Grey College vs Grey High School Historic Overview
Two schools take each other on in an Interschools that started in 1929.
Played 1929-2023: 55
GREY COLLEGE won: 45
GREY HIGH won: 8
Drew: 2
Grey High and Grey College both have the same benefactor in Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony from 5 December 1854 to 15 August 1861. He founded Grey College, Bloemfontein in 1855 and Grey High School in Port Elizabeth in 1856. During Grey’s first tenure as Governor of New Zealand, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (1848). Grey gave land for the establishment of Auckland Grammar School in Newmarket, Auckland in 1850. The school was officially recognised as an educational establishment in 1868 through the Auckland Grammar School Appropriation Act of the Provincial Government. Auckland Grammar school also became the school in New Zealand that produced the most All Black rugby players, much in the same mould as Grey College has become the rugby factory for Springbok rugby players in South Africa.
Grey High School from Port Elizabeth first took the initiative with an inland tour in 1929 that started off with them playing St Andrews in Grahamstown and working their way up north to Bloemfontein. There they played their brother school for the first time and lost 0 -16. They invited Grey College to come down to PE the following year and the Bloemfontein Boys dually accepted and in 1930 they undertook their first tour to Port Elizabeth. In a closely fought match the boys from Bloemfontein again triumphed with 9-7. For some unknown reason lost in the midst of time, the two schools took another 23 years before they played each other again. Grey PE toured to Bloemfontein again and lost 13-3 in 1953. It took another 10 years for the two Greys to square up again and the 1963 game was a drawn match of eight all while the 1968 game was also a draw. The 1972 match introduced the first unbroken sequence of matches that continues until this day. In all that time there was only another two draws in 1973 and 1990. Grey PE won their first match against their Bloemfontein Brothers in 1976 at the anniversary of the tenth meeting between the two teams. On a day of high drama on the Philip Field at Grey PE, Robbie Logan slotted a last minute penalty for Grey High to emerge as 13-12 winners. Since then, Grey High has only been on the winning side a further seven times with their last win coming in 2014, just showing the dominance that their counterparts from Bloemfontein have in the Derbies.
Results last 10 years
| Date | Grey College | Grey High |
| 2009/08/01 | 16 | 0 |
| 2010/07/24 | 36 | 8 |
| 2011/07/30 | 69 | 21 |
| 2012/07/28 | 22 | 3 |
| 2013/07/27 | 50 | 21 |
| 2014/08/02 | 20 | 27 |
| 2015/08/01 | 34 | 22 |
| 2016/07/30 | 33 | 7 |
| 2017/08/05 | 73 | 10 |
| 2018/07/28 | 63 | 8 |
| 2019/07/20 | 58 | 0 |
| 2020 | Covid19 | |
| 2021 | Covid19 | |
| 2022/07/30 | 52 | 34 |
| 2023/07/29 | 38 | 14 |
| 2024 |
2020-2021 no rugby against these two schools was played due to the world pandemic of Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Grey College 2019 Season
Grey is once again dominating all opposition this year and have yet to lose a match. They started their season with big wins over local rivals Duineveld and Welkom Gymnasium before going to the North vs South tournament. Here they put 50 points past Garsfontein and Menlopark, the latter schools both rated very highly in the 2019 season. Then they took on New Zealand opposition at the World Schools Festival in Stellenbosch and showed the power of South African schoolboy rugby by demolishing Christchurch and Southland Boys.
Their normal juggernaut continued through the rest of the season claiming big scalps like Selborne, Paarl Gymnasium, Paarl Boys and Affies. They are looking at another unbeaten season and only their last match against Paul Roos could unrail this runaway train.
Results so far:
| Date | Opposition | For | Against |
| 2019/03/02 | Duineveld | 60 | 21 |
| 2019/03/09 | Welkom Gim | 29 | 0 |
| 2019/03/16 | Menlopark | 59 | 28 |
| 2019/03/19 | Garsfontein | 53 | 30 |
| 2019/03/27 | Christchurch Boys High | 73 | 26 |
| 2019/03/30 | Southlands BHS (NZ) | 54 | 0 |
| 2019/04/06 | HTS Middelburg | 81 | 8 |
| 2019/04/13 | Selborne | 17 | 8 |
| 2019/05/02 | Outeniqua | 64 | 7 |
| 2019/05/04 | Paarl Gim | 47 | 33 |
| 2019/05/11 | HJS Paarl | 43 | 24 |
| 2019/05/18 | Affies | 50 | 28 |
| 2019/07/13 | Waterkloof | 63 | 27 |
Grey High School 2019 Season
Grey High started off well with three wins in a row and then had their first draw of the season against St Andrews from Grahamstown. They would later again “kiss their sister” again with a draw against Wynberg Boys. In-between this they lost to a very strong Paul Roos and had close fought battles with Rondebosch and Dale College. They seem to hit their straps in May when they put 70 points on the scoreboard in three consecutive matches.
Their last win came against a very strong Framesby outfit and this will assist their preparation for the trek up to Bloemfontein.
| Date | Opposition | For | Against |
| 2019/03/16 | Hudson Park | 57 | 3 |
| 2019/03/21 | Northwood | 43 | 12 |
| 2019/03/23 | Durban High School | 33 | 14 |
| 2019/04/06 | St Andrews College | 17 | 17 |
| 2019/04/13 | Paul Roos | 18 | 24 |
| 2019/04/18 | Michaelhouse | 43 | 7 |
| 2019/04/20 | Rondebosch Boys | 17 | 18 |
| 2019/04/27 | Wynberg Boys | 27 | 27 |
| 2019/05/04 | Dale College | 28 | 25 |
| 2019/05/11 | Queens College | 74 | 8 |
| 2019/05/15 | Graeme College | 73 | 12 |
| 2019/05/25 | Daniel Pienaar | 71 | 7 |
| 2019/07/13 | Framesby | 22 | 17 |
Rugby at Grey College
Grey has served Bloemfontein, the Free State, South Africa and the world well over the past 150 years. Grey has been able to make adjustments and remain relevant in a changing environment in which it has developed, grown and excelled. The brand is known and revered throughout South Africa and even internationally and the products of the school make a positive difference wherever they are. Parallel medium education, tolerance, respect for others and loyalty to the school are not only traditions, but firm foundations in a global village. Grey is structured on these foundations and it is constantly adapting to new developments. The wave of change washing over our country confirms the value of Grey’s traditions. Grey has produced 46 Springbok rugby players and since WW II it has produced more Springbok players than any other school in SA, their latest being centre Francois Venter.
Grey College had 17 of their players represent the Cheetahs at the annual Craven Week for high schools held at their homeground in Bloemfontein this 2019 season.
The players’ were:
André-Hugo Venter, Tielman Nieuwoudt , Tiaan Jonker , Deon le Roux ,Sisonke Vumazonke, George Cronjé, Juan-Dee Olivier, FC du Plessis, Paschal Ekeji, Lesley Botha, Ian Small-Smith, Katleho Chabane, Sonwabo Sokoi, Ricardo Fourie, Kian Fransman, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, and B Manyala,
Grey Springboks:
| Player | DebutYear |
| Herman van Broekhuizen | 1896 |
| Boetie McHardy | 1912 |
| Sarel Strauss | 1921 |
| Louis Babrow | 1937 |
| Harry Martin | 1937 |
| Piet de Wet | 1938 |
| Popeye Strydom | 1955 |
| John Wessels | 1956 |
| Gert Cilliers | 1963 |
| Flip vd Merwe | 2010 |
| Deon Stegman | 2010 |
| Johan Spies | 1970 |
| Morné du Plessis | 1971 |
| Dawie Snyman | 1972 |
| Jackie Snyman | 1974 |
| Theuns Stofberg | 1976 |
| Robbie Blair | 1977 |
| Jaco Reinach | 1986 |
| Helgard Muller | 1986 |
| Pieter Muller | 1992 |
| Heinrich Fuls | 1992 |
| Johan Styger | 1992 |
| Ruben Kruger | 1993 |
| Naka Drotske | 1993 |
| Ollie le Roux | 1994 |
| Werner Swanepoel | 1997 |
| Charl Marais | 1999 |
| CJ van der Linde | 2002 |
| Gerrie Britz | 2004 |
| Ruan Pienaar | 2006 |
| Francois Steyn | 2006 |
| Jannie du Plessis | 2007 |
| Bismarck du Plessis | 2007 |
| Adriaan Strauss | 2008 |
| Heinrich Brussow | 2008 |
| Wian du Preez | 2009 |
| Deon Stegmann | 2010 |
| Andries Strauss | 2011 |
| Johan Goosen | 2012 |
| Coenie Oosthuizen | 2012 |
| Tiaan Liebenberg | 2012 |
| Jan Serfontein | 2013 |
| Piet Van Zyl | 2013 |
| Marcel van der Merwe | 2014 |
| Cobus Reinach | 2014 |
| Francois Venter | 2016 |
Rugby at Grey High School
Grey has a proud rugby tradition and record which dates back to the 19th century. Traditional schools they compete against, on an annual basis, are Dale College, Graeme College, Grey College, Queen’s College, Selborne College, St. Andrew’s College, Wynberg High and of late Paul Roos Gymnasium.
The first rugby match was played on the 16 September 1893 against Muir College of Uitenhage. During the years 1919 to 1923 Grey played four internationals against Dale, Gill, Kingswood and St Andrew’s. Money for the main field was donated by an Old Grey, Arthur Phillip in 1938 and thus the main field is “The Phillip Field”.
Players who represented the Springboks through the years, Fred Smollan, Fred Turner, Bunny Reid, Peter Allen, Giepie Wentzel (Master), Roy Dryburgh, Mickey Gerber, Wilf Rosenberg, Iain Kirkpatrick, Sean Povey, Luke Watson and most recently Siya Kolisi , JJ Engebrecht and Curwin Bosch.
Well known television commentators and outstanding players, like Gavin Cowley and Andrew Patterson also graced the Phillip field.
Special mention must be made of Michael Catt, Rory Duncan and Luke Watson who captained the England, Free State and Western Province Currie Cup sides respectively in 2007.
Grey High had three players represent Eastern Province at the annual Craven Week for high schools in Bloemfontein this year namely Siviwe Zondani, Liyema Matyolweni and Hlumelo Klaas. They had a further four players selected for the EP Academy Week team.