School Rugby: Play the game, schools told | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

A Lindisfarne College parent has thrown down the gauntlet for his son's school and Karamu High School to put away their differences and play the A grade secondary schools' rugby final between their first XV teams.

"For CHB College to be awarded the title makes a mockery of the competition because it's a hollow victory and Lindisfarne beat them thrice this season," the father, whose son plays in the first XV, told SportToday anonymously yesterday.

He described as a "load of nonsense" Lindisfarne's inability to play the match because they had a quadrangular tournament in Christchurch last week.

"The kids would give their right arms to play in the final and the parents are supportive of that," the parent said.

The A grade competition became farcical last week when winning but protesting semifinalists Karamu defaulted against losing semifinalists CHB College a fortnight ago.

At the crux of the row was Lindisfarne's decision not to play in the final despite beating CHB in their semifinal amid claims from draws officer Karl Jones that he had notified the teams before their semifinal that the Waipukurau school had won by default and would go to the final.

That drew the ire of a group of Karamu mothers who, becoming advocates of their children and their parents, approached the newspaper to demand an explanation from the organisers on the peculiar chain of events.

CHB coach Duncan Quinlivan categorically described the saga as a "big, fat mess" and accepted his team had qualified by "dodgy means".

Late last week, the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union (HBRFU) competitions manager, Ian MacRae, disqualified Karamu, who had appealed to be proclaimed winners after Lindisfarne defaulted, and declared CHB, the table toppers, the victors.

The Karamu parents labelled the HBRFU's decision as "dishonourable", not only towards Karamu but also the code.

The Lindisfarne parent yesterday couldn't understand how two of his son's school teams could play in the play-offs but not on the finals day at Hastings Boys' High School.

While he felt it was crucial for schools to play other tournaments to preserve a decorum of history and tradition, he could not understand why the Lindisfarne first XV couldn't play mid-week, before or after the tournament this week.

"I can't for the life of me get around the PC madness going down," he said, adding Lindisfarne still had its goal-posts up and would be playing "house competitions" through to next week.

"You train kids and everyone - from parents, kids, fans to the schools - put huge time and resources into it and then you don't play the final," he said.

He condemned the "arrogant attitude" which he said had prevailed and questioned why Lindisfarne had not consulted its parents.

"None of the parents have been informed about anything. We've been reading about it in the newspaper," said the parent, claiming the onus was on the school to be accountable not only to its first XV parents but also to seek their players' views.

"We want to play and win the final because this is what a competition is all about, regardless of whether it is cricket, soccer or any other sport."

He felt the Super 8 competition was the "big bogey" in Bay secondary school rugby, with Napier and Hastings boys' high schools first and second XV teams robbing the A grade platform of quality opposition.

"You can't have the best four teams here and it's left a big hole and these things tend to creep up on you.

"Where are our Israel Daggs and Zac Guildfords in secondary school rugby these days?"