As stated in the Buller All Blacks section there have been a number of other players with strong connections to the Buller province, whom have achieved All Black honours the most recent being Ben Blair in 2002. There have also been a number of other great players from Buller who achieved various honours throughout their playing careers and a number of these players are shown below.
(Born 02.07.1898, Died 08.07.1952) |
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George
Gothard Aitken was a Westport club player and Buller Representative
in the early part of the 20th Century. Aitken played centre three
quarter and made his Buller debut at the age of just 16. Having
played two seasons of first class rugby for Buller he then headed
to Wellington to study at Victoria University and was eventually
selected for the All Blacks in 1921 while playing for Wellington.
He also captained the All Blacks for the two matches against South
Africa and therefore became Westports first All Black captain. He
had also previously captained the New Zealand Universities side.
Soon after playing for the All Blacks Aitken won a Rhodes Scholarship
to attend Oxford and while there was selected to play Internationals
for the Scotland National team. He eventually ended up playing for
or against every international team that was playing in his era.
His athletic prowess is further evidenced by the fact that he had
won the NZU 440 yard hurdles and was runner up in the New Zealand
national champs for the same event. |
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Aitken's
representative record |
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...GEORGE
AITKEN JNR
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Born
and bred in the Buller, Ben Blair played for a number of Buller
age group representative sides. He left Buller to further his education
and his early talents pointed more towards a potential cricketing
career, but his rugby ability was always evident to those who saw
him play. He made his name with the Canterbury province and made
his All Black debut in 2001 against Ireland 'A'. Blair amazingly
scored 38 points out of the 43 points scored by the All Blacks in
this match. His tally of 38 points remains the second highest points
tally by a player in an All Blacks jersey for a single match. Blair
now plays for Cardiff in the UK. |
|
Blairs
representative record |
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...BEN
BLAIR (Born 26.03.1979)
(Born 01.01.1880, Died 11.04.1945) |
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John
Corbett like many rugby players over the years played at representative
level for both the West Coast and Buller provinces. Corbett, a lock-forward,
was selected in the 1905 'Originals' All Blacks for their famous
tour of Australia and Britain. He was selected from the Reefton
club which in those days was affiliated to the West Coast Union.
Interestingly Corbett played for the All Blacks before he had ever
played provincial rugby. As a Buller player in 1908 Corbett had
the honour of captaining a combined Buller-West Coast team against
the touring Anglo-Welsh side (The early form of the British Lions).
In 1915 he was a Buller selector. |
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Corbett's
representative record |
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...JOHN
CORBETT
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Tom
French is a well known name in New Zealand rugby, particularly in
Maori rugby. French played his club rugby for the Westport club
and in 1911 was selected for the New Zealand Maori rugby team. He
played again for New Zealand Maori in 1913 during their tour of
Australia. Tom French went on to become a distinguished administrator
in Maori rugby and was accorded the honour of having a trophy named
after him. This trophy is the Tom French Cup which is awarded anually
to the New Zealand Maori player of the year. |
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French's
representative record |
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...T.
A. FRENCH
(Born 01.03.1911, Died 13.02.2002) |
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Mike
Gilbert was born in Scotland but his family emigrated to New Zealand
when he was two years old. His family settled in Westport where
he attended Westport Technical College. Gilbert playing out of the
Westport Old Boys club made his Buller debut as a 19 year old in
1930. Playing as a midfield back he also represented the Buller/West
Coast combined team against the British Lions in that same year.
A Post Office employee, Mike was transferred to Greymouth but believes
that local Member of Parliament Harry Holland had the transfer held
up to allow him to help Buller defend the Seddon Shield. Playing
out of the Greymouth United club he was selected in the All Blacks
in 1935. A great athlete, Gilbert played rugby league for Great
Britain in 1938 but upon returning to New Zealand to live had problems
with the strict rugby regulations regarding his rugby league background.
He was finally formally reinstated to rugby in 1995 when aged 84. |
|
Gilbert's
representative record |
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...G.D.M
GILBERTCLEM GREEN |
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| (Selected in the 1910 All Blacks but could not tour due to work commitments) | |
Green's
representative record |
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(Born 07.05.1881, Died 10.12.1955) |
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Fred
Newton at 1.83m and 95kg was the biggest player on the 1905 'Originals'
All Blacks tour. His physique won him the nickname of 'Fatty'. Playing
out of the Linwood club Newton was selected for Canterbury and the
South Island side which eventually led to his All Black selection
in 1905. A railway worker Newton was transferred to Westport where
in 1908 he played the last of his 30 first class games in the Cardinal
and blue colours of Buller in a match against Marlborough. |
|
Newton's
representative record |
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...FRED
NEWTONBRIAN STACK |
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| ------ | |
Stack's
representative record |
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Sandy
Webster played for the Westports Rugby Club and was selected from
Westport's (Buller had yet to be formed) for the New Zealand Natives
team's famous tour of NZ, Aus and UK in 1888-89. Webster's tour
lasted 14 months, of which 3 months was spent at sea, and his team
played 107 rugby matches, 8 Australian Rules matches and 2 Soccer
matches. On the British leg of the tour the team averaged a game
every 2.3 days and at one stage only had 11 fit men for a match.
Many good results were achieved including victory over the Irish
national team. The match against England was controversial. On two
separate occasions Native players clearly touched the ball down
in goal – Harry Lee and Bill Warbrick – only for tries to be awarded
to England players who had followed up and then touched the ball
down a second time. Amazingly the referee for that match was the
England RFU's secretary of the time so a conflict of interest may
certainly have contributed to the outcome of the match which was
lost 0-7. Little is known about Webster other than the fact he went
on the tour but it is recorded that he worked on the construction
of the Buller Bridge. |
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Webster's
representative record |
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...ALEXANDER
'SANDY' WEBSTER
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Steven
Yates comes from the Karamea area of Buller. Like Ben Blair he played
his Junior rugby for Buller representative teams, and then headed
to the Canterbury province. He was selected for Canterbury in 2004
and has played Super 14 rugby for the Canterbury Crusaders. Yates
is well known to New Zealand rugby followers due to his outstanding
performances for the New Zealand Sevens team over the last two years.
Yates is now playing in Japan. |
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Yate's
representative record |
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...STEVEN
YATES (Born 26.07.1983) 
