Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

My sporting peak: I was a Lions test ball boy in 1983

Carisbrook 1983

New Zealand Labour MP Grant Robertson remembers the day he patrolled the touchline for the third All Blacks vs Lions test at Carisbrook.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thirty-four years ago this weekend, I reached my sporting peak. Given that I was eleven years old, you’ll realise this was not exactly Everest, but for me, it was just about everything. I got to be the ball boy for third test between the British Lions and the All Blacks at Carisbrook in Dunedin.

This did not come about by accident. The sideline duties at Carisbrook rotated between the two local intermediate schools, and my friend Tony Ballantyne and I had worked out in 1983 that it was the turn of our school, Macandrew Intermediate, to work Dunedin’s big international game of the year.

We nervously approached Mr Hunter, the teacher in charge of rugby early in the year, and asked if he had given any thought as to who might be doing ballboy duties that year.  He hadn’t, and seemed relieved that some boys were prepared to do the drudgery of the weekly club games at Carisbrook. Tony recruited a couple of his Zingari teammates (Brendyn and Graham) and we had a posse.

[rugbypass-ad-banner id=”1473306980″]

By the time the test came around in July we thought we were experienced hands at this most critical but under-appreciated role. In those days there were just two boys (and it was only ever boys) on each side, and we only had one spare ball each. The pressure.

And even more so for a test match. We knew it was special. We were presented with special tracksuits in two-tone blue to match what the touch judges were wearing. On the day itself a bitingly cold southerly and torrential rain saw us given giant oilskin parkas to wear over the top. We even got our own dressing room under the old Main Stand. All Blacks second five Warwick Taylor came in to wish us good luck just before kick-off. I am not sure I could have been more excited.

The game itself is a bit of a blur.  I know early in the first half Lions first five Ollie Campbell put the ball into touch and I was in a position to catch it on the full. A minor misjudgement, and the ball landed in a small lake that had appeared on the Terrace side of the ground. What followed remains the biggest crowd cheer I have ever received – in sport or in politics.

ADVERTISEMENT

The All Blacks won 15-8 on their way to a 4-0 series whitewash. The match is probably best remembered for Stu Wilson claiming the New Zealand record for most test tries. In the grainy footage you can see Tony and I loving being as close as we could get to the action. Looking like two bedraggled ewoks, we had the best seat in the house as one of our heroes burst through to score.

At the end of the game we were given a pie, which was mostly useful for defrosting our hands, and I walked home – drenched, cold and proud.

My friend Tony is now the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Humanities) at the University of Otago. He was pretty good at cricket in his day, and probably has other sporting highlights to recall. But I know that when the boys and girls run out onto Westpac Stadium this weekend there will be at least one who will be having their greatest sporting moment. Look out for them.

ADVERTISEMENT

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 41 minutes ago
Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

45 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING How Ellis Genge reacted to being dropped for the second Lions Test How Ellis Genge reacted to being dropped for the second Lions Test