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All black rugby team is a winning school

King William’s Town's Dale College has the first "all-black" rugby team to ever be rated in the top five in South Africa

Earlier this month, the Dale team beat arch-rivals Selborne College in a tight game, becoming the first "all-black" team to beat Selborne.

This is a game that Selborne normally wins, and Dale last won in 2006.

The coincidence is that the last all-white team to win was the 1993 side, and the captain of that side was current Dale coach Grant Griffith.

Clashes between the old rivals go right back to 1892.

The racial transformation of the team has been embraced by white Old Boys of the 151-year-old school.

On Dale's Facebook site, the old boys union members are indulging in some understandable hyperbole, with comment such as, Dale is the "best black school in the world". 

The white Old Boys seem as passionate as ever: one told us that they have just put their money where their mouths are and paid for a new sports centre at the school.

The significance of this is immense, because of past events at the institution.

This is the same school that got serious about racial awareness and transformation after a shocking crime.

In 1990, four students from Dale brutally assaulted and killed a vagrant with cricket bats and hockey sticks on the school grounds.

The school opened its doors to black children for the first time a year later.

  • Dale is also credited with helping to build the careers of Springboks Makhaya Ntini and Gcobani Bobo.
  • The other top rugby schools in South Africa are Paarl Gymnasium, Pretoria's Affies, HJS Paarl (Boys High) and Grey College Bloemfontein. Private school Michaelhouse, Paul Roos Gym (Stellenbosch), King Edward VII (KES), Centurion High School (Pretoria south), and Outeniqua High are also competing for top honours as the season progresses.

On Facebook:

The Colour Dale

Dale College Boys High School

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