Suburban
ST JOHN’S College will in May host three tournaments for rugby, football and hockey in its Puredrop Derby Festival 2023 which promises to be an exciting fixture on the schools sporting calendar as top sport playing schools will battle it out in the three competitions.
Suburban Reporter
The rugby tournament is scheduled for May 1,3, 4 and 6 and will see the hosts’ Rams and Bullets joined by 14 other schools to outdo each other for honours.
Top rugby playing schools which include Churchill (Harare), Bulawayo’s Christian Brothers’ College, Hillcrest from Mutare, Chinhoyi-based Lomagundi College, Harare’s The Heritage School, Wise Owl from Marondera, Falcon College from Esigodini, Prince Edward (Harare), Watershed (Marondera), Eaglesvale Senior School (Harare), Gateway High School (Harare), St George’s College (Harare), Rydings College (Karoi) and Kyle College (Masvingo) will take part in the tournament.
It promises to be an explosive display of rugby at the St John’s Puredrop Derby Festival as the line-up of schools have a history of producing good rugby.
The hockey tournament will see both boys and girls teams compete in the St John’s Puredrop Derby Festival on May 4,5,6 and 7. A total of 12 schools will be fielding teams in the tournament. Some of the schools will field both boys and girls teams in the tournament.
Taking part in the boys’ tournament will be hosts St John’s College, St George’s College, Falcon College, Peterhouse Boys, Hellenic Academy (Harare), Eaglesvale Senior School, Christian Brothers’ College and Lomagundi.
In the girls hockey tournament St John’s will battle with Chisipite Senior (Harare), Bulawayo’s Girls College, Falcon College, Peterhouse Girls, Eaglesvale Senior School, Lomagundi College, The Heritage School, Hellenic Academy and Arundel High School (Harare).
The St John’s College Puredrop Derby Festival football tournament is scheduled for May 1,2 and 3 and will feature the hosts, Prince Edward, St George’s College, Kyle College, Gateway High School, Watershed College, Christian Brothers’ College, Peterhouse, Falcon College and Lomagundi College.
Posting on their Facebook page this week, St John’s College promised to release more details of the tournaments as time goes on.
The St John’s College Puredrop Derby Festival rugby tournament will be held after the hosting of another schools rugby tournament in Bulawayo.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) in conjunction with a number of partners will hold the Bulawayo Easter Rugby Festival which will see nine school teams battle for honours at Hartsfield Grounds, the home of rugby in Bulawayo between March 31 and April 1.
Eight local rugby playing schools and one foreign team from neighbouring Botswana will lock horns in the tournament in what will certainly be a forerunner to this year’s schools’ rugby season.
The local schools’ rugby season is normally held during the second term of school between May and August. However, pre-season usually starts during the holiday of the firm term in April and the Bulawayo Easter Rugby Festival will serve as a perfect pre-season fine tuning adventure for the schools involved in the competition ahead of the start of the season in May.
The competing schools are Milton Boys High School (the Elephants), Churchill Boys High School (the Bulldogs), Christian Brothers College (the Hornets), Lomagundi College (the Bisons), Plumtree High School (Amabhubesi), Wise Owl High School (the Wise Owls), Allan Wilson Boys High School (the Sables) and Petra High School (the Spartans).
The only foreign team taking part in the tournament are Botswana’s Under 19 Vultures who complete the line-up of the participating teams.
Should the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival resume this year, it will mean that the two major cities Bulawayo and Harare will host three schools rugby festivals, which will be springboards for junior rugby development. The three festivals will also widen the platforms where budding rugby players can showcase their talent and sharpen their skills.
Traditionally hosted by Prince Edward School in Harare, Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival was last year scheduled for the end of April but the organisers had to put it on ice once again because Government had not given the green-light for the festival because Covid-19 was still a concern then.
