The things that seem to grind the gears of many about scholarships, fee assistance, bursaries, discounted education, or what ever it is called are:
1. When the bursaries/scholarships are not openly advertised or open to all to apply for.
2. When the recipients lob up at the school in Year 11 or Year 12.
3. When the recipients only do rugby, not even pretending to care about their academic progression and contribute little else to the school culture and community.
4. When the majority of a 1st XV (or future 1st XV) is in category 1, 2 and/or 3.
1. Most of the 100+ bursaries at Riverview are openly advertised and mostly have selection criteria that is other than sporting ability (or "Citizenship" which is sometimes euphemistically used in lieu by some).
2. Not too many folk are all that upset when a good athlete has been at the School since day 1 of year 7. This at least indicates that the School is investing in the child for the long term, not just to win the pennant.
3. A scholarship recipient who is not just a outright jock, and who is active in a range of extra curricular and community service activities as well as doing a guts effort with the books is a less cynical non-compliance with the AAGPS code of conduct that the Heads of Schools have all signed up to.
From the seat of my high horse, which is some distance from Lane Cove, none of the Riverview bursaries appear to be in breach of the AAGPS Code of Conduct. There are probably as many rugby gumbies on bursaries as there are talented sportsmen, and many of those talented rugby players on bursaries are equally or more talented in other areas, which may be the reason why they earned their bursary in the first instance.