HOËRSKOOL TRANSVALIA

Sat, 01 May 2004 16:50

School profile

We profile Hoërskool Transvalia of the industrial area of Vanderbijl Park, one of the striongest rugby schools north of the Vaal River.

Hoërskool Transvalia is situated in Vanderbijl Park on the Vaal River, next to Sharpeville and not far from Vereeniging. The town was founded during World War II, chiefly to produce steel, as Iscor was doing in Pretoria. It was named after Dr Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl, an engineer, inventor and industrialist, the man who developed Iscor, a government technocrat. It is an industrial though not far from the river attractions of the Vaal.

The school was founded in 1958 and has some 1950 pupils, 460 of whom are boys.

Rugby at Transvalia

The school has ten rugby teams, doing best in 1992 and 1993 when it reached the semi-final of what was then the Administrator’s Cup. It was then in the rugby province called Vaal Triangle, which is no longer.

One of the rugby staff, Frans Erasmus was an honorary president of Vaal Triangle RFU.

Coaches

The present coaches are Neels Venter and Pieter van Wyk. BVenter has been involved for ten years in Craven Week as a coach, a manager and a selector. Van Wyk, the deputy head, has been involved in Craven Week for the last four years. They are the coaches.

Rivals

Their greatest rivals are the Tekkies – HTS Vereeniging. They strive with might and main but have seldom defeated them in the last dozen or so years. The matches are close but the Tekkies with their superior numbers usually win.

Rugby Old Boys

There is one of whom the school is proud, as any school would be – François Pienaar, the Springbok captain who stood tall at Ellis Park at the end of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Piet Myburgh of the SA Under-21 side is an old boy.

School Information:

Name: Hoërskool Transvalia
Foundation: 1958
Motto: Behou en bou (Consolidate and build)
Pupils: 1950
Rugby teams: 10