Joey Sadler was first selected for the Wellington College Old Boys Seniors in 1933, his first season out of Wellington College where he had previously led the First Fifteen with distinction. Short and slim, weighing only 62 kilos, with straight black hair and fine features, he was by all accounts, an extremely good-looking chap.

Sadler immediately made his mark in the Wellington club competition gaining a reputation as a fine all-round halfback. His talent was quickly recognised and despite fierce competition from All Black Frank Kilby and future All Black Eric Tindall, he managed to break into the Wellington Representative side in 1934.

Sadler's climb to fame didn't stop there. His provincial form was good enough to win him a place in Jack Manchester's 1935 All Black team bound for the British Isles and Canada. Sadler departed New Zealand aboard the Rangitiki just three days after his twenty-first birthday.

The Rangitiki took thirty-four days to reach England. The All Black touring party tried to keep fit on the long voyage but despite the use of a primitive scrum machine, miles of jogging around the ship's deck and a routine of vigourous exercises, every player put on weight as the result of plentiful shipboard meals. For the first few weeks of the voyage, Sadler was able to practice his passing but this was curtailed once all the rugby balls had been lost overboard.

Sadler's travel allowance with the All Blacks in those days was just three shillings (thirty cents) per day in the form of a voucher that could only be spent at the team's hotel. More than six decades later he recalled with gratitude the pocket money provided by his club and his employer who had kept him on half pay.

The 1935 All Blacks had no specialist coach. Manager Vince Meredith was the sole official. He, with Captain Jack Manchester, organised coaching sessions and the players mainly trained without supervision. This was no problem for Joey Sadler, however.

Despite memories, recalled with horror, of cold showers and wooden floors in the old 'Tin Shed' (the name given to Wellington College Old Boys' dilapidated training facility), Sadler never resented training. In addition to the twice-weekly training sessions he spent solitary hours running round and round a small paddock behind his Berhamphore home and perfecting his passing.

He threw a ball against a post to catch it on the rebound. The faster he threw it the faster it came back at unpredictable angles. In other practice sessions he used his mother as his first-five. He would bounce the ball against the side of their house, catch it and whip it out to her. His proud mother spent hours taking his passes and young Joey never pulled it back because it was mum on the receiving end. He sent the ball out with his full strength.

'I enjoyed playing. Training was part of that. They were proud moments when I was chosen to captain the First XV and then again as an Old Boys senior player. I really enjoyed the great club spirit at Old Boys.'

Joey's name is not, as many suppose, Joseph but Bernard Sydney. His farther dubbed him Joey because, like the Primeminister of the Day, Sir Joseph Ward, he 'never stopped talking'.

Experts rated Joey Sadler as the best halfback New Zealand had produced and he was destined to be one of the worlds greatest. Nicknamed 'the pocket battleship' by English critics who marveled at his brilliant breaks, he was one of the stars of the All Black tour.

Joey Sadler played 15 matches on tour, including the Scottish, Irish and Welsh internationals, winning the respect of his All Black team mates along the way. Fellow tourist Eric Tindall wrote upon his return to New Zealand that:

'Sadler comes back a great player. Ideally built for his position, he gave wonderful service from the base of the scrum, his passes being quick and accurately directed and his defensive work was beyond reproach. He possessed a very effective body wiggle which frequently enabled him to break away from the attentions of opposing forwards after they had taken hold of him. We certainly saw no halfback anywhere on our tour who even approached his class.'

Joey Sadler played a further two tests for the All Blacks against Australia in 1936, cementing his position as All Black halfback. At the peak of his game he was just a season away from an encounter with the 1937 Springboks and a chance to test himself against one of the games best - Springbok halfback Danie Craven.

However, injury would rob Joey Sadler of the opportunity to test himself against Craven and the Boks. It also cut short what could have been one of the great careers in international rugby. His remarkable career ended tragically in a club game against Varsity on an extremely wet day in 1937. Just two minutes from the end of the game, Sadler went around the side of the scrum and was tackled by two players. His knee and his leg were pulled in different directions. He could not move and was carried off.

The nerve was in Joey Sadler's knee had been damaged. Hoping it would recover doctors waited a year before discovering the nerve casing had split and the nerve had penetrated the opening. Removing the damaged section, they waited another year before operating. As a result Joey Sadler developed a permanently dropped foot.

This did not prevent him coaching Old Boys senior and lower grade teams and for many years inspiring younger players. What's more, Joey Sadler's passion for Old Boys rugby rubbed off on his son Robert, who also represented the Old Boys Seniors.


References

Dai Hayward, Follow Up - The History of the Wellington College Old Boys Rugby Club, 1998.

R. H. Chester & N A McMillan, Men in Black, Moa Beckett, 1978.

R. H. Chester & N A McMillan, Centenary - 100 Years of All Black Rugby, Moa Publications, 1984


Legends Archive
Ron Jarden
George Aitken