Craven Week

The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven.[1][2][3]

Craven Week
The current Coca-Cola Craven Week logo
SportRugby union
Instituted1964 (1964)
Number of teams20

The tournament has its humble beginnings in an idea by Piet Malan, then Springbok flanker, in 1949, around the time of the South African Rugby Board's 75th anniversary. He wanted schools to feature in the celebrations and approached Danie Craven in Potgietersrus on how this could be done.

Dr Craven took the idea to his board who decided on getting the 15 schools unions together for a week. The man who kept the idea alive however was one Jan Preuyt, a former student at the University of Stellenbosch and teacher at Port Rex Technical School in East London. Preuyt had played rugby for Griqualand West and was also the chairman of Border Schools.

At the time there was no such thing as a South African Schools organisation, and the South African Rugby Board were not involved, so Preuyt and Border Schools arranged the first Craven Week tournament on their own.

The competition began with 15 teams in 1964, growing to 28 in 1987 and 32 in 2000. The format was changed in 2001, and now allows for just 20 teams. Each of South Africa's fourteen provincial unions field at least one team, with some unions sending two squads (one from their urban base and another representing "country districts"), plus representation from Namibia and Zimbabwe in most years.

Each year since 1974 a South African schools team has been selected, and the competition has been open to players of all races since 1980 when Craven himself requested that it be done. The competition has since become a hunting ground for talent scouts trying to find the best new players for their provinces and many young upcoming stars see the tournament as an opportunity to further their careers. The format has been replicated at other age and skill levels, including a U18 Academy Week for provincial B sides, the Grant Khomo Week for U16 teams, and Iqhawe Week for U15 sides which places special emphasis on players from underprivileged or underserved areas.

Currently the tournament is known as the "Coca-Cola Craven Week" with The Coca-Cola Company as the main sponsor of the event.

Results

Despite there being no official final for the Craven Week tournaments, there is a main match every year that features the two best teams at the tournament. The results of these main matches since 1971 are:[4][5]

Main matches at the Craven Week
Year Venue Winner Score Runner-up
1971KimberleyWestern Province11–0Griqualand West
1972PotchefstroomWestern Province16–9Western Transvaal
1973StellenboschWestern Province36–7Transvaal
1974JohannesburgWestern Province22–12South Western Districts
1975PretoriaEastern Province46–13Natal
1976WolmaransstadBoland13–9Free State
1977OudtshoornEastern Province19–17Western Province
1978MiddelburgWestern Province12–3Free State
1979East LondonNorthern Free State9–6Free State
1980StellenboschFree State16–6Transvaal
1981WorcesterTransvaal11–7Western Province
1982WindhoekSouth Eastern Transvaal25–7Northern Free State
1983UpingtonFree State13–9South Eastern Transvaal
1984BloemfonteinTransvaal3–0Eastern Province
1985WitbankFree State23–15Transvaal
1986Graaff-ReinetSouth Eastern Transvaal19–12Western Province
1987PaarlNatal / Transvaal22–22N/A
1988Port ElizabethWestern Province16–3Free State
1989JohannesburgTransvaal17–6Eastern Province
1990DurbanNatal18–8Northern Transvaal
1991East LondonNorthern Transvaal10–9Border
1992PretoriaWestern Province22–15Free State
1993SecundaNorthern Transvaal25–13South Eastern Transvaal
1994NewcastleBorder / Eastern Province13–13N/A
1995BloemfonteinFree State15–13Boland
1996StellenboschNorthern Transvaal24–12Western Province
1997KimberleyNorthern Transvaal29–27Western Province
1998VanderbijlparkGriqualand West32–21Western Province
1999GeorgeWestern Province15–11Eastern Province
2000Port ElizabethPumas19–18Boland
2001RustenburgSWD26–20Blue Bulls
2002PietermaritzburgWestern Province31–16Free State
2003WellingtonWestern Province22–17Free State
2004NelspruitFree State17–16Western Province
2005BloemfonteinGolden Lions38–15Eastern Province
2006JohannesburgBlue Bulls35–20Golden Lions
2007StellenboschFree State52–3Western Province
2008PretoriaSWD31–25Free State
2009East LondonWestern Province19–17Free State
2010WelkomFree State42–21Western Province
2011KimberleyFree State28–17Golden Lions
2012Port ElizabethBlue Bulls46–0Golden Lions
2013PolokwaneWestern Province45–29Golden Lions
2014MiddelburgEastern Province25–7South Western Districts
2015StellenboschWestern Province95–0Eastern Province
2016DurbanWestern Province27–20Golden Lions
2017JohannesburgGolden Lions45–18KwaZulu-Natal
2018PaarlWestern Province47–8KwaZulu-Natal
2019BloemfonteinWestern Province56–31Blue Bulls

See also

References
  1. "A bit of Craven Week history". SuperSport. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  2. "Coca-Cola Craven Week celebrates 50 years". School of Rugby. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  3. "History of Craven Week". Schools Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2014.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "Main Matches at the Craven Week for High Schools (1971–2014)" (PDF). South African Schools Rugby Association. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  5. "Venues of Previous Weeks". South African Schools Rugby Association. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
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