Society & Culture Rivalries between schools

[xXJawsaXx]

I remember when I was in Primary School, I went to Keon Park, and the students at that school (including me) really disliked Reservoir. I really do not know why, nor do I really know the origin of it. Inter-school sports between the two were always quite heated (never to the point of punching on).

When I started Year 7 I went to Merrilands Secondary, and every student there hated Lakeside. It was just a fact of going to that school, you just didn't like them, something which was handed down from Year level to year level. If any student from the other school was seen even close to the other they would be taunted and abused. In fact it was so bad that at one point each school was vandalized at some point by students of the other school. As was the case with Keon Park nobody there knew why they hated Lakeside, one of those stupid things, you just did. A family friend went to Merrilands (She is in her late 50's, early 60's) and it was the same deal, she still does not know why she did. Yet, what did the schools decide to do? Merge of course! (I know, try to work that one out). I was in Year 8 at the time, and in the years leading up we just began to accept that we would have to deal with it.

The two merged completely last year, but I moved before then to Bacchus Marsh, but as far as I know the two have become DE-sensetized towards each other, and tolerate each other, and have become close.

What are some similar things between schools that you all know of and what are the reasons?

 

[Cap]

Anything Catholic and Protestant in Adelaide, and I'm sure anywhere in the world .

good fun

 

[Caesar]

Anything Catholic and Protestant in Adelaide, and I'm sure anywhere in the world .

good fun

I tend to find that Catholic schools have more of a rivalry with other Catholic schools than Protestant schools. e.g. St Ignatius and St Joseph's are each other's biggest rivals in Sydney's GPS.

I think it tends to be because Catholic kids go to the same primary schools and then are sent off to different boarding schools afterwards. You are either a Riverview family or a Joeys family, and there are always kids at the other school that you know well.

 

[F1_mania]

Got a school over here that we always play in all the hockey finals. Generally throw 5-6 players each into the provincial squad, and are of the same standard every year. Add in we're always similar rugby and cricket, and you've got the makings of a big rivalry. We're basically the same school, and most of us know each other (at least the opposition in the sports we play). While I play club hockey with about 8 of them, and they're all good lads, but stick them on the other side of the pitch as a unit, and I hate the guts out of them.

 

[mrbewbs]

My old school used to (don't know if it is still going) have a massive rivalry with school even though we never really played them at sports. Had been going on since my oldest sister was in high school around 94-95 and even when I started there in 06 it was still going. Oldest sister used to tell me about punch ons and taggings all the time.

It had calmed down by the time I got there. When I was in Year 8 they burnt a massive dick into the oval and you could see the outline of it for the next year or so. The next year they burnt a massive dick and their schools intials into the grass infront of the entrance. Don't exactly know what the Year 12s did to retaliate but by the time I was in Year 12 it had pretty much died until the last week of school when a massive dick is tagged on our Year 12 building, there was supposed to be a big fight between the two schools but they never showed up.

 

[Cap]

I tend to find that Catholic schools have more of a rivalry with other Catholic schools than Protestant schools. e.g. St Ignatius and St Joseph's are each other's biggest rivals in Sydney's GPS.

yep, that is also true.

 

[nicky]

OP how did you arrive at barracking for west coast?

 

[SugarShane]

We were pretty much a 2 school town. There was the Lutheran private school and the Public School. It was probably just as you imagined, the Lutherans looked down on us, and we looked down on them for looking down on us.

Interestingly, the private school had far more drugs issues than we did, despite having way less students.

 

[ioppolo]

Wattle Grove Primary vs Orange Grove Primary was about as intense as rivalries around me got.

 

[malph]

I tend to find that Catholic schools have more of a rivalry with other Catholic schools than Protestant schools. e.g. St Ignatius and St Joseph's are each other's biggest rivals in Sydney's GPS.

I think it tends to be because Catholic kids go to the same primary schools and then are sent off to different boarding schools afterwards. You are either a Riverview family or a Joeys family, and there are always kids at the other school that you know well.

I went to an Anglican school in Adelaide, and we couldn't have cared less about Catholic schools.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

we had 2 campuses (one NOR and one SOR) and there was huge rivalry between the two schools that always ended up in fights.

when the two merged that was all thrown out the window

 

[vast]

Thomo High has a rivalry with society.

 

[Copernicus]

In my first few years of high school at St Joseph's, out in Ferntree Gully, there was an ongoing rivalry with the public school just down the road, Glenfern. I remember seeing a mob of Glenfern yobs converging on the back oval wielding sticks and other assorted 'weapons', and while I didn't witness any ensuing brawl, I assume that the older kids kicked off with them at some stage.

It got closed down after Kennett brought in the school rationalisation, so the rivalry didn't last into my later high school years. I thought it was pretty dumb, but I was never the type of kid to buy into that sort of nonsense anyway.

 

[Caesar]

I went to an Anglican school in Adelaide, and we couldn't have cared less about Catholic schools.

Yeah, I think that's because Anglican schools tend to be affiliated with the Independent Schools system and the majority of Catholic schools aren't. Catholic schools tend to have their own sports competitions, so their rivalries are against each other.

I have noticed that in regional areas, there is often a fierce rivalry between the local private school and the local selective high school. Both sets of students are very elitist and regard their school as the premier one in the area.

 

[Old Skool]

School rivalries are a trivial luxury of the bourgeoisie.

 

[Tex_21]

School rivalries are a trivial luxury of the bourgeoisie.

Just figured they were a monumental wank myself.

Went to the only high school in town, and my primary school has about 30 kids at it now. If you wanted a private school, there was a shitty catholic one 30km down the road, or you moved to Ballarat (almost always) and boarded.

 

[Papa G]

Yeah, I think that's because Anglican schools tend to be affiliated with the Independent Schools system and the majority of Catholic schools aren't. Catholic schools tend to have their own sports competitions, so their rivalries are against each other.

Not in Adelaide they don't. Having said that probably the 2 biggest rivalries in Adelaide are a Prody V Prody and a Catholic V Catholic. The Prody V Prody one is nearly as old as Adelaide itself and encompasses everything whereas the Catholic one is mainly a sporting rivalry.

 

[Brad Goodman]

In my first few years of high school at St Joseph's, out in Ferntree Gully, there was an ongoing rivalry with the public school just down the road, Glenfern. I remember seeing a mob of Glenfern yobs converging on the back oval wielding sticks and other assorted 'weapons', and while I didn't witness any ensuing brawl, I assume that the older kids kicked off with them at some stage.

It got closed down after Kennett brought in the school rationalisation, so the rivalry didn't last into my later high school years. I thought it was pretty dumb, but I was never the type of kid to buy into that sort of nonsense anyway.

Did any ex-Glenferners go to St Joseph's after the shutdown?

I loved the basketball courts at St Joey's, very user-friendly rings.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Rivalries between private schools is such a load of pretentious wank.

 

[Papa G]

Rivalries between private schools is such a load of pretentious wank.

In a lot of ways they are, but then are rivalries between football clubs any less of a wank?

Competition inspires. Having someone to dislike or compete against as well as a feeling of belonging is part of the human condition. Have a look at the School Football thread. Most people outside of the school boy environment couldn't give a stuff, but those in it treat it as if it is as important as the AFL. It's quite funny, but to a 17 year old it is significant.

 

[alter_ego]

I'm not sure it still exists, but there was an interesting rivalry between my primary school and my now best mates primary school.

I first arrived in year 4, still remember playing them in a cricket match that we won by about 3 runs or something. Our side celebrated by running around the field, arms in the air, all that stuff. Game was also memorable for the "bowled the ball through the metal stumps" incident - their umpire not giving their batsman out when the ball had clearly passed through the stumps (batsman not even close to hitting it, ding noise as the ball went through, ball takes different trajectory after going past the stumps).

Then in year 6, we played them again. One of our players took one of their teams brand new bats and started hitting rocks with it. The bat broke. We never played them again.

 

[Caesar]

In a lot of ways they are, but then are rivalries between football clubs any less of a wank?

Competition inspires. Having someone to dislike or compete against as well as a feeling of belonging is part of the human condition. Have a look at the School Football thread. Most people outside of the school boy environment couldn't give a stuff, but those in it treat it as if it is as important as the AFL. It's quite funny, but to a 17 year old it is significant.

A lot of private schools also put great emphasis on school rivalries. At our school, all students were required to attend the 1st and 2nd XV rugby matches on Saturday. Naturally, the student population gets quite invested in the success of the team.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Fair arguments.

Coming from a very very public school where its each to your own this is the common perception I guess.

 

[Caesar]

Fair arguments.

Coming from a very very public school where its each to your own this is the common perception I guess.

Public schools are definitely more individualistic. I enjoyed my private school years, but if I had been more of a non-conformist then I would have possibly found them pretty unpleasant. There is not a lot of tolerance of people who don't buy into the school culture and values. It is very much a way of life for its students, shapes the people they become, and they usually retain an attachment to it for the rest of their lives.

My friends who went to public schools, on the other hand, tended to view it pretty much as a place of education for six hours a day for a few years and that's it. It didn't really form part of their identity.

I guess when you are sent to a school based on the rather arbitrary criteria of your catchment area then you don't necessarily have much of an attachment to the institution. And when a school has to cater to such a diverse range of people, it shies away from having a culture or identity that is too strictly defined.

 

[Gough]

Public schools are definitely more individualistic. I enjoyed my private school years, but if I had been more of a non-conformist then I would have possibly found them pretty unpleasant. There is not a lot of tolerance of people who don't buy into the school culture and values. It is very much a way of life for its students, shapes the people they become, and they usually retain an attachment to it for the rest of their lives.

My friends who went to public schools, on the other hand, tended to view it pretty much as a place of education for six hours a day for a few years and that's it. It didn't really form part of their identity.

I guess when you are sent to a school based on the rather arbitrary criteria of your catchment area then you don't necessarily have much of an attachment to the institution. And when a school has to cater to such a diverse range of people, it shies away from having a culture or identity that is too strictly defined.

+1 for that. As a shy, left wing, gay student who didn't particularly buy into the collegiate ethos, I hated my (expensive Adelaide private school) years. My 20th reunion was a year or so ago, it was the first and last event related to my schooling that I will ever attend. I was astounded by the way people still felt that their school years somehow defined them, high school, for mine, was a brief unpleasant diversion in my hopefully long life.