Ranfurly Draught

Think of a time in your life, where something extremely significant was sitting there right in front of you.

When I was a young boy, towards the end of the 1997 provincial rugby championship, Waikato done the unthinkable and beat a decade long dominate Auckland side on their own turf of Eden Park to claim what we call in New Zealand – The Ranfurly Sheild.

I have a few readers from the UK – so if I can put it into context, it’s our equivalent to The FA Cup, but for rugby, not football. A desirable trophy that everyone wants to get their hands on and keep in the cabinet for as long as possible.

Probably - the most longed-for piece of timber in our countries history.

As time goes, I am pretty sure my father won’t get in trouble for this, as he was the organiser of pretty much everything on a racing committee when we were growing up.

Since Waikato asserted their dominance in the national competition, he used his cards very well and managed to get the Ranfurly Sheild on display at a racing meeting one Friday night for all the punters to come along and check it out.

I can’t remember, but I am sure it was bought to the meeting by the rugby union, but unbeknown to the public, after the night was done the shield had ended up in the back of my father’s nineteen seventy something Holden Kingswood and made its way back to our house.

What was one thing I am probably not meant to say, we drove about the town taking it to a couple of my mate’s houses, whilst I was clutching on to it, hidden on the back seat.

What a fun evening, and with that said, my friend’s father Kevin – still reminds me about the time to this day.

I slept well that night, knowing that I was the cool kid of my friends that night. You forget about it, and only to be reminded again the next morning when you open the pantry to reach for the weet-bix, only to have to move the coveted ‘log o wood’, that had been sitting there all night.

Come the turn of the millennium, Canterbury came up to Hamilton and narrowly beat Waikato to take the shield away, but what an fantastic 3 years of 21 wins on the trot we got to enjoy. In fact, it wasn’t until 2012 where we saw it again.

If there is a moral to this story, maybe it could be to make the most of every little opportunity you may get, because just like the Ranfurly Sheild, they may not come along too often.

SBG