MOASCAR CUP PLINTH LOST IN THE ’QUAKE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1931, Page 13

MOASCAR CUP PLINTH LOST IN THE ’QUAKE.

WAS HISTORIC RECORD, WITH NAMES OF WINNERS (Special to the “ Star.”) PALMERSTON NORTH, June 20. The earthquake in Hawke’s Bay was responsible for the destruction of the plinth of the Moascar Cup—the premier secondary school Rugby trophy of the Dominion—and with it went the original record of the laurel holders over a period of 3^ears. “It is not the loss of the record that is to be regretted, for that can easily be replaced, but the plinth was made frqm the propeller of an aeroplane used in the Great War and had associated with it all the glorious history of the cup itself,” stated the manager of the Te Aute Native College football team in announcing the news to a reporter. The trophy having been won again by Te Aute last 3’ear, he said, the plinth had been forwarded to a Napier jeweller to have the usual silver shield record inscribed on it when the ’quake occurred and fire destroyed the premises wherein it was housed—thus severing a link in the history connected with the Moascar Cup. The trophy, taking its name from a military camp, was won by the New Zealand Mounted Brigade in Egypt, eventually being presented to the secondary schools of the Dominion for competition.

The Cup Holders. In 1920 the first matches for the cup were played, and resulted in the Christchurch Boys’ High School eliminating the opposition from all quarters of the Island and holding the trophy until, in 1922, Auckland Grammar succeeded in taking it to the Queen City. Palmerston North had, on several occasions, been close to securing the cup, and it will be recalled that its 1920 team won the North Island elimination series only to be defeated by Christchurch Boys’ High, the South Island winners, by a force-down to nil during the final. In that memorable game the scoreboard was a blank at the end of the spells, and extra time was played to discover the first holders of the trophy.