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On Saturday I rolled on in Pukekohe and waved bye-bye to the Ranfurly Shield. Hawkes Bay were deserving winners and the we (Counties) were lucky to be in a position to win the match at the death, as such another chapter in Counties history has come to and end.
We don’t mind Hawkes Bay taking it home with them, we defended it six times over nearly 12 months, and we loved it well while it was here.
Two full on street parades when the team brought it home, after winning it off none other than Hawkes Bay, then a week of visiting the smaller communities and schools.
And the games, oh the games! Matches that would usually draw 2000-3000, saw 12,000-15,000 turn out. Counties played some fantastic rugby and good folk of the province loved every moment of it.
All New Zealand followers on The Roar will be familiar with the “log of wood” or just “the log” and some will have special shield memories themselves and most serious rugby followers in Australia and South Africa would, at least, know of it.
But for those who don’t, the Ranfurly Shield is a 110 year trophy with a fantastic history and a source of strength for New Zealand rugby, especially before it all went professional.
To begin with, Auckland who had the best record in 1902, were awarded the shield.
From 1902 onward the the rules to win the shield have remained simple. The holder would put it up for grabs when they played at home.
If the challenger wins, then the losing holders captain would present it to the winning captain on the field.
The first challenge was by Wellington in 1904 and the shield changed hands in that first match.
It wasn’t a really big deal in 1904, but in the 1920s Hawkes Bay won it for the first time and after what is still considered one of the great shield eras, the shield was firmly established as the most sought after trophy in New Zealand rugby.
‘Shield rugby’ was always considered to be as near Test match intensity outside of the international game and any All Black team would have a heavy weighting of players from team that hung on to the log for any length of time.
Often good players, All Blacks, would be remembered more for being a key member of a successful shield team than playing for New Zealand.
Your much loved ex-coach Robbie Deans was one, a key member of Grizz Wyllies Canterbury shield team of 82-85. And some All Blacks would rate their shield experience as the highlight of their career, over All Black selection.
Prior to 1976, New Zealand had no national competition, rather, the domestic rugby scene was a hodgepodge of home and away games, traditional rivalries and inter-provincial trophies.
The draw was decided early in the season at NZRFU headquarters. In what was known as the “woolsale”, delegates from the respecive provinces would argue over who should play who and when, with things like lambing in Southland and calving in Taranaki and Waikato having a very real influence on the scheduling of “big” games.
The only national competition was the Ranfurly shield. But being the best team in the land didn’t mean you held it, or even got a challenge. Even if you did have a challenge scheduled, another team may have stolen it away the week before your game!
After 1976, when the National Provincial Championship (NPC) was born the shield remained the number one prize in domestic rugby undisputed for a number of years.
But as the rich got stronger, mainly Auckland and Canterbury, it lost some lustre, as it didn’t seem as if the Hawkes Bays or Southlands of this world would ever have the resources to wrestle it off the big boys.
Professional rugby, if anything has helped the shield.
With the All Blacks out of the NPC, and Super Rugby players spread around the provinces a bit more, in recent years Taranaki, Southland, Otago, Hawkes Bay and Counties have all won it and these unions have loved there time, be short or not with the shield.
Packed out stadiums of fans watching local, and some imported, heroes play while the shield sat on the sideline, waiting for the winning captain. In these areas, bringing home the shield, means plenty, just like it used too.
I don’t know why it was important to me, a lifelong rugby fan, apart from it has just always been a big deal from my earliest rugby memories.
I guess the currency is history.
I have read some articles and comments on The Roar expressing dissatisfaction around Australia’s new domestic competition, the NRC.
Is really hard to feel an affinity with any new sporting entity, that feeling is still around in some degree in New Zealand regarding Super Rugby.
Most fans in Tauranga and Pukekohe find it easier to support Bay of Plenty or Counties, but we know Super Rugby is the big show and the Chiefs are our team. But that is changing, kids now are growing up, having followed the Chiefs all their short lives and don’t have the preconceptions of more… mature fans.
My advice to Australian rugby fans with regard to the NRC. If your 30+ maybe it will never “ring your bell”, but this is an investment, short term- a pathway for player development and longer term, as a standalone competition that has its own merit.
It may take 20-25 years, but if this competition is running in 2040, it will have the richness of tradition and spice of rivalries.
The most historic trophy in New Zealand, the Ranfurly Shield, was regarded as “a nuisance and detrimental to the sport” in the beginning, but thankfully rugby people of the day didn’t stick it in a cupboard and forget it. 20 years later, ‘Shield rugby’ as we know it had grown from those early seeds into a mighty oak.
The same can happen in with the NRC.
Perhaps your role as rugby supporters, is to put aside your personal misgivings and play a part in nurturing its growth. Maybe you won’t live to see it in 30-40 years as a backbone of Australian rugby and an anticipated competition each season, but you would have played a part its success.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.