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Nelson celebrates birth of Kiwi rugby

Tuesday 20 September 2011, 7:26PM

By Rugby World Cup 2011

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The Nelson College team went the whole hog for the re-enactment
The Nelson College team went the whole hog for the re-enactment Credit: Rugby World Cup 2011

NELSON

New Zealand and rugby are as synonymous as bacon and eggs because in 1870 Charles Monro returned south from studying in England with a love of the game, some oval-shaped balls and a rule book.

It was in his hometown of Nelson where he then persuaded the recently established football club and his former school to play a match - the first on New Zealand soil.

On Tuesday the city of Nelson celebrated being the birthplace of rugby in New Zealand, by re-enacting that first match.

Teams from Nelson College and Nelson Rugby Football Club returned to the site of the original match at the city’s Botanical Gardens replete in Victorian jerseys, knickerbockers and caps, to replay the match held on 14 May 1870.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us,” Nelson College headmaster Gary O’Shea said. “We will do it again, but not in my tenure and never this big or with this level of interest.

“The decision was made to go ahead with the enactment a year-and-a-half ago and it has been a logistical nightmare at times, but well worth the effort.”

No hacking allowed

The match was 18-a-side and featured rudimentary scrums, lineouts, rucks and mauls.

It was mainly a kicking game as passing was originally frowned upon and contact was expected, although there was no hacking allowed in the re-enactment - much to the relief of the players.

“It made a difference not being able to pick the ball up, but in the second half we were able to throw the ball around,” Nelson Rugby Club re-enactment chairman Jack McNab said. “But the boys all enjoyed it and have smiles on their faces.”

In the 1870 match Monro played for the football club and also refereed the match.

It was no surprise that his team won, two goals to nil, but the match had little impact, with only about 200 spectators and no reports in the local newspapers.

This week the football club team won again, three goals to one after two 20-minute halves, but there were about 10,000 spectators.

Treasured history

“Both the college and the club wanted the community and our boys to be part of this match,” O’Shea said.

“We wanted to mark something that is an important part of our heritage and to treasure the history of us being the first school to play rugby in New Zealand.”

Prior to kick-off there was a mass haka of 1,500 students from the college on the steps of Nelson Cathedral before they walked to the Botanical Gardens for the match.

“You could feel everyone’s presence,” Nelson College Maori deputy head boy Te Wera Mihaere said after leading the haka.

After that match in 1870 the club and college met on a regular basis and Monro continued playing for Nelson Rugby Football Club - as it was renamed - and later took a team to Wellington to play in the inaugural match in New Zealand’s capital.

He died in 1933 at age 82 after witnessing New Zealand's emergence in the rugby world.

“I don’t think he would have been surprised,” O’Shea said.

“It was the perfect game for the pioneer man. There was nothing to do in winter and this was a real physical game that appealed to them.”