Debunking “year 14” rugby
Recently speculation has been aired about year 14 students staying on at school to play rugby, but local teachers dispute the idea and say the phenomena is nothing new.
Wellington Director of college sport John Hornal says nothing has changed over the past 40 years and, “As long as we provide free education; students can play sport if they are under 19”.
“By having eight year 14 students in the first fifteen Wellington College has been made out as the big ogre here.
“But in the current [economic] climate it’s difficult for kids that are not planning tertiary study to find jobs,” says Mr Hornal.
He says it’s better for them to return to school and continue earning NCEA credits than “do nothing and drift”.
“In my day students would repeat a year if they didn’t pass school certificate.
“I’m mystified by the issue made of this; the journalists who started all this would have played [schoolboy rugby] in that environment and know that nothings changed.
“It’s just as much a level playing field as it used to be,” he says.
Tawa College head of Physical Education Ross Redpath says, “It’s a bit of a misdemeanour surrounding the year 14 players”. Mr Redpath aggress that more children are staying in school because of the lack of job opportunities.
“To be quite frank I think the players were larger in my day, and this notion that schools’ are holding kids back to play rugby is not the case.”
“Some 7th formers were really big in my day, there were larger guys playing because they spent longer in 5th and 6th form.” He dismisses the idea kids are held back to play rugby, and doesn’t “think anything has changed”.
