Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
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4 December 2014
Close your eyes and think of the green lawns of Twickenham, or Eden Park, or Ellis Park - or anywhere in modern times where test rugby is played. You would NEVER see mud like this. All you see these days is serried lines of mown greenery. Read more »
7 December 2014
Isn't it amazing what you sometimes find in a box of old 'stuff' at your place. This is one such piece of rugby memorabilia. Read more »
The fourth in a series of the personal memories of TVNZ’s Keith Quinn and his trips to the Summer Olympic Games; Read more »
As a 25 year old cub reporter for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation I was selected to go to the Summer Olympic Games in Munich Germany in August-September 1972. I had never been out of New Zealand before and so everywhere I went I had eyes as big as soup plates. On the journey over main memories are of getting off the plane at Fiumicino Airport in Rome and standing boggle-eyed counting the Jumbo jets on the tarmac. I kid you not, there were 29 there. Read more »
15 December 2014
From my reading of books, papers and magazines in 2014; from watching TV or sitting in a movie house or just plain listening to people yarning there are always quotes to jot down; Here are some of my favourite 'Quotes' (on any subject) from 2014 (Jotted down in my notebooks in no particular order): (And, by the way I've also jotted down the WORST sports commentary quote of the year. It's at the bottom of the page!) ..... Read more »
17 December 2014
What a day this was. Look at the water! It had rained so hard overnight at Eden Park the Auckland Rugby Union phoned the local radio station 1ZB and said to the public - 'even if you've got tickets - don't come.' They added, ' - the streets are flooded, the car parks are under water and the 48-hour rainstorm is not scheduled to stop!' But 45,000 fans said - No way!' They wanted to see the All Blacks play (maybe because New Zealand was wearing white jerseys?). The game went ahead and the All Blacks scored 4 converted tries for a 24-0 win. Scotland were lucky to get zero! Afterwards the All Black prop Billy Bush said with relief, 'thank goodness the referee (Peter McDavitt of Wellington) blew up any collapsed scrums quickly - someone could have drowned!' Never a truer word spoken! *(Scroll down here - and on other pages here - for more of my favourite rugby photographs)* Read more »
26 April 2016
When I attempt to write a tribute about the late New Zealand broadcaster Peter Sellers it is very hard to know where and how to start. Firstly, anyone who is reading this who lives offshore from New Zealand might be saying now, ‘wasn’t Peter Sellers that very funny and talented British actor/comedian of the 1960s? Didn’t he die in 1980?’ Read more »
21 December 2014
I believe a website like this should offer obituaries and comments on every All Black who passes away. Recently I wrote about the passing of the 1949-50 Wanganui winger Peter Henderson; this one is for a Southland hero who was tough and rugged and part of a great All Black forward pack of the 1960s. Read more »
27 December 2014
Over at www.planetrugby.com they really know their rugby. This 50-question rugby quiz which touches the game's history as well as the modern stuff from 2014, will keep your head down over the Christmas-New Year break. Many of the questions had me stumped! Thanks Planet Rugby! Read more »
27 December 2014
This favourite of mine is from the 'Bizarre' file. It is from a match programme of the 1986 Rebel Cavaliers tour of South Africa. I guess the desperate and isolated South Africans when they saw Pinetree and Kirky in charge - with Foxy, Buck, the Whettons, Andy Haden, Jock Hobbs and all the other current best New Zealand players slip into their country, thought they had the 'All Blacks' on tour. But they had not! This team defied the then 'current' official NZRU and Government stance against sporting contact with Apartheid South Africa. (Silly me; I called this team the 'Cava-liars') This is now the tour that no one ever talks about. It is consigned to its dodgy place in New Zealand rugby history. Remember? This team played four full 'tests' against the Springboks who awarded their players full cap status. [One dictionary meaning of the word 'cavalier' is; offhand, indifferent and showing a lack of proper concern.] That certainly applies still. *{Now scroll down here for other favourite rugby photos I have kept over the years!]* Read more »
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1932-34 All Black Ernest "Ned' Barry was born on this day; he and his son Kevin (1962-64) and Liam (1993-1995) became the first 'three-generation' All Black family.
ANTARCTICA
Several international rugby matches (of sorts) have been played on the ice of Antarctica, so they should be recognized in an A-Z such as this.
In 1989 a group of scientists and staff started a match between USA and New Zealand. It is a fixture on the ice which has been played intermittently over the years since.
There are several unique features about rugby in Antarctica. Firstly the game is played on a snow-covered ice field and sometimes there have been no goal posts. Implanting posts into the rock-hard ice is nigh impossible. Sometimes the game has been delayed several days until the weather clears. The clothing the players wear is interesting; often it has been full kit needed for living in extremely cold temperatures. Sometimes too, the teams have been of mixed gender. And often it is not certain whether teams will be at full strength. One year a New Zealand squad gathered prospective players at 3pm, picked their best line up, and the game kicked off at 3.30!
In an international between the New Zealand Scott Base team and the USA McMurdo Base team in 2001, the New Zealanders scored three tries to one, but the score was posted in the weekly Antarctic Sun newspaper as being 9-3. Obviously the message had not made it through to the people on the ice of the increase in points values for a try! That had first happened over 30 years earlier!
Name the NZ player who captained the All Blacks to a test match win; then also captained a team to beat the All Blacks within a year?
What do you think?
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