Contributed by reader who is a St Andrew’s old boy (SaintZ)
St Andrew’s Village, Thursday, April 17, 2008 – St Andrew’s Junior School beat Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) 21-0 last week to capture the National Rugby U-13 Championship title.
The top four schools from each zone qualified for the National Championship and ACS(Pri), Damai, Qifa and the Saints topped their respective groups during the round-robin qualifying round.
In the quarter-finals, the ACSians had a game among themselves, with ACS(Jr) taking on ACS(Pri), with the latter winning the game. Damai beat West View, ChongZheng beat Qifa and Saints beat Pei Tong, a rather strong rival for the last few years.
In the semi-finals, both ACS(Pri) and Saints easily beat their rivals Damai and ChongZheng respectively with identical scorelines of 14-0. This set the stage for Saints to meet their traditional rivals ACS. In the last few years, the ACS school have started to make their presence felt at the finals of the National Under-13 Championships.
The final started with the blue-and-white striped Saints performing their traditional and original Saints battle cry against the blue-and-yellow striped ACS(Pri). While the battle cry was performed, the ACS(Pri) ruggers walked away with their backs facing the Saints.
Saints eventually punished ACS(Pri) 21-0 to emerge as the National U-13 champion.
Now, we shall wait and see how many of these 12-year-old ruggers will be poached by rival schools.
National Under-13 Championship Groups:
Group A
Chongzheng
ACS(Pri)
Si Ling
Zhenghua
Group B
Sembawang
Damai
Pei Tong
Concord
Group C
Qifa
Greenwood
Gongshang
ACS(Jnr)
Group D
St Andrew’s
Westview
Marsiling
Casuarina
u trying to say that saints suck is it ………… no guts
well said rugbymum.
It is exactly the point I was trying to put across for years that when players leave the Saints after Pri 6, why blame it on poaching from other schools like RI and ACS(i). It is a matter of choosing a school that suits your son’s needs both academically and sports.
Same thing goes for B Div, for donkey years ACS and RI B Div Sec 4 players have played against Sec 5 N/O level students from Saints and have never complaint. The last couple of years with RI and ACS(i) having an IB program with year 5 students, Saints cry foul.
I find this absurd as whether you are year 5 IB or Sec 5 you cannot cheat age of the player which is calculated as at 01 Jan of the year. So if you are able to prove that you are within your age category then you are eligible to play? So why cry fould over year 5 IB? Looks like a weak attempt to shift the goal posts since Saints are the convenors of the school’s rugby and choose to come up with any rules to put them in an advantaged position.
So what have RI and ACS(i) done over the years?,..just suck it in and take the challenge whether Saints has sec 5 or not and play it like gentlemen.
Thanks to Saints, this gives ACS(i) a chance to be the ONLY sec school in Singapore to sweep A, B and C div.
Thank you! =)
Hi!
I’m glad Farmy wrote in. To be frank, I’m a rugby mum and my son was approached by 3 schools when he was in P6.
Why I chose ASCI for my son becos I found that ACSI coaches were the most sincered compared to the rest of the schs. And I know ACSI is the best choice for my son as the sch is very balance in both academic and sports. Till now, I have no regrets sending my sons to ACSI.
My years in ACSI, I saw many saints’ parents approached the school and even a saints’ player came to the sch alone to talk to our coach hopefully to get a transfer and this boy is still in Saints. Yes, some were offered and some were rejected but we do not go round to blw the trumpet as we still have to respect these people.
I wrote this comment as to let the Saints know that ACSI dont poach yr boys but
if they choose to come to ACSI, they are most welcome.
Congratulations! Farmy, for getting a place in NTU. Well done.
I want to commend Marah Fahmy for stating his name and stating his opinion clearly and thoughtfully.
I think that raises the standard of commentary on this thread to a higher level.
Hi guys,
I really don’t understand why choosing which secondary school you go to is such a big issue. And why am i always being used as an example? I totally feel that this is unfair because it’s so long gone, 2001. What if i went to some school near my house instead of ACS(I), i believe there won’t be a big fuss at all.
My parents knows best for me at the age of 13 years old and i have to admit it was a big step for me to make such a decision to leave Saints as it was my home for 7 years.
When i entered ACS(I), it was a very different culture for me but i realised in life, you have to adapt fast to that “Uncomfortable zone”. Being in ACS(I) really made me a different person where i am more determined in life as my school mates are always pushing each other in terms of academic but also in sports. Life in ACS(I) is just very different and i really do not regret moving over. Neither is my younger brother.
So to summarise, people choose to go that certain school for certain reasons. It doesn’t matter where they go as long they enjoy it in the end. =)
Haha, marah fahmy, my coach. Marah Ishraf, my mate. 😀
wat is this going on. IF ur child can make it to a better sch why not
but on the other hand ONCE A SAINT ALWAYS A SAINT
if u play rugby so what playing good doesn’t mean a good furture
people from different sch all play rugby BUT where is the rugby standard in singapore going to???
juz to clarify… i’m not saying students cannot enrol into another school, but i’m juz trying to bring across the point that some students may in fact being approached to make such choices, as this had already happened in previous years and proven. And another point, Marah Fahmy did not do very very well in PSLE and he was actually already enrolled and studying and playing rugby for St Andrew’s Sec, he actually went over to ACS(ind) later because of some other reasons.
I shall not do into details reasons as there may be some younger generation reading this, and I do not wish to pick on any school or anyone in particular and bring across a wrong message and tarnish the reputation of any school in any way. 🙂
and naturally, it is obvious that schools that take in the students from among the best produces the best and provide a better learning environment as compared to a school that choose to stand on the belief of serving the community and taking in students with much lower scores, some even maybe like 188 in the express stream, trying their best in nurturing them not only academically but also in their well-being.
Different schools stand on different beliefs and have their own way of bringing up the next generation, but everything still boils down to the learning attitude of the child and the parenting done by their parents, may it be good or bad parenting, and which school do not want the best for their students?
Yea, is true that some parents poach the schools, but this may not be in some cases.
and i feel that parents in our society should give their children more chances to make major choices in their lives. i’m not saying parents should not watch over their child and make decisions for them, but in some scenarios, parents should let go a bit and allow their children to have a decision of their own, instead of over-protecting them, allowing them to learn to make choices and be independent. Ask yourself, if you are already 12 year old and graduating from a primary school, won’t you want to make a decision of your own and get into a secondary school of your liking and preference?
Although we live in a meritocracy society, it does not mean that we have to choose to be conformed to it and believe in that belief system, why can’t we, the next generation try to change it for the better? Do you want to live in an endless cycle, and want the next generation to face the same “terrible” things that you’re facing now?
Oh and out of those from acs primary schools ,in that year acsj finished 4th and acs primary didnt make it to knock out stages.
Current acsi B Div winning squad of 2008 has only has 1 ex-siling player, rest are either ex-acs or never played rugby b4.
c’mon guys,..all i am saying when you are a 12year old and score above 250 in your PSLE,..you academic future will not be in your hands. Parents will naturally send them to a school where they will discover their true potential, be it RI or any other top schools in Singapore. I am not saying that Saints is not a good school either, but in terms academics RI and ACS(i) do have the edge or even Catholic High, Victoria or Chinese High.
School don’t have to poach them, the parents are the educated bunch who can rationalize that.
It constantly amazes me that any rugby story will always generate comments.
I presume most of you taking part in this conversation are adults.
Just a gentle reminder that the 12 year olds are reading it and picking up whatever prejudices, biases we project through our words.
This is not to pick on anyone in particular cos everyone is still in bounds. Just don’t go offside please.
Thanks.
if ur kid scores above 250, he would be smart enough to know that going into acs(i) would give him a high chance in winning gold medals in rugby and still have an equally or even better education than RI.
marah fahmy and his younger brother both picked to go to acs(i) because they are both naturally very clever people
Dunno but heard a rumor that a lot of ACS P players don’t even make it to ACS (i)!
Have a lot of friends who ended up at barker and played rugby there…
“IF” my kid scores above 250 in PSLE, i’ll send him to RI and never ACS(i)=)
“Most of the time, it’s the parents poached the school and not the school poached
the boys.” – hmmm remember marah fahmy anyone?
Have been watching the Primary schools play. I must say that ACS(P) has improved tremendously and Saints are working harder to retain the title every year. It will just be a matter of time for ACS.
The Best is Yet To Be.
poach? why poach?
If you are a Saints parent and ask yourself “IF” your kid scores above 250 in PSLE where would you rather he be? Be realistic, this is a society based on meritocracy.
This is sports. It is very normal for schools to poach outstanding sportsman
from all over S’pore. If your school cannot retain your own boys after 6 years of
education and has no loyalty and passion towards the school, I wonder why?????
Most of the time, it’s the parents poached the school and not the school poached
the boys.
Not trying to take anything away from Saints rugby but as this the championship, shouldn’t it be played at a neutral ground?