BETTING, SCORE PREDICTIONS, AND AN OUT-OF-BALANCE FOCUS ON WINNING IN SCHOOL SPORT
In this sports-mad society of ours, school sport has taken on a salary exaggerated importance in our daily dialogues. In the news have been such polar extremes as champagne and caviar on the touchline; flown in snacks and speciality chefs for Derby days; the ranking of school heads solely on the basis of the 1st XV results; sports betting; player purchases; even emergent changes in suicidal tendencies: all on the back of appeasing inflated egos and the whims the sporting gods, whoever they may be.
A recent polemic on our Association’s WhatsApp group for high school Heads resulted in one of our community members reaching out to the owner-author of a ‘prediction’ app for rugby. Both his excellent exposition of what school sport should be about, and a response from the app author, are worth adding to our store of information. Thanks and complements to those involved in putting the following together.
AN OUTSTANDING OUTREACH FROM A MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY i.r.o THE RESULTS AND PREDICTION APP RECENTLY CIRCULATED AMONG HEADS
I have spent my entire professional career in education, including 25 years at a public boys’ school. Sport, and rugby in particular, forms an integral part of our educational philosophy. At our school, we emphasise mass participation and maintain a balanced perspective on performance. All teams are coached by teachers, as we regard sport not merely as competition, but as an extension of the classroom and an important part of education – one that offers valuable life lessons to every boy, irrespective of whether he plays in the first team or the lowest one.
It is from this perspective that I would like to raise a concern regarding the value and potential implications of an App focused primarily on predicting match outcomes and winning margins. While I understand the appeal of engagement through prediction, I question whether such a narrow focus meaningfully contributes to the development of schoolboy rugby in its broader educational sense.
Of particular concern is the possible trajectory this may take. I note the existence of another platform with the same name which centres on sports betting. While I am uncertain whether there is any formal connection between the two, the conceptual proximity raises an important question: are we, perhaps unintentionally, moving toward a space where schoolboy sport becomes associated with betting and commercialisation? If so, this would represent a troubling shift away from the foundational values of school sport, at least in my view.
Schoolboy rugby should prioritise holistic development, camaraderie and inclusive participation across all levels of play – not solely the outcomes of first teams. An overemphasis on predicting wins and losses risks narrowing the narrative of school sport to performance metrics alone, rather than celebrating its depth, diversity and developmental impact.
I fully acknowledge that your initiative may stem from innovation, enthusiasm or entrepreneurial intent and I respect that. However, as an educationist, I feel compelled to express my concern about the potential long-term implications of such platforms on the ethos of school sport. Over many years, I have observed how easily sport can drift from its core purpose when external pressures – particularly commercial ones – begin to dominate.
I know that you aren’t using school logos at the moment. Should you do so in future, please note that our school logos, etc. are generally registered trademarks and as such may not be published without prior permission. I trust you will desist from using our badges, logos, etc., without permission.
RESPONSE:
There is no advertising, no gambling and intentionally no use of trademarked logos or crests. I developed the App initially because there was so much focus on 1st XV results that I wanted the school rugby communities to be able to submit their school, age, team fixtures; as well as record results for teams other than just 1st XV. Notice there are is no revenue stream via advertising; this is NOT a money-making scheme.
The predicting the margin is only for fun. There is no gambling and I intentionally excluded forms because those get ugly. I built the App to allow users to hide or mask identities so there could be no victimisation. Accounts can be deleted at any time.
I do hope you understand that the intention was to fill a void and not to cause negative perception: in fact, to bring a mobile interface that allows any fan of school rugby to find fixtures, look for results, see some high level stats, and if they want to, to guess the margin of their favourite schools.
I’ve done my utmost to ensure the hard work by schools is NOT negatively represented.