As Term 2 unfolds, weโd like to reflect back on the remarkable moments from Union High School’s 2025 ๐ฆ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ & ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐, held over the weekend of 28 to 31 March, marking its 36th edition.
This yearโs festival, which began its journey back in 1987 on the schoolโs campus in Graaff-Reinet, witnessed an impressive turnout with over 600 enthusiastic hockey and rugby players participating.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ, ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐.
The 4-day celebration kicked off on Friday, 28 March, with a cocktail function held in the Tony Burrell Union. Despite starting the day with a torrential downpour, the evening transformed into a stunning spectacle as the sky cleared, providing a breathtaking backdrop for teams to mingle and connect on the sports field, enjoying the social camaraderie that is the essence of the festival.
Coaches and managers relished the opportunity to network in great company while savouring the delicious offerings supplied by the dedicated Union moms.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ. A heartfelt thank you was also extended to our sponsors, Bothaโs Garage and Astron Energy Eastern Cape, along with the devoted individuals working behind the scenes, whose efforts made the festival possible.
The following three days brought beautiful weather, allowing teams to take full advantage of the AstroTurf at both Union and Hoรซr Volkskool, while rugby enthusiasts cheered on the action unfolding on the Union rugby fields.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป. While the hosting side had previously clinched the title, they faced a challenging match against Sasolburg High School, which ended in a nail-biting shootout that saw Sasolburg emerge victorious, ultimately placing the Union side third.
๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญโ๐ด 2๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ!
With the exception of the Sasolburg game, the Union girls managed to secure victories in all their other matches. They triumphed over Lilyfontein School 6-1, Hoรซrskool Langenhoven 6-0, Nico Malan 3-0, Clarendonโs 2nd Team 10-0 and Fichardtpark 3-2, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐.
On the rugby field, the Union 1st XV played two matches during the festival. Day 2 saw them victorious against Stirling with a score of 17-14, while the final match on Day 4 was a tough contest against Cambridge, resulting in a close loss of 24-27.
๐๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณโ๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ!
