“Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime successfully defended their Telkom VS Gaming High School Esports League Rocket League championship at Comic Con Africa 2026 in Johannesburg. The result highlights the growing role of organised school esports in South Africa, while the wider Telkom VS Gaming programme is creating opportunities for competitive players, students and casual gamers.”
Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime defend their title
South Africa’s school esports scene delivered one of the latest major competitive-gaming stories from Comic Con Africa 2026, with Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime successfully defending their Telkom VS Gaming High School Esports League Rocket League championship. The result, reported on September 26 as Comic Con Africa entered its final weekend, underlines the growing role of organised school competition in developing young South African esports talent.
Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime successfully defended their Telkom VS Gaming HSEL Rocket League title at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, marking their second consecutive appearance as champions. The wider Comic Con Africa programme also features major Counter-Strike, Rocket League, Tekken and PUBG competitions, with hundreds of thousands of rand in combined prize money and opportunities for players beyond the professional level.
The latest result
According to Ezweni News, Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime, powered by Samsung, retained the HSEL Rocket League crown after another appearance at Comic Con Africa. The team had qualified through online competitions earlier in the year and returned to the Johannesburg Expo Centre with the pressure of defending the title they had won previously.
Team captain Kiran Jaynarayan said the team wanted to finish his final year of high school competition by representing the school and maintaining the reputation built by the squad. He described the team’s approach as aggressive and focused on applying pressure, while also emphasising the importance of staying calm when defending a championship.
For coaches and schools, these competitions also provide measurable goals, regular fixtures and a setting where teamwork, discipline and strategic thinking can develop together.
Comic Con Africa’s esports platform
The Rocket League final formed part of a much larger Telkom VS Gaming programme at Comic Con Africa, which ran from September 24 to 27 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec. The official Comic Con Africa programme described four days of competitions, gaming tournaments, free-to-play challenges, esports finals and cosplay.
For the organised esports tournaments, the programme included Counter-Strike, Rocket League and Tekken, alongside school-level competition. Comic Con Africa said the combined tournament prize money for the VS Gaming competitions was more than R500,000, while the event’s dedicated gaming programme listed a combined R547,500 across its featured tournaments.
Visitors could also participate in free-to-play activities involving EA FC Mobile, EA FC Console, Kasi Taxi Rush, PUBG Mobile and Tekken. This combination means Comic Con Africa is functioning not only as a place to watch elite competition but also as an entry point for people who want to experience competitive gaming themselves.
The importance of school competition
The HSEL Rocket League result matters because school esports can provide an organised competitive environment for players who may eventually move into university or professional leagues. Players can develop experience in communication, strategy, preparation and competition while representing their schools.
Rocket League is particularly suited to team-based development because it combines football-style objectives with vehicle control, timing and positional strategy. A successful team must coordinate attacks and defence while reacting quickly to opponents. That makes communication and decision-making central to competitive performance.
The Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime result also demonstrates the value of continuity. Returning as defending champions means a school team has an established competitive identity and experience of playing on a major event stage. At the same time, defending a title introduces a different challenge from winning one for the first time.
A wider pathway for young gamers
The South African esports ecosystem is increasingly being built across schools, universities, community competitions and professional events. Recent coverage of Varsity Esports, for example, shows universities continuing to develop structured competitions in titles including EA Sports FC, Rocket League and VALORANT. Mettlestate reported in September that the Varsity Esports Split 2 finals would bring together representatives from universities around the country at UP-Tuks on October 2 and 3.
It also gives schools a reason to treat esports as a structured activity requiring preparation, equipment, coaching and teamwork.
Community and accessibility
Telkom VS Gaming’s presence at Comic Con Africa also reflects a wider effort to make competitive gaming more accessible. The official event programme promoted the message “For All Gamers” and included activities for professional esports competitors, serious players, casual gamers and people simply interested in gaming culture.
This matters in a country where access to suitable hardware, high-speed connectivity and organised competition can vary considerably. Events that allow visitors to play on-site, watch experienced competitors and discover tournament platforms can reduce the distance between a person who enjoys gaming and someone who wants to compete.
The Comic Con Africa activation also included a Next Gen Squad cosplay competition with a R30,000 prize pool, showing how modern gaming culture extends beyond competitive matches. Esports, streaming, cosplay, content creation and community events increasingly overlap, creating different ways for young people to participate in gaming culture.
The road ahead for South African esports
The Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime victory comes at a time when South African esports is receiving attention across several levels. IOL reported that South African EA Sports FC 27 players are preparing for the Red Bull Wings Cup, a nationwide competition beginning September 29 and leading to a 16-player national final at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on November 1. The national winner is expected to progress to a world final in Miami in January 2027.
That competition is aimed at a different part of the ecosystem, but the underlying development is similar: local players are being given clearer competitive routes, while brands and organisers are using tournaments to connect grassroots participants with larger stages.
The school esports story is therefore part of a larger picture. Young players are not only competing for immediate prizes or school recognition. They are gaining exposure to formats, broadcasts, live venues, team structures and competitive expectations that can prepare them for future opportunities.
Why the result matters now
The timing of the Rocket League title defence is also notable because Comic Con Africa 2026 has brought esports into a major public entertainment environment. Gaming is not being presented as a separate activity hidden away from mainstream audiences; it is being placed alongside entertainment, pop culture, cosplay and other public programming.
The visibility of school players at such an event can help demonstrate that competitive gaming involves organised teams, preparation, strategy and live competition. It also gives younger players the opportunity to compete in an environment that attracts gaming fans from across South Africa.
The Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime achievement therefore represents more than a single Rocket League result. It illustrates how school esports can operate within a larger national ecosystem that includes community tournaments, university competitions, commercial leagues and major gaming exhibitions.
Conclusion
Curro Durbanville Wolves Prime’s successful defence of the Telkom VS Gaming HSEL Rocket League title is one of the most notable recent South African school esports developments reported during Comic Con Africa 2026. The achievement highlights the role of school leagues in giving young players structured competition, while the wider VS Gaming programme demonstrates how esports can connect professional tournaments, grassroots participation and gaming culture.
With university competitions, community tournaments and national events continuing to develop, South African players have several stages on which to build competitive experience. The next challenge will be sustaining these pathways so that more young gamers can move from school competition into higher levels of organised esports.
For South African esports, the significance of the result is therefore broader than one Rocket League championship. It is another example of how competitive gaming is developing through schools, communities, universities and major live events, creating an ecosystem in which young players can compete, learn and build experience.
