Rugby History–

         I did enjoy playing rugby, especially for small country teams when the whole village would turn out to support me.

         When in England one day I dinned with the president of the Old Boys’ Association of Rugby School. I was thrilled when he offered to take me to the birthplace of the game – my ‘holy grail’.

         This plaque was not erected until many years after the event so it took many years to formulate this legend.

         I took a photo of the plaque which stated;  “William Web Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive features of the rugby game.”

         Wallace Reyburn’s book, “A History of Rugby” states; “It’s a popular misconception that during a game of soccer Ellis first picked up the ball and ran with it. What Ellis did in 1823 was to add a new diminution to a handling game already in existence at the school.”

         Ellis after leaving Rugby went to Oxford and then into the church. There is no record of him ever going to a rugby match after he left Rugby School. He died in obscurity and only in recent years his grave was discovered amongst the undergrowth in Menton,  in the South of France.

         The first game of rugby played in New Zealand was played in Nelson.

         Two of the most significant event in the modern game were when the game turned professional,  and when we started to train coaches.  The man involved in both these events was Bob Stuart the ex-All-Black captain.

         Bob captained the 1953-54 tour of the British Isles, France, and North America.

         In my opinion, Bob’s influence on the game was greater than any other New Zealander.  He helped set up the coaching clinics to train coaches and the Asian and Pacific Rugby Congress, held at Lincoln College in 1977. He lobbied for setting up the national Provincial Competition (NPC) and was a key member of a lobby group that convinced the International Board to launch the World Cup.

         He was hired by the International Board to write their first five-year plan. This far-reaching document laid the groundwork for the game we know today.

         Bob recommended the game turn professional before an Australian businessman set up a professional code and stole all our top players as had happened in cricket. He said we had no choice but to pay our players and coaches.

         I first met Bob when he was the Varsity Club rugby captain in Christchurch.  We had both served in the Royal Navy so we had much in common. I was a student at Canterbury University College at that time and was coaching the College’s third XV. He became an agriculture economist so we became colleagues and close friends. Later on, he was appointed the executive director of the Vocational Training Council.

         Because I had been running workshops in Asia and in the Pacific to train trainers in ways to stimulate food production, Bob invited me to join his team to help train rugby coaches.  The first coaching clinic was held in Petone, in about 1976.

         Key tutors at that first clinic were :

John J. Stewart, All Back selector, and coach. JJ. brought a Taranaki rugby team to Wellington and took home the Ranfurly Shield.  He was the Principle of Flock House training farm and the in-service training center for the Department of Agriculture.

         Sir Alan Stewart was Principle of Lincoln College. I believe he was the first man to use video playbacks for coaching players.

         Bill Freeman, the Wellington coach that won fame when his team beat the touring South African Springboks 23-6 in1965. Bill became the first international rugby professional coach. One of his favorite sayings was, “There’s no gain without pain. “

         Hiwi Tauroa, a Captain of the Maori All Blacks. He had retired from the game and was teaching in Okato High School when he was called for the trails. He became captain and toured with them in Australia.  He later became the Race Relations Conciliator.

         Dr. Bill Treadwell was the medical adviser at these coaching clinics.

         All the tutors had good coaching track records and were dominated by agriculture teachers. Three of them had played First XV rugby at Hawera High School – a coincidence, or good coaching?

         In July 1977 a two-week NZRU Congress was held for coaches and presidents of the Asian and Pacific countries. This major event was held at Lincoln College with a field day at Rangiora.

         My role was to talk about the use and abuse of visual aids in training. I demonstrated how a cheap visual aid could be made from beer bottle caps fitted with magnets for use on a metal board. After seeing tactics to be used players were encouraged to walk through a tactic before speeding it up. Coaching was best carried out using two teams.

         At Lincoln, I first met the President of the Ceylon Rugby Union, Kavan Rambukwelle.  I lent him some money to buy some warm clothes. Many of our visitors suffered from the cold Canterbury winter conditions. We became close friends and for a decade I was their New Zealand Liaison Officer posting them coaching materials. It was a good position to hold especially when I worked in Sri Lanka during their civil war.

         One day I had a phone call from Bob Stuart. He must have talked for an hour. Joyce, my wife said, “What did Bob ring you for?” I said, “I don’t know.” Two weeks later I attended his funeral. I only observed one other rugby person at his funeral service, yet he did more for New Zealand rugby than any other person.

Geoffrey Moss (mossassociates.co.nz)

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