The Observer can exclusively reveal that the 2025 Craven Week will take place in Middelburg, with the green and gold of Hoërskool Middelburg set to play host to the world’s premier youth rugby event.
Middies Principal Johan Stronkhorst told the Observer, “This is a wonderful opportunity for the entire town. With people coming into Middelburg from all over the country, the event is set to be a positive injection into our local economy.”
Hoërskool Middelburg will also hold the u/18 Academy Week, directly after the Craven Week concludes.
This year’s Middelburg Derby between HTS Middelburg and Hoërskool Middelburg played a vital role in procuring the right to host the 2025 Craven Week, as the ease with which the school organised and enacted an event of such calibre and scale, impressed the Craven Week officials and was a clear contributing factor in awarding Middies the privilege to hold the spectacle.
Principal Stronkhorst confirmed this, as he also revealed that negotiations to host Craven Week persisted throughout May and June.
2025 will mark the Craven Week’s first return to Middelburg in over a decade after HTS Middelburg held the illustrious showcase in 2014.
It is well documented that every year, many of South Africa’s biggest schools eagerly fight for the opportunity to orchestrate the event themselves.
As such, this will be seen as a major coup by the Hoërskool Middelburg higher-ups, as with securing the 2025 Craven Week, Middies have put out a clear directive that they are not just one of the most outstanding schools in Mpumalanga, but a dominant institution that should and will be respected across the country.
