Hudson Park Primary School celebrated former deputy headmaster James O’Kennedy’s 50-year legacy of sport and scholastic development at the school on September 3 with the O’Kennedy Rugby Fun Day.
Head of rugby at Hudson Primary, Lwazi Zangqa, said rugby was a fitting tribute to O’Kennedy, given the pivotal role he had played in developing the sporting code in Buffalo City over the decades.
Matches were played between the host school and various others in the city including; Gonubie, Crewe, George Randell, Beaconhurst, Nahoon and Cambridge primary schools.
Capacitating young rugby players have preoccupied O’Kennedy for most of his career and during his tenure as president of the Border Primary Schools Rugby Association in 1981, he initiated the start of concentrated rugby programmes for u/7s and u/8s.
O’Kennedy was also instrumental in launching the Bulletjies Rugby programme with the Northern Transvaal School’s Rugby Association.
The programme taught young boys the basic skills of the game including passing, running and safe contact procedures for tackling.
Zangqa is a product of O’Kennedy’s legacy, having been coached years ago at the u/9 level by O’Kennedy.
“It’s quite something to be able to honour him, especially while he’s still around,” Zangqa said.
“We didn’t want to wait until he was no more before we showed our appreciation.
“He’s a good man and he wants what’s best for kids. He has coached a bunch of players who are doing quite well and this is off the back of his other achievements at primary school.”
O’Kennedy remains invested in rugby development, saying that currently the u/9 and u/10 level of rugby has dropped significantly at schools across Buffalo City given the impact of Covid-19.
Zangqa concurs saying that Covid has contributed to a decline in interest in the sport, but now that restrictions have been lifted, the school is working hard to combat this.
