NEW PRESIDENT OF N.Z.R.F.U.

Southland Times, Issue 23180, 22 April 1937, Page 6

NEW PRESIDENT OF N.Z.R.F.U.

Mr R. T. Meredith Elected LONG CONNECTION WITH SPORT INTEREST TAKEN IN MANY BRANCHES (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, April 21. Mr R. T. Meredith, a former president of the Southland Rugby Football Union and at present a member of the Management Committee, was today elected president of the New Zealand *Union. Mr R. T. Meredith has had a long association with amateur sport in Southland. As a member of the Waikiwi Rugby Football Club in 1914 he first secured a seat on the management comniittee of the Southland Rugby Union, and except for a break of three years, from 1926 to 1928 (inclusive), he has been a member continuously ever since. He was elected president in 1922 and occupied the office for four years, during which term he was prominent in organizing the union’s finances and liquidating a big liability incurred with the expenditure of £7OOO on the new grandstand at Rugby Park. In 1925, the last year of his presidency, he was one of the leading Rugby men responsible for the launching and conduct of the “All Gold” Art Union, which raised the sum of £30,000 (gross). This result exceeded the expectations of the art union committee, and it is a tribute to their foresight that the members sponsored the idea of a Southland

Amateur Sports Trust to administer the funds, and thus make available for all time money for amateur sport in Southland. The trust eventually was set up, and one of its most important decisions was to take over the liabilities of the Southland Rugby Union, about £9OOO, and thus enable the union to carry on. Mr Meredith is the chairman of that trust. Today the funds amount to approximately £20,000, and practically all amateur sports bodies in Southland are benefiting from them. While Rugby has occupied the most prominent place in Mr Meredith’s sporting activities, there are few sports which have not enjoyed the benefit of his association. He is a past president of the Southland Bowling Centre, the Southland Cricket Association, the Southland Football Association and the Northend Bowling Club. He was one of the founders of the Southland Wrestling Association, and its first president, a member of the Southland Boxing Association, and a member and judge of the Invercargill Amateur Athletic Association. To the game of cricket in Southland Mr Meredith gave much time and advice in the few years he was actively associated with its administration. A few years ago when the Southland Cricket Association was reorganized, he consented to accept the office of president, and in his first year of office he succeeded in achieving what many before him had failed to establish—the introduction of a professional cricket coach to Southland. He assisted the association in many ways, and today it is probably on a sounder footing than ever in its history. His services in the interest of amateur athletics have extended over many years, and as a judge of foot racing he was considered by officials and competitors to be in the first rank. Mr Meredith’s active participation in sport is nowadays confined to a game of bowls. He has represented Southland against Otago and teams from overseas, and in recent years has performed prominently in club competitions and in tournaments. His successes include wins at the Alexandra tournament. He has won the Waihopai Club’s pairs championship, and three seasons ago was runner-up in both the champion of champions pairs event and the Mayor’s pairs. Mr Meredith is a partner in the legal firm of Russell, Son and Meredith. Mr Meredith is the fifth Southland representative to gain the honour of president of the New Zealand Rugby Union. In 1901, 10 years after the formation of the New Zealand Union, the late Hon. A. F. Hawke was elected president; in 1910 the late Mr Robert Galbraith (donor of the Galbraith Shield) was elected, and in 1922 Mr A. J. Geddes was accorded the honour. Southland’s fourth president was Mr S. S. Dean, who, while not a Southlander, has acted as Southland’s resident delegate on the New Zealand Rugby Union at Wellington for many years. Mr Dean also has been chairman of the management committee of the New Zealand Urpon for some time past.