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The Rugby Club Rising From the Ashes

By Scotty Stevenson
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Club rugby was once an essential part of New Zealand’s rural life, but in the professional age its prominence has been in sharp decline. So what happens when one of the smallest and most remarkable clubs in the country watches its old hall burn down? It rediscovers its importance, and its people. Scotty Stevenson writes about a special night for Glenmark. 

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The Omihi Hall was nothing spectacular, just an old wooden building by the side of State Highway One, between Waipara and Cheviot. Next to it was a rugby field, hidden behind a coniferous windbreak, and in front of it was a small memorial which stood as a reminder to anyone who happened to stop by that no small corner of New Zealand was immune to the depravity of those two world wars.

That was it really. That – and a small country school – was all there was to the place. Those who regularly took this road through the parched lands of North Canterbury would know that in the case of Omihi, you really could blink and miss it.

Yet that hall, and that field, was home to one of the most famous rugby clubs in New Zealand – a club once listed by The Times as one of the thirteen modern wonders of the sporting world. The club’s name was Glenmark. It still is.

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Earlier this year, the Omihi Hall, and almost every piece of club memorabilia inside it, was destroyed by fire. Two days after the blaze, the Glenmark club still held its annual dinner. They pitched their marquee on the field at the Waipara Domain, roasted lamb and roasted each other, and drank big bottles of Speights and local Waipara sparkling. They talked about the fire, mostly, but as club President Andrew Evans remarked at the time, “it was better than everyone talking about the drought.” Dry humour from the dry lands.

The message was simple: you don’t need a hall to have a club. All you need is a community.

On Friday, that community came together again. This time the venue was the Hornby Workingmen’s Club, a sprawling barn on the outskirts of Christchurch built for bingo nights, buffets and senior citizen dancing. More than 400 people – most as white as a hotel bed sheet – poured into the club’s upstairs sports hall for a dinner to raise money for the rebuilding of the Omihi Hall. Among them were seven of the club’s ten All Blacks.

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Grizz Wylie was there, his white handlebar moustache drooping like a silver willow. He took the stage with that other grey headed figure of Canterbury folklore Todd Blackadder. They talked about their time in the club. Grizz belched into the microphone, Blackadder reminisced on his childhood and the joyful simplicity of country rugby, both men connected through the generations by the red and black of Canterbury and the blue and gold of Glenmark.

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Big Graeme Higginson was there and so was Andy Jeffard. Both played for the All Blacks at Lancaster Park against the Springboks in 1981, before that whole damned tour went to hell. Higginson stands alone as perhaps the only All Black to be sent from the field and then recalled by the referee after some gentle persuasion from the opposition captain.

Jeffard talked of his time in Tokomaru Bay – he made the All Blacks from the East Coast, after playing a number of seasons in Canterbury. He and the great George Nepia remain the only two men to be selected for the national side while playing for the East Coast union. Jeffard is 62 now but looks at least twenty years younger that that. He spoke of his primary school days and seemed younger still. “The Maori kids called us white maggots,” he said, laughing. The white maggots had a name for the Maori kids, too.

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Andy Earl was there as well. Still as big as a tree and still with his wiry slug and his shock of unkempt hair and his hands as big as Christmas hams. Earl was famous for his three-hour round trips for Canterbury trainings, and for his wee dust up at Llanelli’s Stradey Park Hotel. Earl emerged from that particular fracas victorious. Grizz Wylie was the All Blacks coach then. The plea was self defence.

Earl played just 14 tests for the All Blacks in six seasons, but he epitomised the work ethic of the old school Canterbury flanker. Blackadder, Reuben Thorne, Richie McCaw – there’s a little bit of Andy Earl about all of them.

Also on the stage was Bruce Deans, brother of Robbie. He was a shock call-up for the 1987 Rugby World Cup All Blacks and played not a single minute of the tournament. “It was my job to push the other guys and to be the best team man I could be,” he said, without a hint of resentment, and with more than a bit of pride. The Deans family is to Glenmark what the Clarke family is to Kereone. Bruce Deans is to enthusiasm for public speaking what Rammstein is to silence.

That left one Richard Loe to do most of the talking. Higginson said “Are you sure you want to give him the microphone? How long have you got?” Loe laughed him off and emptied a Steinlager can of most of its contents before duly talking about being a part of such a special club. His cousin Stu sat in the front row. That is, of course, where any self respecting Loe belongs.

Loe’s lengthy All Blacks career was perhaps most remarkable for the fact he was invariably assaulted in almost every game he played. Who could forget Wallaby Paul Carozza attempting to smash Loe’s elbow with his nose? Or Greg Cooper’s attempt to dislocate Loe’s finger with his eye socket? It seemed remarkable that Loe had managed to finish his career in one piece. One thing is for certain: if Loe had been ordered off the field, no opposition captain would come to his aid.

On the big screen behind the stage, was a projection of an extraordinary photo. It was the 1970 Glenmark under-11 team. Richard Loe was there, as was Stu. Craig Green was there, as were the Deans brothers. Andy Earl was there too. That team scored 220 points that season and conceded just three – a single try, scored by Bruce Deans, who had been asked to play for the other team that day.

Five future All Blacks from one under-11 team from a tiny country club called Glenmark – The club that four hundred people turned up for last Friday night so it could once again build a place to call its own.

It may have lost a few memories and a fine old building in that fire, but its legacy remains intact.

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Jon 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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