The general manager of Western Province Youth Rugby has blamed most school rugby violence on “bad management”, saying that coaches push their players to be aggressive.
Theo Kleynhans was speaking in the wake of an incident during a match on Saturday between city school Sacs and the Primrose club during which a 14-year-old Primrose player had his nose broken and sustained a concussion.
Primrose player Imran Fredericks has accused a Sacs player of deliberately stamping in his face after he had tackled another Sacs player, but Sacs headmaster Ken Ball said today that video footage did not show any evidence of “stomping”.
Imran, who is in Grade 9 at Trafalgar High School and plays for Primrose’s under-15 team, has been told by doctors that he will not be able to write exams this term because of his concussion.
His rugby season is also over: he’s been booked off for six weeks, but by the time he’s considered well enough to return to the field, Ramadaan will have started and he will be unable to play.
Imran’s furious parents tried to report the incident to the Claremont police, but were advised that it should be taken up with the provincial rugby union because he was injured on a rugby field, during a match.
Imran said yesterday that he had been injured after tackling one of the Sacs players. He plays on the wing for his team and, after making the tackle, was lying on his back on the field.
The boy he had tackled had stood up and continued playing and it was then, Imran claimed, that another Sacs player had trampled on his face while the referee’s back was turned.
“Another boy came (while I was lying on the ground). I saw the boot come to my face, then everything went black.”
His father, Wajdi, who is also a rugby coach and attended the match, said that when the referee noticed a commotion around the injured boy, he had immediately ended the game.
The Sacs team, coaches and management walked off without checking what had happened and whether Imran was all right, Imran alleged.
The match was played at Sacs.
Today, Ball said he was meeting various people over Imran’s claim of “stomping” and a morning newspaper’s article which he said was biased against Sacs.
He said video evidence, which he was prepared to release, showed no evidence of the stomping.
He said, however, there was video evidence of actions by Primrose parents and officials after Imran was injured/
Ball said was getting statements from the referee and medical personnel at the field who were verbally abused by supporters of the Primrose team.
“I just want to make it clear that Sacs reserves its rights in this matter,” Ball said.
“I am quite confident that the evidence will exonerate Sacs in this matter.”
Imran was taken to hospital and told by doctors that he would not be able to write exams.
He said he was unable to focus on reading, or even on watching television.
He said he was shocked by the incident because nothing like this had happened to him before.
His mother, Shamila Sulayman, said dirty behaviour on the field was always something she had warned her son about.
“There’s a big difference between a hard player and a dirty player,” said Sulayman.
She added that it was normal for the boys to sustain injuries during rugby matches.
At the beginning of the season, her son had broken his collarbone during a tackle.
“That was part of the game. This was just thuggery,” said Sulayman.
The boy’s parents went to the Claremont police station yesterday afternoon, intending to open an assault case.
They were advised to approach the rugby union and lodge a complaint there instead, they said.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut confirmed this yesterday.
However, he said that if Imran’s family still wanted further intervention, they were welcome to return to the station and the matter would be investigated.
Western Province Rugby’s Kleynhans said violence in school rugby was a “worry”, but insisted it was not an “epidemic”.
“In most cases, the problem is that coaches are motivating the players towards aggressiveness. It’s bad management,” said Kleynhans.
He said violence was reported in only about 2 percent of all games played. – Additional reporting by Henri du Plessis
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