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A Top night at the cricket in Wellington. Three Rugby Men very well hosted.
30 January 2015
In the photo left to right are ex-All Black captain Dave Loveridge, the ex-All Black fullback Allan Hewson, yours truly (who will be back at the same ground commentating rugby sevens in sevens days time). Completing the pic is Adair Cameron, the General Manager of Williment Travel Group, in Wellington. Adair's friendly team hosted we three, and others, watching Sri Lanka playing New Zealand. It was a great night of fun and sporting chat. And watching the game unfold.
Hewson and Loveridge of course were top cricketers as well as All Black heroes in their time. At one point last night they were sharing anecdotes of their time in opposing teams at a Brabin Shield youth rep tournament in Gisborne. Allan went on to play first class cricket for Wellington and Dave was a Hawke Cup rep for his home province of Taranaki. My own 'greatest' moment from the game of cricket was commentating for radio one Plunket Shield match in Whangarei in the early 1970s. I thought I did a fair job but was never invited to do a second game! (However I did make 94 on Whakatiki St No.6 field in Upper Hutt one time. It was in Hutt Valley 3rd Grade D division cricket - and my teammates said I choked!) (I think they were correct!)
At various times over recent years Williment Travel have invited the three of us to lead their All Black Supporter's tours to far flung places in the globe. We have all had wonderful times with them while watching the All Blacks play; all due to the organisational and professional excellence of Williment Travel.
Allan also led a cricket supporter's tour to the last World Cup in the West Indies.
Many thanks Adair and to Jo Boyd and Phil Langridge and the Williment team.
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Every day there is Rugby History 23 October 2011
Click to show On this day: Great joy in NZ! The All Blacks won their 2nd Rugby World Cup final!
The 8-7 victory over France in Auckland was confirmed with a late (and now very famous) Stephen Donald penalty; and the nation which had waited 24 years went wild for Richie McCaw's team.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show APIA PARK
APIA PARK
Headquarters for the game of rugby in Samoa. Apia Park is a ground with a colourful past. Just as Twickenham in London was once a market garden, and cabbages were grown at Lancaster Park in Christchurch during World War I, Apia Park in the capital city of Samoa was once a horse racing track and a golf course.
Situated close to the city, the ground was originally owned by the occupying German Government. The first horse racing was held on Kaiser Wilhelm II’s birthday in 1910. Later, Chinese, Melanesian and Samoan labourers ploughed the swampy land, aided by oxen-drawn carts. They levelled an inner field and plans for rugby were drawn up. The locals did not worry that a large, shady tree was left intact on what was to be inside the field of play.
Horse racing died out in 1939. The first rugby game on the park was in 1924 when an Apia Selection played a Pago Pago Naval XV. Apia won 33-0. During the same year a Fijian team on its way to play Tonga stopped in Apia. Its two games against the locals were split one win each. It is not recorded how the teams coped with playing around the tree!
These days the rebuilt ground, with its superb backdrop of palm trees and other native flora and fauna, must be one of the prettiest in the world.
Apia Park has always been a highly significant place for sport in Samoa. In 1991 before the advent of a home TV network, crowds used to come to the ground and sit for hours overnight waiting to watch on an imported giant TV screen the matches of (Western) Samoa at the World Cup in Britain.
For years the field was also used as a golf course, but in 1975 the inherent dangers of people walking near such a course led them to shift to a new venue, at the Royal Samoan Golf Club. Only then for the first time could rugby truly claim the grounds.
In 2007, Apia Park was one of the main venues for the 2007 Pacific Games. In 2015 it will play host many events at the Youth Commonwealth Games, the opening and closing ceremonies. It will also host the All Blacks from New Zealand for a much anticipated game against Manu Samoa. The ground has a capacity of 15,000.
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
In the Rugby World Cups 1987-2011 which final drew the biggest crowd?
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