Celebrations in Westport

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 11

Celebrations in Westport

QEVENTY-FIVE years of ° Rugby in the Buller district will be celebrated in Westport this week-end with a variety of functions and a representative match between Canterbury A and Buller. The celebrations were to have been held during the Queen’s Birthday Week-end, but were postponed because of the Inangahua earthquake. One of the most popular figures in New Zealand Rugby, Mr W. A Craddock, will be a genial host at the jubilee. Mr Craddock has been a member of the New Zealand union’s council since 1945 and has done much to put Buller on the Rugby map. The organising committee has been led by Mr W. J. Mumm, the former Buller prop, captain, and selector, who is one of seven men from the union to have won New Zealand honours. The

powerful Mumm, who has broken world records in bushcraft, played for the All Blacks in a test against Australia in 1949 and was a member of the West CoastBuller team which inflicted the only loss on the Wallabies. This was the famous match in which the referee, Mr R. L. Pratt, a former Buller representative, sent the Australian forwards, C. J. Windon and J. D. Brockoff, to the side-line for a short “cooling down” period. Buller has won the Seddon Shield on many occasions, but its finest hour came in 1949, when it scored two tries to one in drawing with Otago in a Ranfurly Shield game. Mumm (85 games) and another durable prop, J. B. Shaw (79) made many appearances for Buller, but the record was established by G. (Toby) Anderson, one of the present selectors. He played for Buller for 19 seasons, for a total of 112 matches. A lock in today’s team, O. H. Nahr, will be playing his eighty-eighth game for the union today. One of Buller’s most versatile representatives was G. A. Orman, who, as a hooker, was unlucky to miss All Black honours in the 19305. He played for South Island in 1935-36-37, then represented New Zealand at Rugby league in 1938 and 1939. And, as a soccer player, he took part in two Chatham Cup finals.