90 years of Raetihi Rugby

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 402, 3 September 1991, Page 11

90 years of Raetihi Rugby

The Raetihi Rugby Club celebrates 90 years of rugby this weekerid. t On Saturday 7 F September celebration |erugby games start at p 2pm with a Primary RSchool Boys' game. At ■ipm the Ruapehu ColRege team plays a f Raetihi selection team ' and at 2.30pm1 the Raetihi Seniors play Taumarunui Athletic. On Sunday 8 September the Raetihi Women take to the field aiming to bcat the Ohakune women's team (at

12pm). At 1.15pm the Raetihi and Ohakune Golden Oldies take to the paddock. The weekend's programme: Friday 7.30pm at the Clubrooms - Registration evening. 9pm - Mayor Garrick Workman officially opens the celebrations and a supper foliows. Tickets will be issued for all functions. (registration fee $15.00 which helps offset the administration costs of the Jubilce and gives a permanent record of

members past and present to reduce research time in locating members for future celebrations). The fee is payable by anyone who is a past-member of the Club as a player or committee member. A non-member spouse is not required to pay the fee. Saturday 7 September: Following the games (as above), after-match function, 4pm at the clubrooms. Prizegiving Cabaret, 8pm at the Raetihi Pri-

mary School Hall. $30 per person, includes continuous supper and all refreshments. Popular band "Ivory" will provide dance music. No door saies. 9pm - prizegiving Raetihi women and seniors teams. Guest Spcaker: Colin Meads. Sunday 8 September: After-match at 2.30 pm, Hangi at $5.00. Official closing, by Mayor Garrick Workman at 4pm. Please note: there is

no need to register if attending the Cabaret only. Tickets must be bought by Wednesday 4 September (that's tomorrow!) for catering planning purposes. Enquiries should be made to Ronnie Jensen 54 171 or Erana Wilson 54 946. Dress jerseys for sale at $67 each; some chairs are available for sponsorship at $100 each including named plaque on the chair.

It would be certain that the first Raetihi game of rugby football - vastly different though it was from the game we know today - took place in 1896. The pupils of Raetihi School, numbering about 12, met in a room of Pikes Boarding House in Seddon Street, and their teacher was a Mr Tomkins who was "quite keen" on the game.

It was a one room school built on the corner of Ward Street and Ranfurly Terrace. There was no playground and the youngsters played their first game of football in a clearing among the prickles and tree stumps. The ball was the heart of a Prince of Wales fern. From the memoirs of the late Joseph Pierce Punch: "A football match was played in

1901 between Raetihi and Karioi on Sutherlands clearing (now owned by Gordon Chan) three miles from Raetihi on the Parapara Rd. I was just a boy and started walking with Billy Fookes and at halfway was beginning to tire. The team came riding along and I remember one of its players saying 'if everyone was as keen as this boy we'd have no trouble in

raising a team.' However I jumped on behind Tommy Anthony and rode the rest of the way. "It woud be in the year 1901, that the Raetihi Football Club was formed. Play later moved to a natural bush clearing behind Pakihi on the banks of the Mangawhero River, callcd the Pakihi Clearing. Up until the year 1908, play was more or less 'Rafferty Rules,' but

after that time 'Union Rules' were adopted. "Around the year 1910 play shifted to the Raetihi Showgrounds which had recently been stumped, large unfilled holes having been left behind." ("I remember Joe Punch collaring a huge Maori and both players being almost drowned in a hole. Gradually the ground was improved and games played against a Maori team from the Wanganui River called the 'Blackberries'.") Author unknown.