54 J1's take ring in 15 along on trip

John Ogilvie

Many will remember that Bob Scott arrived to play in Petone in 1954, and all are aware of the impact he had, and still has in regularly attending "Old Farts" evenings.

What will not be as well known is the the Junior Firsts won their grade that year under coach Tom TePuni, whom I had played with in the Seniors the year before (before I was replaced by Bob Scott!) Even though sharing the title with University and Training College, who all beat each other. The Petone team had an impressive 278 for, 51 against points ratio.

But what is the connection between these two facts? At the end of the season, the J1,s took off on a three day trip down to Havelock to play the Pelorus team.

Down on the Friday ferry, and a rather hard night at the bar, the team were hardly at peak fitness for the big match. But about midday, help in the form of Bob Scott arrived by plane - the Club had arranged this as a reward for the J1's. Bob's presence had been well publicized and the crowd at the ground was the largest ever seen at a rugby match in the area. Bob and the team did not disappoint and ran out comfortable winners with Bob displaying his amazing footwork and elusiveness to the crowd. Bob didn't stay long after the match - he had a plane to catch home! He was teetotal in those days so avoided the drunken shambles afterwards!

The Club Captain then was Neil (Porky) Dickens - the man that spent his time during gale force southerlies holding on to a beam bracing the southern wall of the old gym in Tory Street to stop it falling over! Ossie Clarke, the ice cream maker, was President at the time, and Len Benge was the secretary.

It was also the year the new Clubrooms in Udy St opened.

Five of the team made the Wellington Junior reps that year - Jim Dawson ( prop - died many years ago) Barry Trotter (halfback - his brother played a bit for the seniors) Dave Francis (a lanky flanker who went on to be in charge of curriculums for the Australian Government Education system - he still lives in Canberra) Fred Flowers (lock, who the Wellington selectors said later that they wouldn't have picked if they had known he was 26 years old!) and myself, playing at centre.

Others in the club team who went on to play for the seniors were Ray Beynon, Colin Toomey (also Wellington rep hooker some seasons later) and Ron Barber, who I understand died some years ago after running coffee shops on the Gold Coast and I think Thailand. Ron's home in Buick Street was the venue for many impromptu aftermatch parties - I'm not sure how his lovely wife Diane coped with it but she always produced some tucker for the hungry lads.

The only members of the 1954 J1 team still around the Club are Bim Blandford and John Ogilvie - but not bad for 54 years on! Oops.

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