The little club that's had a big impact - bigger than rugby
“You think at times if Tokanui didn’t have the rugby club it would be a massive hole."
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There’s been some touch and go moments over the past 100 years.
Phil Golden remembers a time in the 1990s when amalgamation talks were floated at the Tokanui Rugby Club.
Things also looked pretty bleak about six years ago when the club didn’t have a president’s grade team and its senior team was close to folding.
When Golden reflects, he says getting through those tough moments and fending off merger talks is probably bigger than just rugby.
The Tokanui Rugby Club is - in some part - the heartbeat of the small rural town located on the Southern Scenic Route about 55 km east of Invercargill.
“You think at times if Tokanui didn’t have the rugby club it would be a massive hole,” Golden - who joined the club in 1979 straight out of school - says.
“About five or six years ago we were struggling hugely. We were only getting six or seven at training… We had a couple years at the bottom of Division Two, but we were still playing rugby and you’ve still got a chance of working your way back.
“It probably took a couple of years and all of a sudden your away again.”
“In the 90s we were really struggling, and we looked at amalgamating with teams, but you look back now and think, ‘thank Christ we didn’t’.”
Tokanui is now not just surviving, but it is thriving.
This weekend the Tokanui Rugby Club will celebrate its centennial. It will do so with an encouraging amount of players and interest in the club.
The club has junior teams, a President’s grade team, and the now Division One senior team is getting 30 players to trainings.
Tokanui is two wins from two outings to date in that competition.
“To have a senior team for 100 years is pretty bloody good,” Golden - who is the president of the centennial committee - says about the milestone.
It should be pointed out, Tokanui hasn’t simply reached 100 years. The country club has played a significant role in the wider landscape of Southland rugby.
Particularly through the 1970s and 1980s.
Probably the club’s biggest moment came in 1978 when it joined the town competition and won the Galbraith Shield for the first and only time.
The following year the team went on a trip to Hawaii - a far removed spot from Tokanui.
That triumphant Tokanui team included many legends of Southland rugby.
Most notably Gerald Dermody who played 120 games for Southland. Others in the team included hooker Lex Chisholm and fullback Jeff Gardiner.
In Rata Smith and Steven Hayes they continued the tradition of Tokanui players playing key roles in the maroon Southland jersey during the late 1980s, early 1990s.
There’s some brilliant tales of the time when tighthead prop Hayes went up against an all All Black front row in Craig Dowd, Sean Fitzpatrick, Olo Brown and they couldn’t shift him at scrum time.
Of course, off the field Hayes also brought plenty to teams through his musical talents.
Although it’s probably another Hayes at Tokanui who has flew the club’s flag most proudly.
Carol Hayes was part of the first New Zealand women’s rugby team named in 1989. They played against California Grizzlies.
She was part of the New Zealand setup through to 1993, although that only equated to six caps.
Hayes was one of the pioneers who started paving a path where women’s rugby now is at a point where some players make a living from it.
Many tales attached to the Tokanui Rugby Club are likely to be rolled out over the coming three days.
The 100th celebrations will start with an official function at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill on Friday night.
About 240 people are expected to attend. Matt Chisholm and Amy du Plessis will be the guest speakers.
Golden says about 300 are booked for Saturday’s gathering at the Tokanui Rugby Club where junior and senior games will be played.
The reality he says is the number at the club on Saturday could be up around 450 when you include opposition supporters and others you may turn up.
To wrap up proceedings on Sunday a women’s game and golden oldies fixtures are likely to be played, with centennial photos also to be taken.
It’s been a year in the making for the hard-working organising committee to put on such an event.
The reality though its actually been 100 years in the making for a small club with a big heart.
Congratulations Tokanui. Enjoy the weekend.