KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
You are here: Home » All Blacks year by year » 2014 » 2014 All Black tour Diary » AB Tour Diary; Catch up days 19-20 November 2014
AB Tour Diary; Catch up days 19-20 November 2014
Keith Quinn in Stow-on-the-Wold with the great 'Gus' Risman. See story.....
20 November 2014
Wednesday November 19 2014
A lazy day of touring for our team down from the Lake Districts today all the way to Cheltenham on the edge of the Cotswolds. If I add that we had a stop for lunch at Stratford-Upon-Avon then you'll forgive me for starting to believe that we are only staying at the really big name places on our tour.
It got even better when we ended our day at one of the most magnificent hotels I have ever seen. On the edge of Cheltenham we checked into the imposing 16th century luxury Ellenborough Park Hotel. We are here for two nights and we ARE heading towards the weekend test match with Wales in Cardiff - but tonight all 80 of the Quinn and Loveridge tour groups ate and lay their heads down in great comfort and warmth.
Thursday November 20 2014
This might sound like a repeating record but today we had another very enjoyable day of touristy touring. This time it was around the Cotswolds, starting our from our glorious hotel in Cheltenham and heading towards places like Cirencester, Lechdale and then Burford for lunch. Along the way we passed many of the honeycombed houses and scenic sights of one of England's true beauty tourism areas.
When the bus made a mid-afternoon 'comfort stop' in a quaint place called Stow-on-the-Wold I gave a quick nod to a good touring bloke called Gordon Scott.
Gordon is from Waimate and his name is mentioned here on this site a few times whenever rugby questions are asked. That's because invariably he knows the answers! The bloke's knowledge of rugby is quietly impressive.
The nod we exchanged was in the direction of the local White Hart hotel of the village. It was right there. We felt the need to slip in for a quick look. Thirst on a holiday is a terrible thing!
Such a quick visit was possible because the rest of our touring buddies were either off shopping or heading to the bathrooms. As Gordon and I quietly supped away, while all the while eyeing the bus and its imminent departure, we noticed a large framed photo on the wall.
It was a great shot, taken in 1936. In it was one of the world's great rugby league players, Augustus 'Gus' Risman. We admired it so much (and because Gordon and I both knew of him) the pub owner allowed us to lift the picture off the wall for us to pose with. 'It's been sitting there for years,' he said.
The Welsh-born Risman played his early football as a rugby union teenager but when he switched codes to play for the great Salford club in the late 1920s he moved quickly to become a pro rugby league player of superstar status. He became a truly 'great' wing, fullback or flyhalf.
And get this! Gus played professionally from 1929-1954 - in a total of 791 games spread over 25 years!
Imagine that - you pampered hotshot rugby stars of today!! (That's over twice as many games as Keven Mealamu has done; he who will reach a record number of games of first-class footy in New Zealand terms, this weekend v Wales.)
Of course there is a firm link to New Zealand sport from Gus Risman. As a kid I can remember his son Beverly Risman coming to New Zealand with the 1959 British Lions rugby team and, when he was fit on that tour, dazzling opponents with the same kind of magic his father had. Bev Risman scored a try in the only test win that Lions team had, beating NZ 9-6 in Auckland.
Gus Risman also toured our country with Great Britain rugby league teams in the 1930s and had a long international coaching career too.
I felt honoured to have held the photo today. And Gordon and I reflected, as we hurried back to the bus, that if we ever won a big Lotto prize we'd hire a car and tour UK; just to look about as we went along, knowing that we'd see millions of bits of rugby memorabilia just sitting there quietly in nooks and crannies, waiting to be remembered - or perhaps I should say - waiting to never be forgotten.
Or at the very least have a glass raised to.
Comments 0
Login / Register Free
Every day there is Rugby History 25 April 1905
Click to show The great future All Black George Nepia is born in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay.
He lived most of his life in the far flung East Coast of the North Island but grew to be honoured all over the rugby world.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show ELLA brothers, GARY, MARK and GLEN
Ella, Mark
New South Wales and Australia
25 internationals for Australia 1980–84
Ella, Gary
New S
uth Wales and Australia
6 internationals for Australia 1982–88
Ella, Glen
New South Wales and Australia
4 internationals for Australia 1982–85
Three brilliant Australian aboriginal brothers who, in combination at either school, club, state or international level, dazzled and delighted rugby crowds with their backline interplay.
The Ella brothers came from a modest family of 12 children in La Perouse, Sydney. Glen and Mark were twins and Gary was 13 months younger. Mark was a flyhalf possessed of brilliant balance, speed and intuition; Glen, a fullback who sometimes played as a centre, and Gary, a long-striding runner, who was used mostly as centre and occasionally on the wing.
The brothers first made headlines as schoolboys. Their uncanny understanding of each other’s play brought suggestions of telepathic aboriginal powers – when viewing some of their tries and plays it was often hard to argue otherwise. From Matraville High in suburban Sydney, all three made the 1977–78 Australian Secondary Schools touring team which went on a nine-week tour of the United Kingdom, France, Japan and the Netherlands.
The team went unbeaten in 16 games. Australian writers were quick to point out that only the 1924–25 All Black ‘Invincible’ team had done as well on tour in Britain. The team also scored 110 tries on the tour (averaging nearly eight a game), and between them the Ella brothers scored a quarter of all the points.
Everywhere the team went the Ella brothers were high in curiosity value for the media. Nor did they let the reporters down. They became stars of the Australian rugby scene before they had even left school. It was inevitable that in time their talents would be utilised in the Wallabies.
Mark was the first to make the grade. After having shone for his club Randwick, Sydney and New South Wales, he toured to Argentina with the Wallabies in 1979 and thereafter became a regular and vital member of Australian test sides. He was made captain for the Wallabies tour to New Zealand in 1982, when aged only 23, and led the team until 1984 when a new coach, Alan Jones, preferred Andrew Slack. That did not deter Ella from playing brilliant rugby and on the 1984 tour of Britain, though seemingly at odds on a personal level with Jones, he was one of the team’s brightest stars. He became the first touring player in Britain to score a try in each of the home internationals, a feat he had also achieved on the schoolboys’ tour seven years earlier (though that team did not play Scotland).
Mark Ella retired at the age of 25, having played 25 internationals, amid rumours that he could no longer tolerate playing in teams coached by Alan Jones. He resisted many lucrative offers to play rugby league and settled into a life as a businessman, TV commentator and newspaper columnist. He returned to Sydney club rugby in 1989 and also played and coached in Italy.
Twin brother Glen and younger brother Gary also played for Randwick in Sydney and both joined Mark in the Wallabies for the 1981–82 tour of Britain. Injuries damaged both their chances of playing consistently on that tour and neither joined Mark in the international matches.
The trio’s best tour for their country was to New Zealand in 1982. Mark was captain and, along with David Campese, he was the team’s star player. Glen was an excellent fullback but could not force his way into the test team ahead of Roger Gould. Gary’s form was such that he made the first two tests at centre. Once again the brothers’ consummate passing and mutual understanding surprised opposition backlines and astonished the hard-to-please New Zealand crowds.
Surprisingly the three Ella brothers never played together in a test match. Gary retired with a knee injury in 1986 and Glen bowed out after being part of yet another Randwick championship winning team in 1987. he became a top coach, leading Australia on many seven aside trips as well as being assistant coach for the Wallabies. Gary returned to play one test against the All Blacks in 1988.
Former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer, who had coached the trio for Randwick and Australia, said ‘the influence of the Ella brothers on Australian rugby has been absolutely immeasurable.’ They were best summed up by the word that was coined by Australian journalists to describe their play – ‘Ellamagic!’
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
Who were the players who first took successfully kicked test match penalties past the 6,7,8, and 9 World Record Marks?
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.
You cannot post comments until you have logged in.
Login Here or Click Here to Register.