While not attempting to minimise the ability of what is obviously a fine St Andrew's first XV, we need to remember the true difference between the two schools. St Andrew's is similar in total numbers to Kingswood, but half of the Kingswood learners are of the fairer sex.

So for every boy available to Kingswood there are two for St Andrew's. If a genuinely fair competition were to occur, St Andrew's should remove half the boys from each team (this should be done randomly) and then boys from lower teams would fill the gaps in the teams above.

As it stands, St Andrew's faces a very real problem in deciding which of their ten senior sides should play against the Kingswood five teams. In the under age groups it is even more difficult, as children who have worked their way into the A and B teams want to represent their school on K-Day, but again St Andrew's has to choose two of their four teams to play against Kingswood’s two.

The main problem is the dichotomy between educational values and winning. The fear of appearing to lose sometimes outweighs the importance of teaching children that the principles of sportsmanship and fair play remain life-long values. Added to this is the amazingly stupid thought that the results on a rugby field define the educational value of a particular school. If this is taken to its logical conclusion - New Zealand and Australia have in the last three weeks suddenly become better countries than South Africa.

Note also, that when referring to success on K-Day the girls’ hockey is seldom considered. In what is supposedly a non-sexist society this is insulting. I look forward to the true value of K-Day in 2010, which is the getting together of the two communities who have experienced the wonderful gift of an education in Grahamstown.

Mike Bandey

See the article Kingswood stay true to form for more