latter’s admission of a Wynberg schoolboy. DYLAN JACK reports.

SARugbymag.co.za understands that the Grade 9 schoolboy, who was discovered by Wynberg director of rugby Chris Childs, and was on a scholarship at Wynberg, has transferred to the Paarl school without normal inter-school protocol being followed.

According to Wynberg’s version of events, no reason was given by the boy’s father for his withdrawal from the school, and any attempts to properly communicate the matter with Boishaai fell on deaf ears. Boishaai further intimated to Wynberg that they knew nothing about the boy and that they would not accept him.

The boy’s transfer was said to have broken a memorandum of understanding signed by most traditional boys’ schools across the country, as it did not adhere to the protocol in the code.

Specifically, the memorandum states that the schools should not poach from each other, and rejects offering parents incentives to entice their child to join, and that any application to change schools after a child is already enrolled in a school needs to be discussed between the principals of said schools in advance.

Wynberg headmaster Jan de Waal told SARugbymag.co.za that while he had no intention of the issue becoming a media headline, he felt Wynberg had to act within the school’s sports ethos regarding the reasons school sport is played.

De Waal said the issue was not centred on the boy, who had improved both academically and in his sports during his time at Wynberg, but rather the way in which the transfer took place, and the lack of communication by Boishaai.

Head of sport Mike Engelbrecht added that while Wynberg does recruit players from primary schools for Grade 8, they do not target junior schoolboys from the likes of Rondebosch Boys’ Preparatory or SACS Primary, traditionally feeders for their own high schools.

‘We have no ambitions to become a rugby academy,’ Engelbrecht told SARugbymag.co.za. ‘It is simply about wanting to compete with the other schools in the area.

‘We also don’t approach high-school boys with scholarship offers. Applicants for Grade 8 may potentially be awarded scholarships once the admissions process has been successful.’