A trip down memory lane with the Blues Rugby Club
150 years of the Blues Rugby Club.
The Blues Rugby Club will this weekend celebrate its 150th jubilee. The Tribune takes a trip down memory lane and highlights 10 historical things you may or may not know about the blue-and-black brigade at Biggar St.
The beginning…
A visit to Riverton in 1875 by the Invercagill Football Club (Blues) saw the first organised rugby game played in Southland.
The Blues team travelled to Riverton along Oreti Beach in a drag hired for the day. Each team fielded 19 players with Invercargill captained by C. Kingswell and Riverton by TJ Howell.
The first life member’s legacy lives on…
Robert Galbraith was named as the first life member of the Invercargill Blues Rugby Club in 1887.
But on top of his deeds with Blues, Galbraith was also a significant figure in Southland rugby. Upon retiring the Southland Rugby Union presented Galbraith with 25 pounds as recognition for his tireless work.
Galbraith used that money to donate a shield to the Southland union and the Galbraith Shield was born.
Southland rugby clubs still scrap over that shield today.
The first All Blacks…
Henry Braddon and James O’Donnell become the Invercargill Rugby Club’s first All Blacks when they both lined up for the All Blacks against a Wellington XV on May 22, 1884 before touring Australia that year.
Interestingly they were both listed as an Otago All Blacks.
When Braddon and O’Donnell were selected in 1884 to play for the All Blacks there was no Southland Rugby Union. The Southland Union wasn’t established until 1887.
En route, by train, to join the All Blacks in Wellington, O'Donnell was arrested on a fugitive warrant at Clinton and returned to Invercargill.
Local tradespeople, who were owed money, had taken out the warrant on hearing that O'Donnell was unlikely to return from the All Blacks’ trip to Australia. However, none of the creditors attended the court hearing so he was able to join the team in Wellington as expected.
Both Braddon and O’Donnell stayed in Australia after the All Blacks visit with Braddon having a distinguished commercial and political career.
Braddon was knighted in in 1920.
The club colours…
In the very early days Invercargill played in light blue and white jerseys. But the jerseys were easily dirtied.
Sir Henry Braddon - the club’s first All Black - convinced the committee to adopt blue and black, the colours of his old school, Dulwich College, in England.
The blue and black jerseys remain in 2024.
Another Blues man and his legacy…
Les George become the Blues’ third All Black in 1938 playing seven matches in total including three tests against Australia.
But it was George’s work off the field that may well have been his biggest impact on the sport of rugby. He became a life member of both the Invercargill Rugby Club and Southland Rugby Union.
George spearheaded the development of the playing fields at Oreti Park with the main field - Les George Oval - named in his honour.
Many great rugby contests have been staged at the Les George Oval.
The clubrooms are opened…
In 1956 construction started on the clubrooms at Bigger St with the officially opening taking place on Saturday, April 6, 1957.
The following is an extract from a Southland Rugby Union document that year: “Through the enterprise and enthusiasm of its members, the Invercargill Rugby Club now has one of the finest clubrooms and pavilions in Southland.
“More than 4000-man hours of work were put into the building by club members working on a voluntary basis, and the finished building is a tribute to their keenness and tenacity.
“The building was not merely built with the idea that it should be treated only as a dressing room, but as a social centre and indoor sports club as well.”
The completed building cost 4500 pounds - about the equivalent to $280,000 in 2024.
Club rugby powerhouse…
The Invercargill Blues Rugby Club head the pack in terms of the most Galbraith Shield titles since it was first played for in 1908.
Blues has won the Galbraith Shield 31 times, the first in 1911 and the most recent in 2019.
The closest to Blues is Star with 29 Galbraith Shield, and third behind Blues and Star is Pirates with 12 titles.
Pirates has since combined with Old Boys.
Eight in a row…
Included in Blues’ 31 Galbraith Shield titles is a remarkable eight-year stretch.
From 1987 through to 1994 Blues dominated Southland club rugby given each year it etched its name on the Galbraith Shield at the end of the season.
It was an era when many notable names in Southland rugby lined up for Blues including Simon Culhane, David Henderson, Eion Crossan, Richard Borland, Grant Beardsley, a Phil Johnson.
The south Invercargill general…
One of the best - if not the best - player to come out of the Blues Rugby Club was first five-eighth Simon Culhane.
On test debut for the All Blacks in 1995 Culhane wrote his name into the world record books in terms of points in a test match.
In a World Cup fixture against Japan, he kicked 20 conversions and scored a try for a 45-point haul.
Culhane played nine matches in total for the All Blacks, including three tests.
He also played 100 games for Southland and went on to coach Southland during arguably the province’s most successful era.
Modern day ABs…
Southland’s two most recent All Blacks debutants both came out of the Blues Rugby Club.
Elliot Dixon joined the Blues club after he shifted south from Christchurch. He went on to play for the Stags and Highlanders before the looseforward made his All Black debut in 2016.
Ethan de Groot initially joined the Pirates-Old Boys club after leaving Southland Boys’ High School, but he quickly made the shift to Blues and has been linked with the club ever since.
de Groot made his All Black test debut in 2021 and has played 22 tests to date.
When the loosehead prop missed All Black selection in 2022, days later de Groot got back on the horse, so to speak, by lining up for Blues in a club game against Woodlands at Oreti park.
For this piece, we leaned heavily on the Invercargill Blues Rugby Club’s book titled “A Ton of Time” which was produced for its centennial in 1974. Another book has been produced by Nathan Burdon for the 150th celebrations called Half A Ton More.
Great read!!
Great to read about Blues anniversary (my schoolboy club) and listen to Roar interview with Dave Henderson. Don't forget the Blues Galbraith winning team of the early 1980s - with All Black Steven Pokere at 1st 5 - I think good argument he is Blues best ever player (and maybe Southland's).