Obituary

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32775, 27 November 1971, Page 18

Obituary

MR J. K. MOLONEY

A well-known Christchurch lawyer and Rugby football personality, Mr John Keith Moloney, died in Christchurch on Thursday. He was 78. During his career, Mr Moloney was a president of the Canterbury Rugby Union, and of the Canterbury centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association. He was bom in Dunedin, and educated at the East and West Christchurch schools, and at Canterbury and Victoria universities.

During the First World War, Mr Moloney served with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in the Western Desert and France, and after gaining a commission in 1916 served with the Canterbury Regiment. Mr Moloney played Rugby in England during the war, while undergoing officercadet training at New College, Oxford, and he continued in the sport when he returned to New Zealand. In 1920, he became chairman of the New Zealand University Football Council, and in 1937 president of the Canterbury University Rugby Club, a post he held for 10 years. Mr Moloney served on the' Canterbury Rugby Union’s ; management committee from 1923 to 1938, when he became president for three years. He was later elected a life member of the union. After the Second World War, Mr Moloney was vicepresident of the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association; and in 1946 also organised the first national convention of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

He was a well-known Christchurch criminal lawyer for many years, until his retirement in 1950. He was interested in Rugby history, and was the author of “The Ranfurly Shield,” and of the second part of the Canterbury Rugby Union’s history, “Rugby Football in Canterbury, 1929-54.” Mr Moloney is survived by his wife, a son, who is in Vietnam, and two daughters.