History
Otago Rugby History
Otago has played a significant and
sometimes leading, role in the development and promotion of rugby in
New Zealand; and rugby in Otago, historically and at present, is
without peer as the sport with the widest and most avid public
following.
Otago has a long and proud history (126 years as a
union) of fostering rugby within its borders and of being a major
contributor at national level through players, coaches and
administrators. It could be argued that Otago’s contribution belies its
population and commercial size.
Some of the great innovators
of New Zealand rugby have been Otago men, including the originator of
the All Black jersey and the first New Zealand captain under the aegis
of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Tom Ellison, and the first All Black
coach, Jimmy Duncan. Such influence more than a century ago has
continued unbroken.
Otago has long been recognised as one
of the four leading provinces and while demographics have altered the
rugby landscape, Otago still lays claim to being among the leading
five. Only Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington have contributed more
All Blacks than Otago; the University club in Dunedin ranks, with
Ponsonby in Auckland, as the provider of most All Blacks.
Since
the National Provincial Championship (now the Air New Zealand Cup)
began in 1976, Otago has won it twice – in 1991 (when there were no
semifinals and no final) and in 1998. Otago have been finalists six
times out of a possible 16 and semifinalists 11 times. This is a better
record than Wellington, for example.
While Otago have not had
the Ranfurly Shield since 1957, its record in shield matches is still
impressive. Otago’s record in shield matches is just marginally less
than 50 per cent (36 wins and 38 losses), which stands comparison with
all other provincial unions except Auckland and Canterbury.
Otago
had direct impact on the way the game was played in its earliest days
but this influence did not die with the stagecoach. Men such as the two
Cavanaghs, “Old Vic” and “Young Vic”, were generally regarded
throughout New Zealand as coaches who took the game to new levels and
this particularly applied to Vic Cavanagh jnr in the 1940s when the
Ranfurly Shield was never north of the Waitaki River and when Otago in
1949 supplied 11 All Blacks and, without them, still retained the
Shield.
The influence continued with Charlie Saxton, captain
of the 2NZEF Kiwi army team that reintroduced rugby to Europe after
World War II and the style and manner of the Kiwis’ play was taken into
the All Blacks in 1967 when Saxton was manager and Fred Allen, one of
the Kiwi players, was the coach. The 1967 All Blacks set a benchmark
for those who followed, just as the Otago coaching line continued
unbroken after Saxton (who succeeded Cavanagh as Otago coach) through
Eric Watson, Laurie Mains, Gordon Hunter and Tony Gilbert.
Otago
rugby at a first-class level has at times developed its own style, such
as “the rucking game” developed by Cavanagh and honed by Saxton and
which other teams tried to imitate; and later in the 90s when Hunter
and then Gilbert developed the Cavanagh template and promoted a
crowd-pleasing style of play that still relied on proper execution of
the basics. It was under the tutelage of Gilbert that Otago players
developed to the stage where they matched the feats of the teams of the
1940s and had a record number of All Blacks (eight on seven occasions
in tests between 1999 and 2001). At one time, Otago had three All Black
captains (Taine Randell, Anton Oliver and Tom Willis) in the same
squad. (When the 1971 Lions first arrived in Dunedin, the first thing
their celebrated coach, Carwyn James, did was seek out Vic Cavanagh).
Otago
has also been among the forefront in the administration of the game. A
Dunedin man, Samuel Sleigh, organised the first New Zealand team, in
1884, and another, Ned Parata, is acknowledged as the father of Maori
rugby – it was he who organised the first national Maori team in 1910
and was the first Maori to serve on the New Zealand union. An Original
All Black from Otago, Alex McDonald, served the game for the next 50
years, including two terms as All Black coach. Charlie Saxton, who was
both a councillor on the New Zealand union and later its president,
continued the Otago heritage of serving both their province and their
country.
Rugby in Otago is more than just about the elite
level of players or the national level of coaching. It is a game that
is carried in the soul of Otago people and developed a culture that
embraces the whole province and into which succeeding generations of
Otago University students are inculcated. Otago graduates around the
world retain the strong loyalty to Otago they developed as students.
Few
cities in the world embrace a test match as Dunedin does. Only Cardiff
can compare with Dunedin as a city in which a rugby test is
all-pervading. Visitors to Dunedin, including national figures, have
often lauded Dunedin as a test city with the most outstanding
atmosphere and “feel”. Not for nothing is Dunedin known as “Test City”
at international time. There is also a practical side and Dunedin in
1993 provided the New Zealand Rugby Union with its first million-dollar
gate. Tests in Dunedin are estimated to generate between $15 and $20
million economic benefits for the city and province.
The
Otago hinterland has long been an essential part of Otago rugby,
proving it is more than a city-based union. While demographics, social
changes and farm mechanisation have meant fewer Country players play
for Otago than did formerly, Country rugby remains an essential and
integral part of the Union. It was for this reason that Otago
successfully bid in 2003 to stage the national sevens in Queenstown,
one of the tourist jewels of New Zealand.
Otago embraced the
Highlanders – the name reflecting the area’s Scottish roots – when the
Super 12 began in 1996 and although the franchise area is the least
populous and the smallest commercially, the Highlanders have
consistently performed well, being semifinalists on four occasions and
finalists (and hosts) once.
Mindful of the continually
changing dynamics of rugby, Otago works actively with its franchise
partner unions North Otago and Southland, both in the playing and the
administration of the game.
Key dates:
1881 April 22 - Carisbrook Ground Company registered
1886 November 22 - First international cricket match, Otago v Australia
1889 August 16 - Carisbrook Ground Company liquidated
1889 September 6 - Dunedin Amateur Ground Company formed
1907 June 27 - Carisbrook assets transferred to Otago Rugby Football Union
1908 May 30 - First Otago rugby defeat of international side, Anglo-Welsh
1908 June 30 - First rugby test, NZ v Anglo-Welsh
1930 June 21 - First All Black defeat (by Great Britain)
1936 August 1 - First Ranfurly Shield match
1955 March 11 - First cricket test begins
1956 Feb 3-6 - First NZ cricket test against West Indies at Carisbrook
1969 - Otago Rugby Football Union buys freehold to Carisbrook
1974 March 30 - First one day cricket international
1991 Otago wins NPC Division One
1992 September 27 - First extra time in a rugby match in New Zealand: Otago 26, North Harbour 23
1996 March 3 - First Super 12 match, Otago Highlanders 57, Queensland 17
1998 Otago wins NPC Division One