Saints' huge crowds
The Prep Festival took place from 6-8 April and the College Festival took place on 12, 13, 15, and 17 April 2017. Saints were honoured to welcome the tens of thousands of people to their school for some amazing school sport in eight sporting disciplines.
The school welcomed participants in basketball, cross country, hockey, netball, rugby, soccer, squash, and tennis for over 200 fixtures in just four days over the Easter weekend. This Easter marked the 34th edition of the event making it the oldest of its kind.
The school streamed rugby and hockey games live on a dedicated festival website
St Stithians has confirmed that a total of 38 817 ticket-holders came through the gates on 13, 15, and 17 April 2017. When adding accreditation numbers to this, said the school, it becomes clear that around 50 000 to 55 000 people visited the school over the Easter weekend for the Saints Sports Festival. Wow!
The festival is another opportunity for the Saints community to shine both ‘on and off the field’ and they did just that. From the Prep Festival to the College Festival, the spirit at all the sporting codes was magnificent and the school was happy to see alumni return to support teams and to participate in a few games themselves.
Saints thanks its dedicated staff for their hard work in putting the festival together. Saints also thanks each person for their support of and their contribution to the festival.
Dr Tim Nuttall, St Stithians College rector said: “The success of the Festival was to be seen in the professionalism and dedication, in the large number of attendees, in the quality of our varied menu of activities, in the calibre and camaraderie of the sport, and in the many comments of appreciation by visitors. We weathered the rain on Thursday, and were blessed with glorious sunshine on Saturday and Monday. The significance of the Festival was far-reaching – in the deepening of community bonds, in the pride and love for Saints, and in the Chapel services celebrating God’s love through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“The Festival is our largest community event, and we ‘live it’ in style – a remarkable weekend of synergy and energy."
From Lethabo-Thabo Royds