50 years of the Billy Wallace Trophy: Part 2

Above: Three consecutive Billy Wallace winners: Andy Leslie (Petone, 1972), John Dougan (Petone, 1973) and Dave Henderson (Wellington FC, 1974). Photo credits to the Dominion and to Rugby Weekly.

Celebrating 50 years of the Billy Wallace Best and Fairest Wellington Premier club rugby competition. The Billy Wallace competition has been contested annually since its inception in 1966. Players in every Premier match are awarded points on a 3, 2 and 1 basis.

Part 2 below profiles the winners between 1971-1975.

1971:
Winner: Paul Tainui
Position:  Outside back
Club: Naenae Old Boys
Best and Fairest points accrued: N/A
About: The first outside back to win the Billy Wallace competition and the first winner from a player in a team that contested the Hardham Cup in the second round. Naenae Old Boys shared the 1971 Hardham Cup with Hutt Old Boys. Tainui was also Naenae Old Boys’ captain, and a prolific points scorer over several seasons. With a few rounds still to play, Tainui became the third player to reach a century of points for the 1971 season, after Jack Seymour (Petone) and Graham Wallis (University). His brother H. Tainui was also first five-eighth for the team. The Rugby Weekly said that “Paul Tainui was his name and scoring was his game.” It also said of Naenae Old Boys (later to merge with Taita and form present day Avalon) that they “were a hard side to beat with its mobile pack, where Ian Taylor and Kelly Kiwha were often starts, and heavy points scorers in the Tainui brothers.”

1972:
Winner: Andy Leslie and Dave Dalton (shared)
Positions:  Both loose forwards
Clubs: Leslie Petone and Dalton Upper Hutt
Best and Fairest points accrued: N/A
About: A tale of two No. 8s, playing in contrasting teams. Leslie captained a Petone side gunning for their sixth straight Jubilee Cup title in 1972, while Dalton played for Upper Hutt who had come dead last in the Hardham Cup the previous year. As it transpired, Petone shared the 1972 Swindale Shield with Wellington and then stumbled to finish third in the Jubilee Cup. Upper Hutt finished ninth of 14 teams in the first round and improved to second in the Hardham Cup. Two notable events took place at Maidstone Park in 1972. First, history was made when Leslie’s Petone played its first ever senior club match there (since 1920). Second, a flash new $200,000 gym, grandstand and squash courts complex was opened. Leslie perhaps would’ve won the 1972 Best & Fairest outright but missed some late season Jubilee Cup games with injury. The Rugby Weekly said that Dalton spearheaded a side where “Upper Hutt’s forwards were mobile and had outstanding loose units.” Of note, Upper Hutt fullback Bill Fergie was the leading club rugby points scorer in 1972 with 149.

1973:
Winner: John Dougan
Position:  First five-eighth
Club: Petone
Best and Fairest points accrued: N/A
About: The 1973 Petone team swept all before it, scoring 620 points in 18 unbeaten matches and taking home both the Swindale Shield and Jubilee Cups. Attacking first five-eighth John Dougan was a key cog in its machine, regularly tearing up opposition backlines and either scoring tries himself or setting them up for those around him. Dougan won the Billy Wallace title in a canter, wrapping the competition up with two matches to spare before joining the All Blacks on their internal New Zealand tour, playing games against the New Zealand Juniors, President’s and NZRU Invitation XVs. Dougan and Petone teammates Ian Stevens and Richard Cleland were involved in this series in Auckland on the day they won the Jubilee Cup in mid-August. At the time, 26 year old Dougan was captain of Wellington and vice-captain of the All Blacks. In 1973 he led Wellington to a 25-16 victory over England but was also part of the All Blacks’ losing team to England, which proved to be the last of his 12 internationals.

1974:
Winner: Dave Henderson
Position: Halfback
Club: Wellington FC
Best and Fairest points accrued: 16
About: Wellington Axemen halfback Dave Henderson played 92 games for the Wellington representative team between 1971-79 His battles with Petone halfback Ian Stevens, who played 112 matches for the Wellington provincial side between 1967-76, were legendary. Henderson won their 1974 season-long battle by winning the Best & Fairest competition by one point to second placed Bernard Thomas of Naenae Old Boys and with Onslow captain Kevin Eagar just behind in third. But Stevens won their head-to-head in the Jubilee Cup final between Wellington and Petone. Wellington had lost inspirational skipper Graham Williams the previous week to an ear injury forcing him to miss the final. In fact, during the week, Williams had abruptly retired and then unretired in the space of five days. Henderson stepped up as captain. But Stevens scored one of three tries and was the Player of the Day in a one-sided 11-3 win. Petone’s dominance was such, having won seven of the past eight Jubilee Cups that officials looked at changing the structure of the competition to make it more exciting.

1975:
Winner: Don Cederwall
Position: First five-eighth
Club: Poneke
Best and Fairest points accrued: 18
About: The 1975 Best & Fairest competition was one of the most thrilling yet, decided on the final afternoon of the season. Poneke upset Petone 11-9 to win the Jubilee Cup and captain and first five-eighth Don Cederwall was awarded 3 points from the game and an outright win in the competition over his nearest rival, Ories Fullback Clive Currie. Cederwall stormed through the pack to win. For much of the season it was his younger brother, Athletic fullback Brian Cederwall, who had set the pace. Winner Don Cederwall finished on 18 points, ahead of Brian Cederwall, Currie and MSP flanker Paul Quinn all on 16 and Petone halfback Ian Stevens on 15. Cederwall was awarded the Player of the Final “because of the control and influence he exerted in the inside backs with [teammate and halfback Gerald] Arthurs.” He sealed the upset win with a dropped goal with 10 minutes to play. He also became the first Poneke man to win the competition, named after another former Poneke player.

Part 3 covering 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 to come...