PREMIER DEVELOPMENT MEN'S TROPHIES 

George Nicholson was a man who devoted his life to rugby and, since he lived past his 90th birthday, that was a lot of time to give to the game.

He played 39 matches, including four tests, for New Zealand between 1903 and 1907, and 30 matches for Auckland between 1901 and 1909. He played in New Zealand’s first-ever test, at Sydney in 1903, and the first at home (v Great Britain in 1904). His final two tests were played in Australia in 1907, when he joined the team midway through the tour after injuries had struck hard.

Nicholson was one of a group of five who drew up ‘The Auckland Rules’ – amendments to the game designed to provide a better spectacle that might rival league. They did their work so well that the four amendments were all eventually adopted into the general laws of the game, but an indication of how far they were ahead of their time comes when you realise the last (a prohibition on kicking to touch on the full, from outside one’s 25) was only added in 1968.

Nicholson built a formidable empire at Ponsonby. The results were immediate and overwhelming; between 1916 and 1930 Ponsonby won everything again and again. In 1933, Auckland’s Jubilee Year, the published book included a list of grade winners; Ponsonby had won 79 titles in the 50 years; Grafton, the next best, had 20. How much of that was due to Nicholson can be seen from that 15-year burst.

More than repeat grade winners, what could be called the ‘Ponsonby Way’, as taught by Nicholson, was passed down through the generations by coaches who learned it from the master – and much of it is still in use today, well over a century after ‘Long Nick’ joined the club. His contribution to the game was massive, as his Life Memberships of Ponsonby (1914), the ARFU (1923) and the Auckland Rugby Referees Association (1924) show.

It is old, and the reason for the cup being presented in the first place goes all the way back to when Auckland rugby staged all its matches, except those involving North Shore, at Alexandra Park. The owner of the ground was the Auckland Electric Tramways Company; their depot and shed was right at the park, which made it an ideal place for a large sporting venue; it accommodated ten playing fields for rugby, and all were used every week. And, as landlords, they didn’t do badly when it came to collecting their percentage of the gate since Auckland rugby drew crowds to both club and rep fixtures.

The Tramways Company bought a section of William Potter’s large farm in 1887, using it to provide a home for the draught horses that pulled the old trams. They retained ownership until 1912, when it was bought by the Auckland Trotting Club; with the increase in electrified lines, the horses were no longer needed and the rent from football and other activities was not sufficiently attractive. The two parted on good terms in 1912, when rugby took a share at the new Eden Park which the cricket association, through a few key individuals, had bought and begun developing.

The ground was, for many years, known as Potter’s Paddock, and as Potter’s Park was the venue for the 1908 test against the Anglo-Welsh touring team. It was also host to the first big Ranfurly Shield reign (and, indeed, the first match in 1904), some stirring club battles and more than a few heated disputes down the years. However, within two years of the lease expiring, World War I began, and everything changed. By the time rugby resumed, its landscape was completely different and the association with the Tramways Company was almost something from another age. Both parties had moved on, but this one legacy remained of what was a productive partnership for both outfits, although it was largely forgotten until recently.

Lawrie Knight is best remembered for one particular moment in a long and distinguished career that ran to 101 first-class matches. That moment, however, is etched into national consciousness for he scored the try late in the fourth test which allowed the All Blacks to beat the 1977 Lions 10-9 at Eden Park and 3-1 in the series.

Lawrie followed the family path through Auckland Grammar School and to the Grammar Old Boys club; from there he was called into the Auckland rep team as a 20-year-old No 8 in 1970. He eventually managed to fit 30 matches for the A team around his medical studies, before leaving Auckland after the 1974 season and settling in Gisborne. He was already an All Black; his first trials had been in 1972, and his first selection was as one of the 15 new players named for the Australian tour in 1974.

For all his ability on the paddock, Knight’s biggest contribution was made away from the playing field. As a doctor, he was an invaluable man in any touring party when expenses only covered 30 players (at most), one manager and one coach. Too many All Blacks had suffered serious and poorly treated injuries as they were bounced from one doctor to another on tour; with Knight in the team, they got consistent and calculated treatment.

Known throughout his career as a fanatical trainer, Knight closed his career in New Zealand rugby by being one of the two-man lineout combo that ran the French ragged in the 1977 Paris test and won the lineout that led to Stu Wilson’s try. He has since resumed contact with his old club, and his contribution to the game is ongoing as of 2023. The man known as ‘Spock’ to his team-mates, after the best-selling American child expert of the day, was a player all respected and many were extremely thankful to have around when their injuries needed urgent attention.

Born in Auckland and raised in both New Zealand and Western Samoa, as it was then, Fatialofa emerged onto the Auckland rugby scene in a small way, playing for Grafton in the late 1970s, before moving to Ponsonby.

He won seven Gallaher Shield medals, played 72 matches for Auckland, was the Keeper of the Shield during Auckland’s phenomenal 61-match reign in 1985-93, and came as close as a man could to becoming an All Black without actually getting selected in the mid-1980s. Fatialofa made the switch of allegiance to the land of his ancestors and quickly became one of the main drivers in that country’s emergence from the shadow cast by Fiji and Tonga, who had attended the 1987 World Cup while Samoa had not.

Fatialofa made his Samoan debut in 1988 and within a year had been promoted to the captaincy. Western Samoa qualified for the 1991 World Cup by winning a tournament a year before – Fatialofa scored the winning try against Tonga which sealed their place and later noted: ‘I only went one yard with the ball, but it was the best try of my life.’

In 2019 Fatialofa was inducted to the IRB Hall of Fame; in the group chosen that year were Richie McCaw and Sir Graham Henry, so he was keeping elite company even six years after his passing.