The largest crowd in a Wellington club rugby match

As we move into the business end of the 2015 club rugby season, we thought to find out what the record for the largest crowd in a Wellington club rugby match.

The heyday of Wellington club rugby’s popularity was the 1950s, so that was our starting point.
Several thousand people regularly attended matches at the Petone Recreation Ground when All Black fullback Bob Scott joined the club in 1954.

There were famous club matches at Athletic Park in this period that drew crowds of 14,000-15,000, such as University-Petone clashes in 1952, 1954 and 1955 and 1956 and Petone-Onslow in 1955. Similarly, several McBain Shield matches over the years were heaving affairs.

In modern times, it seems the biggest crowds were in the early 2000s when up to 10,000 people descended on the all-new Westpac Stadium to watch the club finals.

Up to several thousand will be expected at this year’s Finals Day at Jerry Collins Stadium on Saturday 1 August.

But to find the biggest crowd of them all, it seems we have to go back further in time to the romantic period of rugby in the 1920s – to 1922 in fact when Poneke and Petone met at Athletic Park in the Senior club championship final.

A record crowd of 16,000 for a non-representative rugby match packed Athletic Park to see the two juggernauts of the time battle it out in the 17th and final match of the season.

Poneke were the defending champions and Petone the challengers. Both teams entered the match on 25 points each on the competition standings so it was winner takes all.

Between them, these two sides had some of Wellington rugby’s famous names in their squads at the time. Surnames such as Tilyard, Shearer, Calcanai and Morris for Poneke and Udy, Corner, Ryan and Nicholls for Petone filled the squadlists.

However, both sides were depleted for the final match, as the Dominion reported in its preview: “Both teams suffer through injuries and absence of players. Petone have had to bring one of their three-quarters up into the forward line, owing to four of their forwards being injured and another, Nankerville, having left for Christchurch. Poneke also have a reconstructed team…B. Algar, who has dislocated his shoulder twice this season, intends to take the field.”

Poneke captain Beet Algar was to be a central figure in the game. The Dominion recorded the incident afterwards. “The game was marred by the most regrettable incident of the club season – the referee ordered the Poneke captain, B. Algar, an ex-international, off the field, on a charge of having kicked at an opponent in the last minutes of play.”

It seems that in a desperate act of cover defence, Algar lashed out with his boot at Petone back and Wellington representative Matt Corner and the referee, Mr H. Leith sent him off.

At the time, Petone were leading what had been a “desperate” and “ragged” struggle 7-5, the halftime score. But Marc Nicholls stepped up and kicked the match-winning penalty to give Petone a 10-5 victory.

The final points table in the 1922 season thus read: Petone 27, Poneke 25, Marist Old Boys 24, University 19, Oriental 18, Berhampore 17, Athletic 16, Selwyn 8, Wellington College Old Boys 6, Welliington FC 2.

The two teams that played in the 1922 Wellington club rugby final were:

Petone: Alb. Parker, Parker, Arthur, Springer, Priest, Ashton (Captain), Thomas, Griffin, Fitzgerald, H.E. Nicholls, Udy, M. Nicholls, Corner, Doc. Nicholls, Ryan, Cowie

Poneke: S. Shearer, Slater, Bowe, McDonald, Calcinai, Parsloe, J. Shearer, King, J. Tilyard, F. Tilyard, Morris, McArthur, B. Algar (Captain), Tunnington, Christopherson

This match also brought to a close the four-year post World War One boom, in which the Wellington representative side was one of the most dominant in the country. In 1919, and after a five-year break, they defended the Ranfurly Shield five times in 1919 and famously took it on tour for the first time. The Shield tenure continued into the 1920, but by the mid-1920s other unions such as Hawke’s Bay taking over Wellington provincial rugby ascendancy.

In 1923, Petone again beat Poneke in the championship round, winning 11-3. But in a twist, Matt Corner was sent off during this match. The following year, electric street lights were turned on in Petone for the first time and Petone went on to win the championship for a third consecutive season.

References

• The Dominion and Evening Post newspapers August 1922
• Griffin, Don and Gallagher, Peter. True blue: the first 100 years of the Petone Rugby Football Club Incorporated, 1885-1985 Petone. The Club, 1985
• Poneke FC. A Willing Band of Youths: the history of the Poneke Football Club. Wellington. Poneke Football Club, 1984
• Photo credit: The Dominion 29 August 1922