LSEN Craven Week

The Craven Week for Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN) starts at Olïn Park in Potchefstroom on Monday, 30 July 2014 and ends on 3 July 2014.

Matches are played on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

The week was founded in Potchefstroom in 1980, thanks to the enthusiasm of Herman Lemmer, an estate agent. It was first known as the Lemmer Week, then the Special Schools Craven Week and now the LSEN Craven Week. LSEN, pronounced el-sen, is an acronym for Learners with Special Educational Needs. The special educational needs include impaired eyesight, impaired hearing, academic problems and epilepsy

In 1985 the week produced its own symbol – the guineafowl. In 1989 the name was changed from Lemmer Week to the Craven Week for Special Schools. There were eight teams at the first Craven Week and teams have changed.  For example Western Cape broke up into individual provinces of Western Province, Boland and South Western Districts in 2009. This year there are 14 teams taking part.

The teams taking part are Blue Bulls, Blue Bulls Extraordinary Education, Boland, Eastern Province, Free State, Golden Lions, Golden Lions Extraordinary Education, Griffons,  KwaZulu Natal,   Leopards, Mpumalanga's Pumas, South Western Districts, Valke and Western Province.

At the end of the week a national team is chosen, the SA LSEN XV. This was first done in 1985. In 1998 the chosen team played at Craven Week. That was too big a demand and since 1999 the chosen team has played at the Academy Week, as it will do this year.

The fixtures for the first day are decided on in advance but after that they are worked out on previous results to try to get fair match-ups.

Fixtures for Day 1

Olïn Park

08.35: Pumas vs KwaZulu Natal

09.55: Golden Lions EE vs Free State

12.35: Western Province vs South Western Districts

15.15: Leopards vs Golden Lions

Olïn Park, B-Field

08.35: Valke vs Blue Bulls

09.55: Blue Bulls EE vs Boland

11.15: Griffons vs Eastern Province

NB  EE = Extraordinary Education