The South African College took to football early on and had, like Bishops, a profound effect on the early game at the Cape.
There is a story that it was a South African College man who took the game to across the Cape Flats to the Victoria College, somebody called Vos. And so they started playing in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch keeps 1880 as its founding date but it was already playing in 1878.
Eventually, in 1893, the three colleges formed the Colonial Colleges RFU and played for three trophies – two Anderson Cups for the first and second teams and the Harris Cup for the third team winners. Twice St Andrew’s College of Grahamstown, from which Rhodes University was born, played in the competition. The first president of the Colonial Colleges RFU was WP Schreiner, later president of the SARFB.
This went on till 1910 when Bishops stopped it’s university classes and became just a school. It’s students joined those of the South African College to form the University of Cape Town, first in town in the buildings of the South African College and then, from 1928 onwards, in Rondebosch.
With the departure of Bishops the Colonial Colleges RFU and it’s competitions came to an end. But the president of the Western province RFU, LB Smuts, got the other two to agree to play, not for trophies but solely for “college honour”.
The South African College gave Western province it’s blue and white hoops, but got them itself by accident.
Bishops were the first to get jerseys, not posh things at all but simply a practical means of reducing the number of torn shirts. They got tough jerseys, used by lascars on ships, unpleasant things. Later, they had jerseys made which were more refined and the manufacturer added a light blue collar.
The South African College decided that they wanted jerseys and went off to a supplier, Porter Hodgson’s in Adderly Street. The only jerseys he had in stock, in two sizes, were those with blue and white hoops – and, for that mundane reason, they became SACS’s colours. The school’s uniform came later than the rugby jerseys but adopted the same colours.
SACS was, of course, in the city in those days, and ground was a problem. First it had a rough, uneven bit of ground which had once been the home of a hippo when the grounds were a zoo. Then the school had the old Paddock in Government Avenue and would go by train to Green Point Common or out to Rondebosch, to play there on the Common or at Bishops.
The Paddock was made available to SACS by the Governor, Sir George Grey, in 1859. The boys could use it in the afternoon. This was less attractive in the time of the new governor, Sir Phillip Wodehouse, who grazed his cows on the Paddock, and would not relent even though SACS had the matter discussed in the Cape Parliament. The next governor, Sir Henry Barkly, allowed them to share the Paddock with the cows. They got the Paddock back from the cows in 1896 when Lord Rosemead was governor, and it stayed a part of SACS till the school moved to Newlands in the late Fifties and early Sixties.
But grounds were always a problem even with Rosedale with it’s kikuyu grass and Rosmead. They used the Mellish’s Field for a while, but the WPRFU condemned it. Things were better after SACS acquired the St Michael’s Field which was as spacious and gracious as the present facilities at Montebello.
It was natural that SACS people should go on to other clubs, Hamiltons, for example, but mostly to Gardens, which was a direct offshoot from SACS.
When Western Province first chose a team, it’s captain was a South African College man, Ben Duff. And so Western Province played in blue and white hoops, which they expanded to avoid confusion. Later Barry Heatlie, a Bishops man, gave South Africa his club jersey, the Old Diocesans RFC, and that jersey was green – as it still is, with additions, today.
After the formation of the Western Province RFU, the South African College took a full part in it’s competitions, including the Grand Challenge. In 1909 the South African College won the Grand Challenge Cup, but that was hardly surprising as those were the halcyon days of SACS rugby.
The game of the season was the inter-College match between the SAC and Bishops, but as far back as 1890 they had to meet to discuss who was not a bona fide student.
With the dissolution of the university classes at Bishops, school sport became more structured. The South African College became in 1918, the University of Cape Town, translated to Rondebosch in 1928. But now the schools acquired a set-up of their own. Schoolboys were no longer simply fed into the club system at their colleges, though at first SACS continued to supply boys to the senior side and did not run an Under 19 team till 1914.
Mind you, at the time there was no fear of playing young boys against men.
The schools competition had been introduced in the Western Province in 1898, with a shield for the winner. This was for Under 16 players. From 1911 there was Under 19, Under 16, Under 14 and Under 13 divisions, a system which would last a long time in the Western Province. In 1912 an Under 17 division was also introduced while the Under 19 teams would play mostly with clubs.
Competition for shields was adandoned in 1931, for the very best reasons. The schools decided that they would play the game for the hell of it – ludud causa ludi. And that is how things have stayed, though there was a competitive Schools Day at Newlands till 1950. And the Villagers Sevens has a trophy reward.
By and large schools rugby for SACS and the rest of the Western Province had enough inherent competition not to have to dangle shields, cups or trophies in front of the players.
-Paul Dobson
- Western Province – Winners of the Currie Cup 1892, still wearing the Old SACS Jerseys
