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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
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
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.
If there has been a problem for Aborigines in Australian rugby history, it mirrors attitudes by the Australian public in general. There was an early typecasting of the race as non-achievers in life as in sport. But in rugby the Aborigines have produced a number of champion players.
The most famous were the Ella brothers, Mark, Glen and Gary, who showed the world a brilliantly instinctive degree of understanding of each other on the field of play. Their fame was worldwide in rugby. All were test players around the same time, though they never all played in the same test match.
Mark Ella was one of the First Fifteen of players inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in London in 1997. He is remembered as one of the glittering stars of Australian rugby. The other two from the family, Glen and Gary, were thrilling backline runners too, and all later became much respected coaches.
It is thought that the first Aborigine player to be capped for Australia was Jack ‘Blondie’ Howard in 1938. His teammates at the time were not all sure of his racial background and Howard apparently was never keen on discussing it. Alongside Howard in the tests of 1938 was Cecil Ramalli,who was part-Indian and part-Aborigine. It is said that Ramali, too, never revealed his Aboriginality. He preferred to be known as part-Indian.
Eventually Aborigine players emerged who were happy to declare their race. Lloyd McDermott of Queensland was a pacy winger who played tests against the All Blacks in 1962.
In the years after the Ella brothers came Lloyd Walker, Barry Lea, Andrew Walker and Jim Williams, all of whom were Wallabies. After originally being a centre, Williams was the first forward of Aborigine descent to play test football.
Which well-known sevens rugby coach made this memorable quotation? 'At the Hong Kong sevens bowls and plates are only for eating off - not playing for?'
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