Bishops Festival to kick off Western Cape water polo season
The second edition of the Bishops Diocesan College Water Polo Festival will see some of the Western Cape’s best teams in action on Saturday in Cape Town.
The annual festival was launched in 2025 and is used by the participating schools as a pre-season hit-out ahead of a busy blockbuster season.
In action will be the hosts, along with their southern suburbs’ rivals, Rondebosch Boys’ High, South African College High School (SACS), and Wynberg Boys’ High.
They’ll be joined by Paul Roos Gimnasium, Paarl Boys’ High, Reddam House Constantia, and New Zealand’s Hamilton Boys’ High, whose presence has added a healthy dose of intrigue to the event.
They have a rich tradition of producing international sportsmen – including All Blacks Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Josh Lord, Scott McLeod, Sevu Reece, and Black Caps‘ Mitchell Santner, BJ Watling, and Scott Styris. Rugby coach Warren Gatland is another famous alumnus, but less is known about their water polo pedigree, and they’ll be up against some of South Africa’s best on the weekend.
The format of the festival is simple: the teams will face one another in matches consisting of two chukkas of seven minutes’ duration each.
The coaches will also have the luxury of using a maximum of 14 players per match, so they’ll be able to work on combinations, build team cohesion, and give players a needed opportunity to work on their match fitness.
The winner of the festival will be determined by which team finishes the day with the best positive goal difference. The hosts came out on top last year, and they’ll be keen to make it back-to-back titles in the event.
Apart from Hamilton and Boishaai, the festival also serves as preparation for the other six sides, who will all be contesting the SACS Nite Series, which kicks off next week, on Tuesday.
From there, SACS, Bishops, and ‘Bosch will travel to Makhanda for the prestigious St Andrew’s College Shield, which takes place from 22-25 January. Good preparation will be a vital key to their success.
Saturday’s action begins bright and early when Bishops take on Hamilton in the day’s opening match at 08:00.
FIXTURES
1st Session
08:00 – Bishops vs Hamilton; 08:20 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Paul Roos; 08:40 – SACS vs Reddam House; 09:00 – Rondebosch vs Wynberg; 09:20 – Bishops vs Paarl Boys’ High; 09:40 – Hamilton vs Paul Roos; 10:00 – SACS vs Rondebosch; 10:20 – Reddam vs Wynberg; 10:40 – Bishops vs Paul Roos; 11:00 – Hamilton vs Paarl Boys’ High; 11:20 – SACS vs Wynberg; 11:40 – Reddam vs Rondebosch.
2nd Session
12:00 – Bishops vs SACS; 12:20 – Hamilton vs Reddam House; 12:40 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Rondebosch; 13:00 – Paul Roos vs Wynberg; 13:20 – Bishops vs Reddam House; 13:40 – Hamilton vs SACS; 14:00 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Wynberg; 14:20 – Paul Roos vs Rondebosch; 14:40 – Bishops vs Wynberg.
3rd Session
15:00 – Bishops vs Wynberg; 15:20 – Hamilton vs Rondebosch; 15:40 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Reddam; 16:00 – Paul Roos vs SACS; 16:40 – Hamilton vs Wynberg; 17:00 – Paarl Boys’ High vs SACS; 17:20 – Paul Roos vs Reddam House; 17:40 – Bishops vs Rondebosch.
