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By Clive Akers and Peter Lampp.
Published GSA Design Limited, $30, plus postage, available from the Manawatu Rugby Union office, reviewed by Lindsay Knight.
“Manawatu, which has had a long and illustrious history, has been one of those provincial unions which have been drastically and adversely affected by rugby’s sudden lurch 16 years ago to full blown professionalism.
From being one of the country’s best performed unions, and enjoying considerable success in the 1970s and early 80s, Manawatu saw its fortunes so decline that for almost a decade it was excluded from New Zealand’s elite provincial competition. For a lengthy period it was stuck in the old second division, battling against more modestly endowed unions.
And having been a magnet for top players in its former glory years, it found itself reduced to a “feeder” role, with many of its finest products being lured away, not just by the bigger metropolitan unions with Super rugby franchises but also by once friendly neighbours like Taranaki.
Only now have some of those trends been reversed and, while there are still obstacles ahead, Manawatu, both the union and its ever supportive public, has shown an encouraging resilience.
Akers and Lampp, each of whom has given Manawatu exemplary service in his respective role as a historian and statistician (Akers) and as a competent newspaper journalist (Lampp), have recorded all of the issues which have arisen in the past 25 years with commendable honesty. To their credit nothing has been fudged or downplayed. Tricky issues such as finances, the unhappy Central Vikings alliance with Hawke’s Bay in 1997-98 and struggles to gain a meaningful role within the Hurricanes have been aired without fear or favour.
More positively the union’s leading players of the past 25 years have been celebrated, including those who have become All Blacks as well as those journeymen who have been stalwarts of the provincial side. There has also been an honest appraisal of officials and coaches who have confronted, sometimes controversially, some of the union’s challenges. And appropriate tribute has been paid to those strands which have contributed to Manawatu’s overall well-being: a vibrant club competition, Massey University, schools which have been bountiful nurseries like Palmerston North Boys High, referees and the women’s game.
One minor criticism might centre on the book’s sub-title, which purports to be “125 Years of Manawatu Rugby.” But there is little in depth about the first 100 years, when many of Manawatu’s greatest feats, including a memorable Ranfurly Shield era, were achieved and when many leading players and coaches like Jack Finlay and Jack Gleeson were in their prime. Those, of course, were featured in Akers’ comprehensive ‘Centenary History’ produced in 1986. So the latest work, more correctly, is a supplement to that and perhaps should have been tagged as a sequel to the first volume.
As to be expected from Akers, the statistics are thorough and, thanks to the contribution of project editor Grant Smith, the book has a tidy and attractive presentation. It’s a work which those who cherish the game’s history will treasure.”
Lindsay Knight
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