Collingwood RFC reunion brought home the heroes last weekend
The team last Saturday after their match. Second from left is John Gargiulo, a 1990’s referee who officiated on Saturday. Photo: Neil Wilson.
People sometimes say that the older we get, the better we were.
A group of Collingwood’s yesteryear heroes gathered in the Bay last week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of what was, for some of them, their finest hour in sport. The Collingwood community turned out in force to help the players celebrate and to recognise once more their significant achievement.
In 1990 Collingwood won the Nelson Bays Senior B championship in a thrilling final at Trafalgar Park in Nelson. Last weekend all but four of the members of that team regathered to relive the events of that season.
The Collingwood team had fought its way up the grades from the Senior Third grade, and had begun its career in Senior B by finishing last. They had plenty going for them, though, and in the 1990 season they swept all before them, beating Waimea Old Boys 15-14 in the final.
Speed Robinson was the coach of the winning team and he attributed their success to a number of factors, principally fitness.
“I worked them really hard to get them properly fit,” said Speed. “Back then, there was a lot of competition for places in the team. We had training twice a week and people didn’t want to miss in case they lost their spot. We weren’t allowed substitutions like they have today, so if you were in the starting line-up you stayed on unless you got hurt. On top of that we had a really good mix of young and experienced players. Bret Hart was the most experienced. He was in his late 30s and had played senior rugby at Riwaka. Alongside him we had some young players not long out of school. One of them was the young Todd Blackadder [former All Black captain and current coach of the Crusaders]. Even back then you could tell he was something special.”
Collingwood’s captain at the time was Ross Riley. He was happy to have such a promising player in his ranks.
“He was a natural leader, even though he was pretty much just a kid,” said Ross. “We used to say quite often that he had the class to go all the way. No one here was surprised when he became an All Black captain. That whole side was a real pleasure to be around. We had fantastic camaraderie. When we won the final we knew it would be a big thing for the whole community. When we made it home with the trophy the whole town was rocking.”
About 20 ex-players returned for the reunion, some of whom had not seen each other in the intervening 20 years. They enjoyed a get-together at Tinky’s on Friday night and a breakfast and sightseeing trip up Mt Burnett on Saturday morning before their comeback match.
The reunion team took on an invitation side and lived up to their bold claim of being “undefeated since 1990”. Plenty of players showed vestiges of the skill that made them such a force 20 years ago. Later that night they returned to Tinky’s to share dinner and enjoy the All Blacks’ sound defeat of the Springboks.
The players who had been part of such an important time in Collingwood’s rugby history said that they had enjoyed the chance to get back together. Their most illustrious team-mate, Todd Blackadder, was full of praise for the club and the community he credits with some of his crucial early development.
“I wouldn’t have got where I am today if it hadn’t been for my time here,” he said.
Neil Wilson
