How the most famous All Blacks jersey came to be owned by an Englishman and the special tribute planned for 1905 “Originals”
The All Blacks are to pay homage to their country’s most famous rugby jersey which Saracens owner Nigel Wray paid £180,000 to buy and is on display at Twickenham’s World Rugby Museum in the build-up to Saturday’s test with England.
Wray has temporarily loaned the jersey Dave Gallaher, captain of the legendary 1905 “Originals” wore in the defeat by Wales – the only loss on that 35 match tour – to the museum. Wray outbid five New Zealanders in 2015 to own the jersey which is part of his extensive sporting memorabilia collection that includes the jersey Jonah Lomu wore when destroying England in the 1995 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town.
The All Blacks will travel from their Lensbury base in nearby Teddington to the museum to see the special display marking the England v New Zealand match which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, a conflict that claimed the life of Gallaher, who is All Black No. 97.
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Despite being exempt from conscription because of his age, Gallaher enlisted and was serving as a company sergeant major when he died aged 43 from his wounds at Passchendaele after the action at Gravenstafel Spur in 1917.
Wray told RugbyPass: “ The Dave Gallaher jersey is now at the museum and is the one from the Wales game which is famous for the “was it a try?” by Bob Deans for the All Blacks. I regard Gallaher as a genuine hero because he falsified his age to enlist so he could fight in World War One after the death of one of his brothers.
“I also have Jonah Lomu’s jersey which he wore while running over England in 1995 and a couple of weeks before Jonah died I had breakfast with him and said to him “ Jonah, I have something to show you” and walked towards him with the Dave Gallaher jersey. That big man retreated before the jersey and said “ I think I know what that is”. That tells you about why the All Blacks are so good because they respect their past so much. Jonah took a selfie with the jersey and that is also at the museum.
“The All Blacks are going to see the jersey because Gallaher was the father of All Black rugby. On that 1905 tour they only brought one set of jerseys and had to have another set made during the tour. I bid for the jersey against five New Zealanders and I am surprised I got it because it is arguably the most important jersey in New Zealand sport.”
Gallaher was in the Ponsonby side which won the Auckland senior championship in 1897 and between 1896 and 1909 he played in 26 representative matches for Auckland. He was in the side which played the first Ranfurly Shield match against Wellington. Because of his service in the Boer War, as a corporal in the Mounted Rifles, he missed all of the 1901-02 seasons in New Zealand.
The official history of the All Blacks, states that in 1905,on the boat trip to Britain, Gallaher resigned his post as captain along with his vice captain. “Despite the protests of team manager George Dixon that the New Zealand appointments of both men could not be challenged, a vote was held among the players which confirmed the two leaders even though the result was far from unanimous.”
A legacy of the England v New Zealand match staged at Crystal Palace on the 1905 tour is the whistle carried by the referee, Gil Evans, which was used to start the opening game of the first seven Rugby World Cup tournaments. Evans passed it on to another Welsh referee, Albert Freethy, who used it for the 1924 Olympic Games final in Paris that saw the United States beat France. In 1925 it was used to send All Black forward Cyril Brownlie off during their 17-11 victory over England at Twickenham sealing his place in history as the first player to be dismissed. It was later presented to All Black Invincibles manager Stan Dean, who gave it one of the founders of the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North, John Sinclair, in 1969.
Watch: All Blacks speak following victory over Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Dont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
33 Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
2 Go to commentsI don’t think this has been ventilated enough. Discuss. Perhaps the lessons in all of this is that, in the game of life, one should do all the talking on the field of play. And in the game of rugby, what’s said on the field - stays on the field. Take care of yourselves. And each other.
33 Go to commentsLow skills compared to the Junior ABs. The ball handling and ball retention of the SAns in particular was utterly woeful. The latter will be better on home turf.
2 Go to comments1. Heard this so often over the yrs. One Warriors CEO even claimed future kids wouldnt know which came first, the ABs or the Warriors. Always keen to talk themselves up. 2. That fella Barakat who says he will drop HBHS sponsorship because HBHS quite rightly wants its players to focus on rugby is an odd fit as a sponsor in the first place. As a recruitment official for the Warriors he seems to regard his sponsorship as a paid licence to help to select players from HBHS for the league side. Maybe he should find a league school to fund.
1 Go to commentsNZ U20s are the team to beat this year for sure. And how nice after so long that NZRFU is actually taking this seriously. For far too long they have been sending woefully coached and woefully underprepared teams to the U20 WCs. That Wrampling boy is a star in the making.
2 Go to commentsI agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
4 Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
1 Go to commentsI still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
2 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
33 Go to commentsIt could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
33 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
33 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
33 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
33 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to comments