Lincoln College Has A Proud Tradition

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 11

Lincoln College Has A Proud Tradition

[Specially written lor "The Press" by I. D. BLAIR)

VVHEN the new-comer In ’ senior city Rugby this season takes the field, the Lincoln College club will in fact be junior in age only to Christchurch and Merivale. There have been 83 years of active Rugby at the College and in the early years matches were played by arrangement with town teams. Football in those days was distinctly vintage. Thus after a match against Merivale (1883) it was recorded that “in the evening the visitors assembled in the lecture theatre where the time until the moon arose was pleasantly whiled away with songs and recitations On another occasion a match had been played against Christchurch in the morning after which “the teams adjourned to lunch and after drinking the health of Mr Ivey (the director) the visitors returned to town (by horse drawn vehicle) thoroughly pleased with their outing.” College players of special merit were given the opportunity to play in town when their own team had no fixture and there was an early link in this manner with the Christchurch Club. They were a tough lot, especially when travelling was difficult, and were not averse to walking.

In 1882, for instance, College football teams had

been taking part in an athletics meeting in Christchurch. In order to appear in and win the tug-of-war final, they missed their train to Lincoln. Their success in the contest had been based on the fact that for weeks beforehand the students had practised in their lunch hour against bricklayers then employed on building additions. Possibly also the fact that the College then but not now, provided beer at lunch, may have helped the process. Anyhow they walked back to Lincoln after winning the event. One of them held an unofficial record for the walk—a few minutes over two hours. Often the team could get a train at Lincoln but not for the return journey so they took their bikes and rode them back after the game. The Ellesmere Sub-Union was formed in 1906, largely through the work of the late Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf. In the earlier years the college

teams did not more than hold their own against good district competition, though over the 54 years of their Sub-Union link, they won the senior competition 20 times. They began to win consistently as the college changed from its long established pattern of about 60 students to the proliferation of modern times (now 450 students and still growing). The regretted but inevitable break with the Subunion then was made. Since 1898, 28 students while at Lincoln College have played for Canterbury teams:—N. M. Orr, E. W. Payton, G. Ormond. A. T. Carrol, A. Ormond, M. Cowper, W. Pease, P. Deans, S. O. Campbell, A. D. McKenzie, A. R. Rankin, R. Comer, L. D. Davies, J. D. Stewart, J. Hotop, R. Averill, J. K. Fincham, J. H. Mauger, R. W. Moffat, J. B. Buxton, W. J. Whineray, R. Knox, K. R. Tremain, J. Strang, A. D. Coleman, C. Mitehell, W. J. Thompson. The vintage period was probably between 1953-60 when five students playing for Lincoln College gained their first New Zealand jerseys—J. Hotop, J. B. Buxton, W J. Whineray, D. H. Cameron, K. R. Tremain. The club as a whole is excellently served in coaching by staff members who have had Rugby careers; it is well administered under combined student-staff control.