The annual 2-day tradition of sports and comradeship between these two schools took place on Friday and Saturday 19 and 20th May this year with the school teams challenging each other to hockey, netball and rugby as well chess.
Headmaster of St Francis College (SFC), Franzl Bause described how the annual fixture came into being. “Mr Hilton Keeton, present Headmaster of Hermitage House, and I have a long-standing friendship which started out in 2007 when we were first cricket team coaches; Hilton at Kingswood Prep in Grahamstown and myself at Cordwalles Prep in Pietermaritzburg. Hilton and SFC’s former headmaster, Alan Campbell (2010 – 2015) agreed on this fixture and when I took over from Alan, we vowed to continue the tradition. So we now have a winter sports fixture every year hosted by SFC, and this year we will return for a senior primary summer tour to Addo on 20 and 21 October to play boys and girls tennis and cricket matches.”
Ten mini hockey games were played with the SFC winning seven and Hermitage House three. On the netball court, SFC won the Under 8 and Under 9 matches after losing all the matches last year, and the U13A put up a gallant effort losing 6-14. On the rugby fields, the Under 13 seven a side game was won by SFC 30 – 5 while the Under 9 ‘Bulletjies’ match was a 25-25 draw.
The chess hall was a popular gathering point for those waiting for their turn on the fields. Many games were played and it seems Hermitage House had the edge. On the Saturday morning, the senior hockey (boys and girls combined teams) on Saturday, the Hermitage House under 11 team won 1-0 in their first game and drew the second 1-1. However, the two SFC U13 teams beat Hermitage House U13 team 6-0 and 7-1 respectively.
‘Both schools did our tradition proud this year and are to be congratulated,” said Bause. “Such is the tradition that long after the scores have been forgotten, lifelong comradeship will have been forged between the pupils of both schools.”
