Regional rugby facts, figures and memories go online

NZHistory/Minsitry for Culture and Heritage

8 June 2011

Regional rugby facts, figures and memories go online

To coincide with the 2011 Rugby World Cup, New Zealand’s online history resource NZHistory has created a new feature which documents the emergence of the provincial game in this country. Presenting facts and anecdotes about each of New Zealand’s twenty-six provincial teams, the regional rugby feature describes the passion and parochialism that has helped to give rugby a special place in New Zealand’s social and sporting history.

Steve Watters, one of the NZHistory writing team, spent three months researching and reading about New Zealand’s regional rugby teams and unions. He says his research confirmed that, “Rugby has remained a grassroots game in New Zealand. The culture and community behind our players is immense and has founded generations of New Zealand’s best players. The strength of New Zealand rugby at the international level has been our strong provincial game”.

During the 2011 Rugby World Cup thousands of rugby fans are coming to New Zealand’s shores and will be visiting towns and cities all over New Zealand for matches. The regional rugby entries are an excellent source of interesting information for our visitors and for media researching local teams.

Prior to 1976 the Ranfurly Shield was the only national competition. It gave the smaller unions the chance to compete against the ‘big boys’. Buller’s heroic 6-6 draw in 1949 against Otago is a case in point, Mr. Watters says, “Otago were the team in the years immediately after the Second World War and nobody gave Buller a show that day. While they came up just short this probably remains Buller’s greatest day. The players and matches who became part of local folklore explain why many New Zealanders firmly believe that no other country on earth truly ‘gets’ rugby as they do”. The shield could bring entire communities to a standstill. In 1972 a staggering 40,000 fans squeezed into Whangarei’s Okara Park to watch North Auckland defend the shield against big city neighbours Auckland - not bad for a city with a total population of only 34,000.

To foster more sharing of regional rugby stories NZHistory has created a “community contribution” section at the bottom of each entry where anyone can share their rugby memories. The site encourages readers to write in, Mr Watters says, “The ability to contribute stories about games readers might have attended, or any other rugby memories is one way in which the feature promotes a truly community based approach to history”.

NZHistory is an online resource dedicated to presenting New Zealand’s history in an accessible and engaging format. The website provides diverse snapshots of New Zealand’s history, with new subjects added regularly.

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