Famous rugby legends

          

There are hundreds of famous New Zealand rugby players, some still playing today, some retired and many deceased. Since 1946 there are more than 650 men who have played for the All Blacks. Below are the top 5 players that have worn the jersey in more recent years.

Colin Meads

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Sir Colin Earl Meads was born on the 3rd June 1936. He is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He has played 55 test matches which is 133 games. He played for the New Zealand national team from 1957 until 1971. Meads is a living legend for New Zealand rugby fans. He was named 'player of the century' by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) in 1999. He is said to be one of the greatest players ever lived.

Jonah Lomu

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Jonah Lomu was born on the 12th May 1975 and sadly passed away on the 18th November 2015. He was the youngest  ever All Black to play an international match, he was only 19 years old. Jonah finished his career with 63 caps and 37 international tries. He has been described as the first global superstar of rugby union.

Richie McCaw

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Richie McCaw was born on the 31st December 1980. He has captioned the national team 110 times out of  his 148 matches. He is the most capped test rugby player of all time, he has more caps than Ireland rugby legend Brian O'Driscoll.

Sean Fitzpatrick

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Sean was born on the 4th June 1963 in Auckland. He is a former rugby union player who represented New Zealand. He is regarded as one of the finest players to come out of that country.

Dan Carter





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Dan Carter was born on the 5th March 1982.He plays for Racing 92 and the New Zealand National rugby team. He is the highest point scorer in test match rugby, and is considered by many experts the greatest fly half in the history of the game. He was named the international rugby board player in 2005, 2012 and 2015 and has won four super rugby titles with the Crusaders, and six Tri- nations and rugby championships with his national team.

Why are the All Blacks so good at rugby?

 

New Zealand only has a population of 4.5 million and is ranked 1st in the world, ahead of the Springboks (53 million, South Africa) and the Wallabies ( 23 million, Australia). How do they consistently stay on top?

New Zealand is a small country with a small population so this can not be the factors that drive the success of the rugby nation. Some people argue that it is biological factors but it unclear the biological factors would influence the nations performance and differ from Australia and pacific islanders.

In Jamaica the primary sport is athletics, the primary sport in New Zealand is rugby. Rugby is broadcasted on every type of media which produces a positive rugby culture. There is a television channel which is dedicated to just rugby union.
For competitive running  in the Olympics athletes are known for being lanky, that is the correct body type for that sport. In rugby there is no right or wrong shape, people of all sizes can play the sport, large people can be a hooker and a fast athletes can be a winger. This encourages much more people to try the sport.

 

New Zealand is close to Australia, South Africa and the Pacific Islands. Australia and South Africa are also historically very strong at rugby due to having a similar level of enthusiasm for rugby. This leads to high level of competition that requires a high level of skill to reach the standard in their country which is very high. The pacific Islands are extremely enthusiastic about rugby but are not as successful as Australia or New Zealand. People argue that they are more enthusiastic about the sport than New Zealand. New Zealand benefits through its strong islander ties by welcoming them to New Zealand so they can play for them on their national side.

 

 

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Rugby grabs Kiwi kids young.NZ Rugby union heavily funds community programs which promotes rugby to NZ kids.kids are fed through a carefully designed series of programs. For example, starting as young as the ages 5 you start learning the basics as a "small blacks". This begins their dream of becoming a future All Black. It is compulsory for all children to try the sport.
 Kiwi children will all have a rugby ball in their hands. The constant playing with the ball as a child is often how you learn the key skills in the game. Kids walking home from school will be trying new passes or skills to impress their mates. You go to the park or the beach in New Zealand, and the first game everyone will play is touch rugby.
Rugby absolutely dominates all sports in our small nation. Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody who knows an All Black.

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The Haka

The Haka

The haka is a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace.
The Haka performed by the All Blacks is called Ka Mate and belongs to the Ngati Toa tribe on New Zealand's North Island. It tells the story of a fleeing chief who escapes capture by hiding from his enemies in a food pit.
Ka Mate initially attracted criticism for the leap included at the end of the performance, which some cultural observers interpreted as a surrender of land. Today, when the team performs Ka Mate, the players keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Haka are a fierce ritual of a tribe's pride, strength and unity. Actions include violent foot-stamping, sticking out their tongue and rhythmic body slapping to go with a loud chant. The words of a haka often describe ancestors and events in the tribe's history.
Today, haka are still used during Māori ceremonies and celebrations to honour guests and show the importance of the occasion. This includes family events, like birthdays and weddings.
Haka are also used to challenge opponents on the sports field. You may have seen a haka performed by New Zealand’s All Blacks before a rugby match?

The haka has changed dramatically in the past 40 years. The video below is footage of The haka evolution from 1973 - 2011.

 

Footage from a 1973 tour match between the All Blacks and the Barbarians in Cardiff shows the Kiwis performing a less intense version of the dance than modern crowds have come to expect.
The newer version of the Haka shows more passion from the players and aggressiveness which includes slapping their body and loud chants.

Arrival of rugby football in New Zealand

      Arrival of rugby football in New Zealand

Before Europeans arrived it New Zealand, the Kiwis were playing a ball game called Ki-o-rahi which is similar to Australian rules football and rugby football. It had been proposed that this may have influenced New Zealand playing skills.

Rugby football was first introduced to New Zealand by Charles John Monro in 1870. He experienced the game while studying in London. He then brought the game to Nelson College in New Zealand where he later played his first match. Charles then visited Wellington later on in the year where a match between Nelson and Wellington was organised. By the following year rugby was an official sport in Wellington, Auckland and  Hamilton, With Auckland touring the south of New Zealand.

In 1882 the first international team visited New Zealand, New South Wales. By 1884 the New Zealand side visited New South Wales, wearing blue jerseys with a golden fern. They won all their matches.

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The first ever British rugby team toured New Zealand and Australia in 1888, with Britain only losing one of their matches to Auckland. In 1892 the New Zealand Rugby Union was invented, to act as the national governing body for the sport. In 1893 Thomas Ellison captioned a ten-game tour of Australia.

In 1905 the original all blacks ( also known as the originals) were the first New Zealand National rugby team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America, winning all their games apart from controversially losing the test against Wales. They returned to New Zealand via North America where they played two matches against Canadian teams. Overall they played a total of 35 matches, which includes 5 tests, and only lost once, against Wales. This tour saw the first use of the All Blacks name and established New Zealand's reputation as a world class rugby nation, the New Zealand side also achieved a legendary status within the rugby world and within its own country. Some of these players went professional and toured Australia and Great Britain in 1907-08 where they played against Northern Union sides in the sport that would eventually become known as rugby league.

The 1905 New Zealand rugby team that toured The British Isle



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 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/1905_New_Zealand_rugby_football_team.jpg

Introduction

Hello my name is Eve, and as part of my transition year module I will be completing a blog on the geography of All black's rugby (New Zealand).
I am really interested in rugby and I look forward to researching into a sport I play and enjoy.

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