Posted on 02/07/2005 3:33:32 PM PST by naturalman1975
NO new school has been added to the Sydney GPS rugby competition since it was established more than a century ago, but Canberra powerhouse St Edmund's College is about to give it a try.
The school that has produced no fewer than three Test halfbacks over the past two decades - Ricky Stuart, George Gregan and Matt Henjak, plus utility back Matt Giteau, - has virtually nowhere else to go for competition but into the GPS premiership after last Friday's astonishing decision by the Waratah Shield committee to exclude the ACT from its NSW schools competition.
No explanation has been given for the decision but one NSW schools official, who did not wish to be identified, said yesterday St Edmund's simply had become too good for their own good. They have claimed the Shield 14 times, including the past eight years in succession - part of an overall ACT domination stretching to 17 wins in the last 21 seasons.
NSW Schools Rugby Union officials tried to head off moves to dumb down the standard of the competition by moving a motion at its November meeting that the Waratah Shield format remain unchanged, but when that was defeated the door was open for the independent Waratah Shield committee to "un-invite" the ACT.
Although regarded as NSW rugby's premier knockout schoolboy competition, the Waratah Shield - originally presented by members of the legendary 1927-28 Waratahs - is actually a "best of the rest" contest, with GPS schools not participating. But having paid the price for too much success, St Edmund's now has few options but to try to persuade the long-closed GPS association to open its doors. Certainly its teams would fall on the competitive side of the widening divide now separating serious premiership contenders from the also-rans.
"That really is a decision for the GPS headmasters to make," said St Edmund's principal Chris Hayes, who has just moved to the school after serving 21 years at St Ignatius, one of the nine original GPS colleges.
"But we're keen to pursue any opportunity to now test our best against the best Sydney has to offer."
GPS convenor Mark Ticehurst said the logistical problems associated with bringing a Canberra college into the Sydney premiership might be seen by some as an impediment.
"It (admitting St Edmund's) is something we've never thought about but who knows what's going to happen in the future," Ticehurst said.
It sounds more like a matter of minor leagues versus major leagues.
Not really, because we don't really have that concept here in school sports.
The GPS is the association of the 'elite' schools of New South Wales - those schools that are widely considered to be the best and the most prestigious. They compete together in sport, but it's not primarily a sporting body.
St Edmund's has functionally been denied access to the best sporting competition it is currently eligible for because it's too good for the competition. St Edmund's is lucky enough that its reputation across the board is good enough it can make a serious plea to the GPS for a home, but that is likely to be a lot more than just a sporting change.
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