The early days of the Wellington College Old Boys Rugby Club as recorded by club historian, Dai Hayward.


How it all Began

It all began one summer afternoon later in 1897. Rugby was finished for the season.

A group of Wellington College boys, leaving that year, were sitting on a grassy bank reminiscing about their time at school. All had been in the First Fifteen or other teams. They agreed they would miss the fun, the excitement, and the camaraderie of rugby.

One, whose name is now lost in the mists of time, but possibly Joe Palethorpe, pointed out that this need not be. 'Why don't we start an old boys team?' he suggested.

The idea was immediately taken up with enthusiasm. Particularly supportive were W. G. Hutchinson, L. McKenzie and A. E. Wilson.

A deputation went to the Headmaster, Mr. J. P. Firth, known affectionately as 'The Boss'. A keen rugby enthusiast, 'The Boss' taught the boys of Wellington College to play rugby. He and rugby players, using picks, shovels and wheelbarrows, manually dug out a clay bank to form the No 3 ground, still in use as a Club pre-season training ground. Without hesitation Mr. Firth supported the idea of an Old Boys team.

A meeting in 1897 decided to form both a rugby and cricket club. And so, Old Boys Football Club was born.

There was a lot to do. Former students were contacted, informal meetings held and discussions on rules, playing colours, officials and myriad of other details necessary to form a club, decided. Inevitably there were differences of opinion.

But on two matters there was complete agreement.

The club's name would be Wellington College Old Boys Football Club. The other unanimous agreement was on the person they wanted to lead the club in its first difficult days.

Joseph P. Firth (pictured) was a prominent figure in Wellington and deserves to be honoured and remembered, not only for his work for Old Boys, but also for his contribution to the development of rugby in Wellington as a whole.

J. P. was a big man - a fraction under two metres tall. At age twenty-one he weighed ninety-six kilos. With his tidy short hairstyle, high forehead, direct penetrating gaze and flowing moustache, with curled ends extending beyond a neatly trimmed short, grey beard, he was a figure of authority.

He grew up in Greymouth during the gold rush and was introduced to rugby at Nelson College. He later represented Wellington at fullback. When 'The Boss' agreed to be the club's first President, it ensured a firm foundation for the new venture.

The inaugural meeting was not held until March 1898. J. P. Firth was elected President by acclamation and continued unopposed in the job for thirty-three years - surely a record seldom matched by any rugby administrator. His help and guidance were to prove invaluable to the club over the next three decades. It is worth noting the manes of his fellow officers.

They were: Vice Presidents, M. C Barnett and Dr. W. Young; Hon Sec-Treasurer, J. L. Palethorpe; Management Committee, W. E. Bethune, W. G. Hutchinson, E. D. Hales, L. McKenzie, and W. L. Gothenburg; Delegates to the WRFU, W. G. Hutchinson and E. D. Hales; Match Committee, L. McKenzie, E. D. Hales and J. L. Palethorpe.

Forty members joined the club at that first meeting and the start of the new rugby season was eagerly anticipated.


The Founders

Because the founders intended the club to be an 'Old Boys' club, membership was restricted, under a rule adopted at that first meeting in 1888, to old boys or maters of Wellington College. Despite suggestions from time to time to allow old boys from other colleges to join, this exclusive rule applied for almost fifty years.

Recruiting players and administrators from only one source, all sharing a similar background, allowed early school friendships to carry on into adulthood and be cemented on the rugby field. It also produced a definite club philosophy and approach to playing the game of rugby which, over the years, helped enhance the club's reputation among rugby administrators. Although winning was, and is, important, great emphasis has always also been placed on enjoyment. However, the policy did limit the number of new players coming into the club.

The original proposal for a playing uniform was to be the same black jersey as the College. This was refused by the Rugby Union because black was also the playing jersey of the Wellington Representative team. So a white jersey with the college monogram on the left breast, and white shorts became the WCOB playing colours.

Knickers became a hot topic in 1905. At the annual meeting a move to change the white shorts or 'knickers' as they were known, to black was thrown out - but only after prolonged and heated debate. Following this meeting sixteen members called for a special meeting to be held on 7 April 1905, giving notice Mr Blacklock would move, 'White knickers be deleted from Rule 2 and black knickers be inserted in lieu thereof.'

There was considerable argument. One founding member, Mr W. E. Bethune, sent a letter apologising for his absence and emphatically resisting any change to the colour of the playing knickers. However, the motion was carried, but only by the narrowest possible majority 16 votes to 15.

So as the club's Golden Jubilee booklet pointed out, our modern pants hung on just one vote. It may have been different if Mr Bethune has attended that special meeting. Mr Bethune, who was elected a life member in 1904, accepted the change with good grace and continued to work hard for the club for several decades.

The change to black gave rise to a widely held but erroneous belief in later years, that Old Boys' strip was deliberately chosen to be the reverse of the College black jersey and white shorts, but this was not so.


Taking the Field

The first match in 1898 was eagerly awaited.

The forty members enrolled at the inaugural meeting, many of them first year college leavers, enabled the club to field two teams, Junior and Third Grade.

Then an untimely blow. The club was informed by the Union that Len McKenzie, regarded as a top player, was graded a senior (pictured below - middle row, fourth from left). He could not play for Old Boys Third Grade team - our top team that year - when the white jerseys took the field for the first time.

The first captain in the first rugby match played by a Wellington College Old Boys team was Joe Palethorpe (pictured above - front row, far right).

And we won that first game. The Juniors provided the club's first victory by defeating Melrose. The score is not recorded but it was the first of many victories over the next 100 years celebrated by WCOB players and supporters.

That first season the Junior team played seven matched, won three, drew one and lost three. A commendable result for a new team with many young players. Playing in that first match, whose names have come down to us from a century ago were:

Fullback: E. Watkins. The Quarters: B. (Pat) Hansen, B. Cleland, P. Bartholomew. Five Eight: W. Cleland. Halfback: H. Denton. Wing Forwards: H. Knox Gilmer, H. (Boney) Cross. Forwards: E. H. (Ernie) Dodd, C. Blundell, W. J. Gaudin, J. L. Palethorpe (Captain), R. Wedde, A. J. Kellow and H. Gale.

Later that season, several of the previous year's College First Fifteen joined the team, including E. D. Hales, Frank Johnson and H. D. (Mona) Thomson. Mona Thomson, later a member of the 1905 All Blacks, played with credit in WCOB teams for several years before transferring to Wanganui.

The Third Grade team did not do so well. It went down to Wellington in the first game and failed to win a match all season. Captain was A. E. (Bulli) Wilson. Other players were H. Desborogh, R. Wiggins, R (Dick) Seddon, N. Wakelin, R. Simpson, Von Schon and C. Kember.

The R. J. Seddon, known as Dick, was the eldest son of one of New Zealand's most famous Prime Ministers, 'King Dick' Seddon. Dick Junior left to go to the Boer War and was later killed in the Great War.

Old Boys won its way into Senior rugby in its third season, 1900. Achieving this new status in the first year of the new century, was taken by members to be a good omen. Captain of our Senior team was Len McKenzie. Another player of note was Frank Johnston. He was known throughout the North Island as a 'bumper' because he used his hip and arm with devastating effect to bump off opponents.

Old Boys has some tough battles and, despite the relatively young age of most of the players, gave a good account of themselves. In the club's first ever senior game we beat Athletic 13-10. This close finish was to be repeated during the season. Losing only four games, winning three and drawing three we finished fifth in the competition.

Reviewing the season, one sports writer commented: 'The Old Boys were a source of surprise to many, the members of the team all being considered rather young for Senior Championship honours but playing with an immense amount of dash they were never beaten until the final whistle sounded no matter who they were playing. In some instances, notably against Petone, they surprised even their most ardent supporters by the scoring abilities they displayed.'

We beat Petone 23-11. The calibre of our players - young as they were - was reflected by three of them, Ernie Dodd (pictured), Mona Thomson and Frank Johnson being selected to play for Wellington.