Compelling Stories of Rugby-at-war to Be Told

MEDIA RELEASE

31 October 2013

Compelling Stories of Rugby-at-war to Be Told

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This small, tattered image from the collection of the Rugby Museum shows the 1914 All Blacks that toured Australia posed for a photo at a training or pre-match session (probably on 5th August 2014). Scrawled on the back is “The day war broke out...”. How many of the players shown went on to fight and lose their lives on foreign soil is just one of many questions the Museum hopes to answer in a new exhibition “Balls, Bullets and Boots – from playing field to battlefield.”

Can we ever know what was it like to be happily rough-housing your mates on the rugby playing field one month, and the next following them out of a trench into the hell of a European battlefield?

With the centenary of the outbreak of World War One (WW1) fast approaching, staff at the New Zealand Rugby Museum have been crafting an idea for a unique interactive exhibition that will try to do just that.

“We want to bring alive for our visitors the war stories (both on and off the battlefield) of XV Kiwi rugby players from a century ago” says Museum Manager and Curator, Stephen Berg. “There’s a wonderful opportunity here to explore the war and the state of things at home through the eyes of the nation’s sportsmen, from schoolboy and rep player to All Black.”

The exhibition, designed to bring alive the range of experiences and impact that the war had on XV players from across the country, their families and their beloved game; is now a step closer to becoming a reality - thanks to support received from the Lottery World War One Commemorations fund.

“Lotteries has just announced they will fund the research phase of our project”, says Museum Committee member Grant Smith. “This allows us to research the lives and careers of these long-dead players, collect memorabilia and contact their descendants. Once complete, the next phase involves re-creating their ‘voices’ using actors and digital wizardry to create an evocative exhibition that we hope to tour the country during the centenary commemorations.”

As they develop the exhibition, Museum staff are keen to hear from anyone:
• with WW1 rugby stories/anecdotes to share.,

• who had family members with rugby and military careers in WW1, particularly if they have personal memorabilia to support their stories (ie. diaries, letters, and photos), and

• with WW1 rugby memorabilia they might be happy to place on loan to the museum.
stephen@rugbymuseum.co.nz.

ENDS

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