The friendly city of Gqeberha will see two brother schools Grey High and Grey College battle it out in the Premier Interschools on Saturday, July 29. The rivalry between these two schools has been in existence since 1929. Grey High and Grey College both have the same benefactor in Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony from 5 December 1854 to 15 August 1861. He founded Grey College in Bloemfontein in 1855 and Grey High School in Port Elizabeth in 1856.

During Grey’s first tenure as Governor of New Zealand, he was Knighted as Commander of the Order of the Bath (1848). Grey gave land for the establishment of Auckland Grammar School in Newmarket in Auckland in 1850. The school was officially recognised as an educational establishment in 1868 through the Auckland Grammar School Appropriation Act of the Provincial Government. Auckland Grammar school also became the school in New Zealand that produced the most All Black rugby players, much in the same mould as Grey College has become the rugby factory for Springbok rugby players in South Africa.

Grey High School from Port Elizabeth first took the initiative with an inland tour in 1929 that started off with them playing St Andrews in Grahamstown and working their way up north to Bloemfontein. There they played their brother school for the first time and lost 0 -16. They invited Grey College to come down to PE the following year and the Bloemfontein Boys dually accepted and in 1930 they undertook their first tour to Port Elizabeth.

In a closely contested match the boys from Bloemfontein again triumphed 9-7. For some unknown reason lost in the midst of time, the two schools took another 23 years before they played each other again. In 1953 Grey PE toured to Bloemfontein and lost 13-3. It took another ten years for the two Greys to square up again and the 1963 game ended in a  draw 8-8, while the 1968 game was also a draw. The 1972 match introduced the first unbroken sequence of matches that continues until this day.

In all that time there were two more draws, in 1973 and 1990. Grey PE won their first match against their Bloemfontein brothers in 1976 at the anniversary of the tenth meeting between the two teams. On a day of high drama on the Philip Field at Grey PE, Robbie Logan slotted a last minute penalty for Grey High to emerge as 13-12 winners. Since then, Grey High has only been on the winning side a further seven times with their last win coming in 2014, just showing the dominance that their counterparts from Bloemfontein have in the Derbies.

Historic Results:

Played: 52

Grey College won 42 and Grey High School won 8

Drew: 2

Last 10 Matches played:

Grey College Season so Far:

Grey is having one of those seasons again where it seems they are unstoppable and that only a miracle can prevent them from closing down the season unbeaten. They swept away most opposition but had a fight on their hands against Outeniqua in George before eventually overcoming the strong Kwagga side by two points. In the rest of their encounters they rarely had to move into top gear to overcome their opponents and it seems their unbeaten season is well underway.

Grey High School Season so Far:

Grey High School had an up and down season having played 15 games, winning eight, losing six and drawing one. This is not up to their usual standard and they would love to rectify their season by upsetting the Grey Bloem juggernaut on its quest to an unbeaten season.

Rugby at Grey College

Grey has served Bloemfontein, the Free State, South Africa and the world well over the past 150 years. Grey has been able to make adjustments and remain relevant in a changing environment in which it has developed, grown and excelled. The brand is known and revered throughout South Africa and even internationally and the products of the school make a positive difference wherever they are. Parallel medium education, tolerance, respect for others and loyalty to the school are not only traditions, but firm foundations in a global village. Grey is structured on these foundations and it is constantly adapting to new developments. The wave of change washing over our country confirms the value of Grey’s traditions. Grey has produced 46 Springbok rugby players. Since WWII it has produced more Springbok players than any other school in South Africa, their latest being centre Francois Venter.

List of Grey Springboks:

Rugby at Grey High School Grey has a proud rugby tradition and record which dates back to the 19th century.  Traditional schools they compete against, on an annual basis, are Dale College, Graeme College, Grey College, Queen’s College, Selborne College, St. Andrew’s College, Wynberg High and of late Paul Roos Gymnasium.

The first rugby match was played on September 16, 1893 against Muir College of Uitenhage. During the years 1919 to 1923 Grey played four internationals against Dale, Gill, Kingswood and St Andrew’s. Money for the main field was donated by an Old Grey, Arthur Phillip in 1938 and thus the main field is “The Phillip Field”. Players who represented the Springboks through the year were Fred Smollan, Fred Turner, Bunny Reid, Peter Allen, Giepie Wentzel (Master), Roy Dryburgh, Mickey Gerber, Wilf Rosenberg, Iain Kirkpatrick, Sean Povey, Luke Watson and most recently Siya Kolisi, JJ Engebrecht and Curwin Bosch.

Well known television commentators and outstanding players like Gavin Cowley and Andrew Patterson also graced the Phillip field. Special mention must be made of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi who captained South Africa to its 3^rd World Cup in Japan in 2019. Siya is a proud old boy and contributes much of his success to the foundation laid down by his Alma Mater.

The Hershel Girls vs Oakham School netball derby’s will be broadcast live on 26 July from 16h20 on SuperSport Schools and the Paarl Girls’ High vs La Rochelle Girls’ High Schools derby from 07h50 on Saturday, 29 July, on SuperSport Schools. The rugby derby will be broadcast live on Saturday, 29 July from 13h55 on SuperSport CSN / RUG / RUGA