The debate came to a head in high school rowing earlier this year when a group of high school principals banded together to force a vote on the eligibility rules for the Maadi Regatta.
The schools overwhelmingly voted in favour of a rule change banning Year 14 rowers from competing in the prestigious event.
The issue has also been fiercely debated in rugby circles this season after RNZ revealed Marlborough Boys’ College, one of the top rugby schools in the South Island, had five Year 14s in its line-up this year.
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SSNZ chairperson and principal of Shirley Boys’ High School Tim Grocott said it is hoped the proposed rule changes, which would also include new anti-poaching measures, would address many longstanding challenges in secondary school sport.
“What we’re really saying is that we’re wanting greater integrity, greater fairness, and greater consistency across competitions,” said Grocott.
“Where that integrity piece fits really clearly is at the championship level. So at that top tier of competition, we’re wanting to see as best as possible a level playing field existing.”
Tim Grocott, principal of Shirley Boys’ High School, says other principals may have said “we don’t think that’s right” if they’d known earlier about the number of Year 14s in the Marlborough Boys’ team Photo / RNZ Niva Chittock
Grocott said after receiving a strong mandate from principals to change the eligibility for the Maadi Cup earlier this year, there was a push to ensure the rules were consistent across all sports.
“Really what we want to do is re-emphasise that educational piece. Students are at school for their education, and the sport is a byproduct of that.
“If people want to come back for Year 14, then that’s fine if it’s for an educational purpose. It isn’t for a sporting purpose.”
Marlborough Boys’ College principal Jarrod Dunn told RNZ last month his school did not set out to stack its rugby team with Year 14s to gain a competitive advantage.
He said in previous years the school may have had “one or two” students return for Year 14, but this year is an “anomaly” in that they had a large cohort of eight students return to school because of the current social climate making it difficult for young people to find employment in the region.
Dunn said he did not think it was fair to deny the Year 14 boys the opportunity to participate in all areas of school life.
As is the case with rowing, the proposed rules would allow schools to apply for a dispensation to field a Year 14 athlete where there were “valid educational grounds for a student’s continued enrolment in Year 14”.
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It’s understood schools would need to meet a strict set of criteria before a dispensation could be granted.
Three schools applied for an exemption to field a Year 14 student at this year’s Maadi Regatta at Lake Kārapiro – all three were declined.
‘Poaching’ and home school competitor rules
The proposed changes also include updated guidelines on student transfers, poaching, composite teams and dispensations.
Under the new rules, the definition of poaching has been strengthened to “include any act of influencing, encouraging or approaching a student to transfer to another school for the purposes of sport participation”, whether directly or indirectly through a third party.
Grocott said the “new to school” rules have also been tightened to introduce a new transfer process. If a student wants to compete in a championship level event for a new school, statutory declarations must be signed by the transferring student, their caregivers and the principal of the new school.
“We’re wanting to clamp down on those behaviours around influencing, encouraging, approaching, and providing inducements for students to move from one school to another,” he said.
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“It flies in the face of that educational piece that we’re wanting to see.”
However, the summary document released to principals on Tuesday did not include proposed rules for home-school students.
Currently, School Sport NZ rules allow students who are home-schooled to compete in secondary school events, but they are not eligible to win medals or titles.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight in April this year when Tauranga mountain-biker Amelia Twiss placed second in the North Island Secondary Schools championships, but was denied a medal.
“The board is still considering how best to include [home school students], and once a recommended approach is confirmed, it will be consulted on separately and incorporated into the final draft where appropriate,” the document stated.
The consultation period for the draft regulations closes on September 12.
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SSNZ chief executive Mike Summerell said input from schools would be critical in shaping the final version of the regulations.
The new regulations would apply to all SSNZ-sanctioned events from January 1, 2026.