Father of Craven Week no longer here

Preuyt died in April

Towards the end of April, Jan Preuyt, generally considered the father of Craven Week, died in Cathcart in the Eastern Cape. He was 83.

The idea for the Craven Week belonged to a schoolmaster, Piet Malan, at present the oldest living Springbok, having played flank against the All Blacks in 1949.

1964 was the year of the SA Rugby Board's 75th Jubilee and Malan proposed a schools week to mark the occasion.

The man who ran with the idea was Hugh Robbie, the secretary of the Border Rugby Union. He worked out a plan for a provincial schools tournament and Border then, through Ted Allen, the Border representative on the SA Rugby Board, proposed it to the Board.

At the time Jan Preuyt, an ex-Matie, a former Griqualand West player, a former DRC missionary in Nigeria, was teaching at Port Rex in East London and the chairman of Border Schools at the time.  With Dummy Taylor of Queen's College, he was to implement the Border scheme at a time when there was no South African Schools organisation. Preuyt put in place the organisation of Craven Week and became the first chairman of South African Schools, a position he held for 19 years. The first two Craven Weeks were held in East London.

Craven week grew in numbers and prestige during his chairmanship, and on two occasions he was able to manage South African Schools teams abroad - in 1974 to Italy and France and in 1983 to Wales.

Preuyt is survived by his wife, Johlene, six children and nine grandchildren. His ashes were scattered at ABSA Stadium, the Border Rugby Union's headquarters in East London.