Legends of the Jubilee Cup: Ken Gray

Any ‘greatest’ Wellington XV would include the name Ken Gray as one of the first picks, and probably as captain as well.

It is fitting then that this weekend’s feature commentary match on Te Upoko at 1161AM is the fourth annual fixture for the Ken Gray Cup between home team Paremata-Plimmerton and Petone at Ngatitoa Domain.

Gray was a versatile prop, who started rugby life as a lock (until 1961) and played over a century of matches for Wellington and 24 Tests and 50 matches for the All Blacks between 1963-69. At 99kg and 1.90cm, Gray was big for that era and he was a no-nonsense player and leader of men on the field and a role model and popular figure off it.

He led Wellington to many famous victories, none more so than the twin wins in 1965 and 1966 against the touring Springboks and British and Irish Lions.

1966 was a vintage year for Wellington rugby and he captained the team that beat the Lions 20-6 and to a season where they lost just one match, away to Canterbury. Gray’s Lions won all four matches on their southern tour for the first time since 1930 and beat (mid-1960s) powerhouses Auckland and Taranaki twice each. The climax of that season was a 20-6 win over new Ranfurly Shield holders Hawke's Bay. Both Gray and fullback Mick Williment, who played for the University club, passed 100 games for Wellington.

Not a bad rugby resume considering he never played for the Wellington College First XV at school.

Leaving the Wellington College second XV he joined the Paremata club near his family’s farm in Pauatahanui, and it was from there 50 years ago this winter that he was selected to play for Wellington B from that club in 1958.

Paremata merged with Plimmerton in 1959 to form today’s Premier club based at Ngatitoa Domain.

Gray subsequently moved to Petone and played for that famous club for over a decade, as well as for Wellington and for the All Blacks during this time.

Petone won the famous Jubilee Cup on five consecutive occasions between 1967-71, becoming the first club in the competition’s history that stretched back to 1880 to achieve this feat. Gray was captain of the side for the first three of these seasons. Under coach Ian Upston, who also coached Wellington representative teams in the 1960s, Petone was to keep dominating Wellington club rugby through to the 1970s.

Taking a political stand, he opted out of making himself available for the All Blacks 1970 of South Africa and hung up his boots.

After retiring, he entered local body politics and was a Hutt County Councillor in 1971, became a Porirua City Councillor in 1973 and was in a Wellington Regional Councillor for many years. In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, Gray was awarded an MBE, for services to local body affairs.

In 1992 Gray was selected as the Labour candidate for Western Hutt to run for parliament in the 1993 election, but he died before the election in November 1992.

His legacy lives on at Petone with the club’s Ken Gray Academy that was formed in 1996. One of its founders was another long-serving Wellington and Petone prop, Gareth Head who passed away the following year.

The annual First XV traditional match between Wellington College and St Pat’s Silverstream is for the Ken Gray Trophy.

The Ken Gray Cup was first played for in 2015, with Petone winning 61-11. Petone retained the Ken Gray Cup in 2016 and 2017 with 36-24 and 38-12 wins respectively.

In their opening matches of 2018, Petone was beaten on the bell by Northern United, 20-22 and Paremata-Plimmerton went down to Oriental-Rongotai 3-48.

Saturday’s Ken Gray Cup and Swindale Shield round two match is being called by Gordon Noble-Campbell and Adam Julian and is live on Te Upoko on 1161AM from 2.45pm.

Photo credit: K. F. Gray. Crown Studios Ltd :Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-207871-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22910142