PAM GOLDING PROPERTIES GRAEME RUGBY DAY
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Loading...EVEN after nearly two decades, the Pam Golding Properties Graeme Rugby Day continues to play an important role in Eastern Cape schools rugby, with tournament organiser Nico van der Meulen saying they are continually oversubscribed with entries.
This annual schools spectacular will be played on Saturday (March 12) in Grahamstown a week earlier than usual, due to the Easter weekend at the end of March. While that has not been ideal in terms of the teams’ preparations, Van der Meulen said it had not stopped schools from wanting to be part of the day and they were consistently having to find ways to accommodate everyone who wanted to play.
Normally Graeme arrange for at least one team from outside the Eastern Cape to be part of the festival, but this year they have opted for a wholly local flavour which will bring many interesting contests into play.
“There is still a lot interest in the day and we have schools on standby,” Van der Meulen said. “We try to get an outside school each year, but this year we didn’t get one, which is not a problem because we are still full. But Bishops (from Cape Town) would like to come back, probably next year, so they play every second year.”
Van der Meulen said the day played an integral role in the school’s annual calendar and was one of their best opportunities to advertise what Graeme College has to offer.
“It is the day when we have the most people on the school campus so advertising-wise it is huge,” Van der Meulen said. “Everybody knows about the Graeme Rugby Day and it helps from a financial point of view, even though we don’t charge the schools a cent for coming.
“The local sponsors, under Pam Golding Properties, give us a lot of support and help us from that point of view.”
Van der Meulen said one of the positives of the day that it was not a major commitment for schools, such as is the case with the three-match festivals.
“The schools come in for the day, see a lot of other sides in action, and then they leave when they want to. And I think that works quite well.
“I work very closely with the coaches and it is a chance for us to get together for a chat and to build relationships with them and other schools. And now that we have the U14s and U16s, basically you can come to Graeme every second year.
“For us it works very well, giving the chance for headmasters and coaches to mingle with each other, so there is a lot of communication before they head off to the festivals and the other schools matches.”
Van der Meulen also paid tribute to sponsors Pam Golding Properties for the work they put in to ensure the day was a success.
“They have the naming rights and do all the work in terms of getting other sponsors on board, and our job is to deal with the schools and make sure the match programme is covered.”
The day will kick off on Saturday at 8am with Dale taking on Pearson, and finish in the late afternoon when Kingswood meet Queen’s at 4.10pm.
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