Dannevirke’s Place in H.B. Rugby

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 205, 13 August 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

Dannevirke’s Place in H.B. Rugby

A Great Sporting Community

CONTRIBUTIONS TO BAY REP. TEAMS.

(By

“Magpie.”)

If you were asked to name the greatest sporting town in Hawke’a Bay you must award Danenvirke the palm. In recent yean the Ruahine ladies hockey team have more than held their own at the annual Dominion tourneys, and the men following the same sport held the premier hockey trophy for country associations against all challenges for more than one season. In addition, the young people of Dannevirke who follow the king of all winter sports—Rugby—were not behind in gaining honours for their town.

Right from the days wheni Dannevirke was the centre of the timber-milling industry football has occupied a prominent place with the sporting life of the community. Many fine players learnt the game in Dannevirke, and in this connection the name of that great all-round athlete, Gus Carlson, comes to mind. Towards the end of the last century Gus gained Hawke’s Bay representative honours, and then he went on to represent the North in the inter-island fixture. But football was not the only game at which this big bushman was adept, for he was in addition a great exponent of catch • as-catch-can wrestling. The writer remembers one New Year’s Day at Masterton where a big Caledonian Sports gathering was a yearly attraction. On this particular day, when Gus Carlson and Harry Sandow commenced the final of the wrestling, rain commenced to fall. For more than an hour both giants struggled and the faster they went the heavier fell the rain. The principals were drenched and so were the hundreds of onlookers. The result was a draw and to this day this great bout is talked of in the Wairarapa. Gus, by the way, has two hefty sons, and both have gained representative honours at football and one of them gained North Island honours in 1928. Bay Representatives.

‘ Prior to the war Dannevirke contributed occasionally players to the Bay representative team, hut following the cessation of hostilities overseas the southern town quickly resumed their favourite winter sport and in 1920 Southern Hawke’s Bay, which included no less than twelve Dannevirke players, ran Northern Hawke’s Bay very closely on a rain-soaked field at Hastings. North won by 6 to 0, and in the Hawke’s Bay team that was selected immediately afterwards were Jack Kirwan, Francis and .Walter Barclay, and Rangi Price, from Dannevirke. In 1921 Dannevirke gained a popular victory over Napier-Hastings in a closescoring game, 12 to 8 if memory

serves me correctly. This game brought into prominence “Snowy” Miller, a fast forward who later played for Celtic in Hastings. In 1922 Dannevirke supplied Jack Kirwan, “Snowy” Miller and Walter Barclay to the Bay fifteen that lifted the Ranfuriy Shield from Wellington. Bill Irvine was also a Dannevirke contribution to the touring team, but he did not play in the game under notice. Then in 1923 Jimmy Walker was an additional recruit to the Bay team from Dannevirke, and what a great player he was! The diminutive Joe Setford learnt his football down there and first gained Bay rep. honours as a Dannevirke nominee. >

In 1925 Louie Paewai and George Nepia represented the Sub-Union, although surprisingly enough the representative fifteen was not outstanding then. This year Dannevirke has already supplied Hagen, Beck, McKay, Grant, Ayres and Peeti to the Hawke’s Bay team and possibly before the season ends the list will be increased.

Fortunate Choice of Administrators.

Hawke’s Bay’s most southern sub-union has been always fortunate in its choice of administrators, and due to careful attention to finance the sub-union to-day has assets in the shape of a ground and appointments valued at considerably more than £3OOO. The only liability is a mortgage of £5OO to the N.Z.R.U. and this will be wiped out in five years’ time. Their secretary, Mr. Harry Glass, has guided the destinies of the sub-union for over 20 years, and he is the record-breaker in this respect in Hawke’s Bay, and the present sound state of the subunion’s finances is a tribute to his careful management. To-day we find Dannevirke a town of some 6000 inhabitants supporting four senior Rugby fifteens, in addition to many other sporting organisations, and bearing in mind its size it is justly entitled to be considered Hawke’s Bay’s greatest sporting town.