BIRTH OF RUGBY IN THE DOMINION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 228, 27 June 1928, Page 14

BIRTH OF RUGBY IN THE DOMINION

THE FIRST INTERPROVINCIAL MATCHES INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF FIRST CLUR To Mr. R. C. Tennent, who is now living in retirement at Napier after liaving completed 52 years’ service with the Bank of New South Wales, belongs the honour of being the founder of the first Rugby football club in New Zealand. A keen athlete in his day. Mr. Tennent represented Nelson at cricket and football and was also the champion mile runner of the province for three years. In an interview yesterday he related some interesting reminiscences of the. .first interprovineial .match played in the Dominion, and had also something io say about the standard of play today.

It was either in IS6S or 1869, said Mr. Tennent, that the first, club was formed in New Zealand. , Finding that there was nothing to do in the winter mouths the young men at Nelson, where Mr. Tennent was attached to the staff of the Bank of New South YVales, decided to call a meeting with a view to forming a club in the district. "A club was formed,” said Mr. Tennent, “but we were not quite certain what rules we should adopt. YVe had the Association rules and the rules of the Y'ictoriau

Association. We decided to give both a try-out, and while we were doing so Mr. C. J. Munro, a son of Sir David Munro, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, returned from England where he had been attending school at. Cherborne. He suggested that we should try Rugby. We did, and we liked it, better than any of the other codes. YVe formed a club, and I was elected secretary and treasurer. The First Interprovineial Game. "The Nelson College adopted the same rules and thus the game was started. After we had been playing for about two years, Mr. C. J- Munro wrote to me from Wellington that the Government steamer Luna was visiting Nelson to pick up the Panama mail, and that he had seen Sir Julius Vogel, who had granted the team a free passage to Wellington on the Lima in order to play against a fifteen of English players. “When we came over we found tne Basin Reserve half covered, with water and unplayable, so we decided to play at the Hutt. We went out in two drags. We found a suitable field near Petone. and it was there that the first interprovincial Rugby match was played, being won by Nelson by three goals to nil. How io Form a Scrum. "The rules as played then were similar to those played now, with the exception that when a scrum was formed all. the forwards stood opposite one another in <i line. The ball was thrown in between the lines by one of the players, and everyone kicked at it as it passed. In those days only goals were counted. The'game was very fast —much faster than it is today, and the running and drop-kicking ol the players was quite a feature. "Tho following year we returned the visit, the game being played in the Nelson Botanical Gardens. Nelson again won by three goals to nilA Strenuous Battle. "’rhe third interprovineial match,’ continued Mr. Tennent, "was played in 1874, on the Basin Reserve, in the presence of the Governor and a large crowd of spectators. Many of the armed constabulary were in the YY elliugton team, and the game was a most strenuous one, Dlr. Alfred Bunny, of the Nelson side, being taken off with concussion of the bruin, and a YVellington player, one of the constabulary., with a broken leg. It ended in a draw." . . Mr. Tennent played for Nelson. in oil three matches, and was captain in the third match. When he left Nelson he was captain of the Patea team tor five years, when he retired from football. lie was plrrfpd a life member of the Athletic ( lub (Wellington) in recognition of the fact that he was the founder of Rugby lootball in New Zealand. Velcrans of the Game. "It mav be interesting to players to know," said Mr. Tennent, "that Sir Douglas McLean played tor YVellington in the second interprovineial match, and Mr. A. B. Campbell, now of Napier, for Nelson in lhe third match, also Mr. James Burm’ft. late chief engineer of railways. Ihe cnpltiin of the first two matches on the Wellington side was Mr. Tsherwood, and of the third match Dlr. Worry. Ou the Nelson side lhe captain of the first match was Mr. Alfred Drew, of Palmerston North, of the second Archdeacon Kemptlmrne. nud of the third Dlr. Tennent. The game, said Mr. Tennent, has increased enormously in popularity. At first il was played mostly by the colleges and men in legal and mereanttlo pursuits, To-day il is New Zealanders national game.

Still Full of Fight. "I consider the standard of play was never higher than it. is to-day; and 1 lookforward with a certain amount of confidence that New Zealand will win the majority of the Test matches iu South Africa. Mv experience of sixty years has been Hint, the love for the game has increased to an enormous exteift; it has invaded every section of the community, and if not carried to an excess, will be for lite ultimate benefit of the whole mH ion.”