KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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Favourite Photos: People, places and stories from around the rugby world
From my travels I have collected many photos; had them sent to me or saved them, because, well, behind most of them there is a good story!
Fiji Rugby's famous day
23 October 2014
The things you find at home all these years later. While rummaging through some family shots I came across this picture I took from the commentary scaffold at what was then Buckhurst Park in Suva, Fiji. It shows the Fiji and British Isles teams coming onto the field before the playing of the last game of the Lions 26 match tour of New Zealand and Fiji in 1977. I think the high aspect of the shot might make it unique to Fiji rugby history. The scaffold was so rickety no photographers were allowed on it. This was the day Fiji's national team scored perhaps their most famous home victory. Fiji won 25-21. They could be rightly proud of course but it is true the Lions did not approach the fixture with true dedication. I can still recall their poolside party raging on and keeping me awake 16 hours before kickoff! Read more »
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I love this picture because it says so much about a typical rugby fan's view of a New Zealand rugby test in the 1960s. It was taken by a young Christchurch lad Warwick Burke, who later became an accomplished broadcaster in Wellington. He commentated rugby for a time and these days is a superb news reader on National Radio. I like the picture as it is a reminder of the old Lancaster Park in Christchurch, a ground which was smashed by the earthquakes of recent times and has been abandoned. This picture shows the view the everyday person got from the wide embankment which ran the length of one side of the field. A crowd of 50,000 saw this afternoon game when Brian Lochore's All Blacks beat Mike Campbell-Lamerton's Lions by 19-6. Note also the slightly muddy field - which is something the modern test player does not encounter to the same extent. And the winger No.14 is throwing the ball into the lineout. These days the ball is thrown to a lineout almost exclusively by the hookers. I also note the very dignified clothing some of the photographers are wearing. Pullovers and jackets being preferred by some. [Scroll down here for more great photographs]
A great shot of the much missed Lancaster Park
27 September 2014
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The amazing Scottish TV commentator Bill McLaren commentated on the game for the BBC for over 50 years. The much loved Bill prepared assiduously before EVERY game he was to broadcast. His family tell us he would often start on Monday for a game to be played the following Saturday. The result were these handwritten 'Big Sheets' about every player and official to be involved. He left nothing to chance. It was often said 'Bill knew mre about each player that they knew about themselves!' Note how he used different coloured pens to separate each fact. That there so there was no 'searching' for them during a live telecast. This 'Big Sheet' was drawn up for his call of the All Blacks v Barbarians Club at Twickenham in 1993. Details of the scores, scoring, players, referees and reserves and even those who were to sit in the official box are all found here if you look closely. After this game Bill would file the sheet away and two days later would begin another sheet for his next call.
Bill McLaren's Big Sheets - done before every game he covered
26 September 2014
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At the Nanjing Old City Wall 2014 - it was first built in 1366.
The Olympics Come to China - Again!
28 August 2014
I had been to China a number of times before 2014. The main time was for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, then for the Paralympic Games which followed. I was in the country then for nearly two months. I had been for rugby reasons too; Firstly to Shanghai for several IRB 7s rugby tournaments and then there was a similar event in Beijing in 2003. That time the IRB were hoping to impress upon the 2008 Chinese Olympic Games Officials how nicely their game would sit in an Olympic programme. That didn't happen then but it has now. So in 2014 here I was in Nanjing and forgive me if I felt part of a breakthrough rugby broadcast team for the Olympic movement. The Summer Youth Sevens event in Nanjing was great fun. So I made sure I found time to make an appropriate 'location' picture to mark my time in this city. Here I am at the Nanjing Old City Wall with the Olympic rings a backdrop. Construction on the wall was started in 1366. Read more »
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Danie Craven wasn't the first to specialise with this halfback's pass - but he was the best!
Danie Craven did it best
16 August 2014
Is this the best photograph ever taken of a rugby dive-pass? If it's not then show me a better one. This is the great Danie Craven playing for South Africa v New Zealand in the third test match of 1937 at Eden Park in Auckland. Some old historians claim Craven 'invented' the dive-pass for a halfback in the 1930s but in fact it was first used to best effect by an earlier Springbok half, by the name of Dauncie Devine - in the South African team which played New Zealand in South Africa in 1928. Read more »
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January 1954 and on TV for the first time New Zealand beats England 5-0
All Blacks first time on TV - 1954
17 June 2014
The All Blacks in full colour playing their test matches are a familiar sight these days. But it was not always that way. This is a freeze-frame photo taken from the first ever live telecast of New Zealand's famous team on television. Coverage was in black and white only and only four cameras intercut the action. Focus on the play a far from the high definition of the modern digital coverage of today. New Zealand beat England in this match in 1954 by 5-0. Read more »
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Every day there is Rugby History 4 January 1936
Click to show A Russian beats the All Blacks!
Jack Manchester's All Blacks are beaten 13-0 by England at Twickenham, with the Russian Prince Alexander Obolensky as a winger, dashing in for 2 tries.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show JAMES, CARWYN
JAMES, CARWYN
Llanelli and Wales
2 internationals for Wales 1958
A brilliant rugby man whether as a player, coach, lecturer, broadcaster or writer.
Carwyn James had the misfortune to play in the same era as the great Cliff Morgan, and it was not until 1958 that he played flyhalf for Wales, when it beat Australia by 9–3 at Cardiff. James kicked a dropped goal. Later that season he played centre against France, outside Morgan.
It was as a coach that the quietly-spoken James made his mark on world rugby. Without ever having coached Wales, he was elected to guide the 1971 British Isles team in New Zealand. Under his quiet tutelage the Lions played winning rugby against the All Blacks, and James’s innate tactical judgments and expert reading of opposition strengths shot him into world prominence.
His reputation was enhanced in 1972–73, when he coached Llanelli to its famous win over the All Blacks. He was also the guiding hand behind the Barbarians club’s fortunes against the All Blacks in the final game of that same tour — a game said by many to be the greatest game ever played. James later coached with considerable success in Italy, where his influence on the players at the Rovigo club was said to be enormous.
Personal differences between James and some members of the Welsh Rugby Union meant that he never coached the national team, although at the time he was clearly a very good candidate for the job.
After his spell of coaching he turned to writing and broadcasting, where he proved to be very successful, with a turn of phrase that said much for his intellect and rugby wisdom. He wrote several coaching and historical manuals on the game and was an expert interpreter of rugby on television and radio.
James was an ardent Welsh nationalist who turned down an OBE after the Lions tour of New Zealand. He spoke Welsh fluently and encouraged others to do the same.
Carwyn James collapsed and died in the Netherlands in 1983, and was deeply mourned by his friends and colleagues. Many called him a genius of rugby, though it was also said he was a prophet of the game who was never honoured in his own country. The prominent English writer, John Reason, called Carwyn James ‘the best coach the world has yet seen’.
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
Which New Zealand sports broadcaster once described a tight tennis match as 'a Battle of Nutrition.'
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.