News Comment

The All Blacks and Scotland end at 0-0 - the most recent occasion (up till 2014) that the ABs have had this 'nil/nil' score in a game.

ALLIGADOO
A rugby term sometimes spelt ‘alickadoo’ and rarely heard outside Britain, which means a club official or highly-placed committee man.

One story says the spelling ‘alickadoo’ is derived from the words ‘all he can do [is talk]’.

The other story comes from J.B.G. Thomas’s Great Rugger Players, where it is said Ireland’s ‘Jammie’ Clinch was asked by his team-mate, Ernie Crawford, about the subject matter of a story Clinch was reading on a train, while returning from an international in 1925. When Clinch replied, ‘I’m reading about a Spaniard called Alicardo, who thinks a lot of himself and is always blowing his load,’ (bragging) Crawford was highly amused and likened Alicardo to the rugby officials riding on the train with the team.

After that Crawford used the word frequently around Dublin. It became distorted by Irish accents to ‘alligadoo’ but it stuck as a term for an officious committee man.

Answer; SOUTHLAND (They had the Ranfurly Shield from September 10 1938 until August 2 1947 – which was three weeks short of nine years!) That was more than when Auckland had the Shield from September 14 1985 til September 18 1993 - a total just over 8 years! [NOTE:There were no matches played in the years of WWII. The Shield stayed in the window of H.H.Geddes and son, the menswear store, on the corner of Tay and Dee Streets in Invercargill during the war years.]