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Key Gray-Ericka Rere Legacy Project & the Whenua they played on

Ken Gray with the ‘Springboks head’, in the Main Stand at Athletic Park after famously captaining Wellington to their 23-6 win over South Africa on 3 July 1965. Photo credit unknown/supplied.

  • By Adam Julian 

Background

In 2019, while removing items from the walls of the Paremata-Plimmerton Rugby Clubrooms, in preparation for a significant refurbishment, former Wellington Lions lock Keryn Martin and Logan Ainsworth removed eight framed jerseys with the inscription “Presented by K Gray”.

This started a question about who this person was and how a story could be told about Ken Gray and the jerseys residing at the club. A “New Zealand Women’s Rugby” jersey, with no information or detail about it also resides at the club. This belongs to Ericka Rere, a pioneering figure in New Zealand women’s rugby. This became the Key Gray-Ericka Rere Legacy Project to acknowledge two champion Paremata-Plimmerton players and the Whenua they played on.

Te Papa Textile Conservator Rachael Collinge has been employed to clean, reframe, and represent the jerseys ensuring they don’t decay and remain long-term at the club. Fundraising the money for the project has taken four years with further ideas afloat to celebrate the legacy of Ken and Ericka.

It costs just under $5000 to repackage each jersey, $1200 for cleaning and $2600 for framing plus GST.

The jersey’s being removed for restoration at the Paremata-Plimmerton clubrooms earlier this year.

Ken Gray

Ken Gray is Paremata-Plimmerton’s most famous son. All Black 636 was born in Porirua on June 24, 1938. Raised on a 2,200-acre farm in Pauatahanui owned by his family, Gray is regarded by many as the greatest All Blacks prop.

“A great forward,” wrote doyen Sir T.P. McLean. “Durable, vigorous, relentless, pursuing, and supremely intelligent.”

Ken attended Plimmerton school and then boarded at Wellington College, as no secondary schools existed in Porirua at the time. Ken’s father (James “Jim” Gray) died when Ken was 13, which required Ken to be very involved in working on the farm.

Gray played 24 of a possible 28 Tests between his debut against Ireland on 7 December 1963 until his last international against Wales on 14 June 1969.

Ken Gray’s All Blacks portrait. Photo credit: K. F. Gray. Crown Studios Ltd :Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-207871-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22910142

Standing 1.90m and weighing 101kg, Gray was a key player in the All Blacks that steamrolled their way to a world record 17 consecutive victories between 1965 and 1969. During his time in the All Blacks, other props came and went – Sir Wilson Whineray, his first captain, Barry Thomas, Jack Hazlett, Alistair Hopkinson, Brian Muller – and Gray swapped sides as needed.

“He was the equal, at least, of (Sir Colin) Meads,” former All Blacks back Grahame Thorne said. “He was the best forward I ever played with.”

Meads in his memoirs said that he “was probably the best prop in the world through the middle and late 1960s. I certainly never played with or against a better. As a line-out jumper, he was matchless, handled the ball well, and was a great runner in close contact. He was a highly intelligent and sensitive man.”

Gray was a comparatively late developer with a remarkable trajectory for a prop. He was a wing, then half-back at Wellington College where he failed to make the First XV. He played No. 8 for two seasons (1957/1958) with Paremata Rugby Club, was selected for a Wellington XV in 1958, and was selected to reserve for the Wellington provincial team in 1958. A feat unheard of, a second division club (Paremata) having a provincial player. In 1959, Gray joined Petone, rapidly earning elevation to full provincial honours.

Gray was a longtime captain of Petone. From 1959 to 1969 the Villagers won 126 out of 177 matches, including the Jubilee Cup in 1959, 1961, 1967 1968, and 1969. Wellington moved him to prop in 1961, but he continued as a lock for his club until 1963, the same year he earned selection for the All Blacks.

Gray played 128 games for Wellington from 1959 to 1969 (Captain from 1964-1969). In 1963 he was part of the Wellington team that beat Auckland 8-3 to lift the Ranfurly Shield on Eden Park. Auckland had held the ‘Log ‘0 Wood’ for 25 consecutive defences. In 1965 he was part of the team that beat the Springboks 23-6 and a year later the British & Irish Lions 20-6.

Even at 31, Gray would have been a cornerstone in the All Blacks’ campaign to win in South Africa for the first time in 1970. But the stench of the apartheid regime was becoming ever more rancid. Gray opted not to tour in protest at the political situation in the republic. Māori still went, but were classed as “Honorary Whites”. Ken quietly retired on Boxing Day 1969, despite the All Blacks selectors repeatedly trying to change his mind.

He was elected a Hutt County Councillor in 1971. His father preceded him as a member of the Hutt County Council. In 1973 he was elected as an inaugural member of the Porirua City Council, serving until 1977.

He joined the Labour Party and became the vice-chairman of the Kapiti Labour Electorate Committee. Gray served as a board member for New Zealand Rail and chairman of the Government Health Sponsorship Council.

In 1986 he was elected to the Wellington Regional Council in the Porirua ward and served until 1992. He was chair of the council’s operations committee and between 1989 and 1992 he was the council’s deputy chairman.

Gray publicly supported the legalisation of homosexuality in New Zealand, a stance for which he received much criticism from contemporaries. He was responsible for pushing many progressive environmental initiatives and employed at-risk youth on his farm.

In the 1990 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Gray was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to local-body affairs.

In August 1992, Gray was selected as the Labour candidate for the Western Hutt parliamentary electorate in the 1993 election. Tragically, Gray died of a heart attack on 18 November 1992 aged 54. Despite the Western Hutt seat being held by National at the time, historian Lindsay Knight said it was “a seat which Gray almost certainly would have won.”

Labour Party leader and former Prime Minister Sir Mike Moore said “Ken was an outstanding citizen. He was a man of firm principle. He would have made a marvelous MP. Having given more than most people in two lifetimes, he still had so much more to give us.”

Wellington College acknowledges Gray in their annual traditional match with St Patrick’s College, Silverstream with the Ken Gray Memorial Trophy. Petone has run an Academy for developing players since 1995 named after Ken. Paremata-Plimmerton and Petone have played for the Ken Gray Cup annually in the Swindale Shield since 2015.

Gray gifted eight of his Test rugby jerseys to the Paremata-Plimmerton Rugby Club in 1984. Until 2024 the identities of those who wore the jerseys were unknown but are in the process of being unveiled.

Some of Gray’s jerseys, as seen in the Paremata-Plimmerton clubrooms.

Jerseys from internationals against Ireland (1963), Wales (1963), England (1964), Scotland (1964 & 67) South Africa (1965), France (1968).*

Recognising the taonga the club held Kery Martin, along with Moana Parata (mother of Premier captain Taine) and Logan Ainsworth initiated a legacy project to clean, preserve, and represent the history of the taonga, with the support of Joy Gray, Ken’s Widow.

The value of such items is unknown but the Welsh jersey from 1963 belongs to Newport legend David Watkins. He played 202 games for Rodney Pride and 21 Tests for Wales from 1963-67, winning a Five Nations Triple Crown in 1964-65 and captained the British & Irish Lions in the second and fourth Test against the All Blacks in New Zealand in 1966. In 1967 Watkins signed a $ 16,000-pound (just under two million pounds today) contract to play rugby league. He played 407 games for Salford (Manchester) and scored 2,907 points. He scored at least a point in 92 consecutive games. Watkins passed away on September 23, 2023, aged 81.

*An Australia jersey given to Ken Gray by All Blacks teammate Bruce Watt, who played several exhibitions at the club in the 70s and 80s, hung on the wall until Watt’s widow Valerie asked for it back in 2023. Watt passed on 15 July 2021 aged 82 and the jersey was presented to Valerie for her grandkids after Paremata-Plimmerton defeated Petone 53-24 on 17 June 2023. Bruce Watt (All Black 628) was a first five who played 29 undefeated matches (eight Tests) for the All Blacks from 1962 to 1964. He was revered for his two-try debut in a 20-6 win over the Wallabies in Brisbane in 1962. His only other Test points were equally memorable, a 30m dropped goal to clinch a 6-0 win over Wales at Cardiff in 1964. The All Blacks hadn’t beaten Wales since 1935. A marathon runner and Hawke Cup cricketer for Rangitikei, Watt made his senior first-class rugby debut for Wanganui as an 18-year-old in 1957, then moved to Christchurch in 1959. Linking with the famous Christchurch club, Watt played 117 matches for Canterbury and was a regular South Island representative. He was later a coach of Marlborough (1976) and Nelson Bays (1978-79). The Wallabies jersey that Paremata-Plimmerton had was the 10 jersey from Watt’s famed debut. It was worn by Wallaby first five Norman Storey (Wallaby 474) and it was the first time Australia wore gold jerseys in a Test against the All Blacks. Gold jerseys first appeared as a backup item on the 1961 tour of South Africa. Storey was a clever, talented and much-traveled fly half whose international career was impacted by injury and the emergence of the great Phil Hawthorne. He was born in Sydney and was educated at The Scots College, where he played three seasons in the 1st XV, and went on to become a commercial airline pilot. He played his club rugby with Eastern Suburbs. In 1962, Storey was selected as the starting fly half for New South Wales to play the All Blacks. New South Wales pulled off a stunning 12-11 upset and Storey was rewarded with a Test debut in Brisbane. Wallabies captain Peter Johnson later said that Storey was “arguably Australia’s best player” but he was one of six changes made for the second Test and never played for Australia again, but he did captain Western Australia. Storey died on 20 November 2023 aged 87. He had three children and seven grandchildren.

Erika Rere

Erika Rere (nee Ratu) started her rugby career as a child stealing balls and playing on the sidelines while watching her father play at the Waimana Rugby Club in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. By 1990, she was one of New Zealand’s leading props and in 1991 was part of the first New Zealand Women’s Rugby World Cup team. Her jersey hangs on the clubhouse wall represented by Rere (Black Fern 30) to Bob Smith, manager of the influential 1990 Paremata-Plimmerton women’s team. The jersey has number one on the back and was the only jersey that Rere wore in her international career.

In the 80s Rere moved to Porirua where she played basketball. An advert in the local Kapiti Mana newspaper for women players to meet up at Porirua Rugby Club (now known as Northern United) caught her eye and she was keen to have a go.

Rere quickly flourished and was in contention for the first New Zealand women’s team to play the Californian Grizzlies in 1989.

“Because women’s rugby had only started in Wellington, I was named a ‘nonplaying’ reserve. The New Zealand team back then was largely made up of Auckland and Canterbury players. I think I was the only Wellington rep. I felt disappointed at not being able to play, but that only made me more determined to train hard and get into future teams,” Rere said.

In 1990 Paremata Plimmerton entered a team in the inaugural Wellington Senior championship containing seven teams. Coached by her husband John Rere and Frank Ngatai (a former military officer) Paremata Plimmerton won the Fleurs Cocktail Bar Trophy undefeated in 13 games, outscoring opponents 493-54. Remarkably, 18 of the 25 women in the squad had never played rugby,

In August Paremata Plimmerton ventured to the groundbreaking World Rugby Festival in Christchurch. Victories over Nagoya, Tokyo, Burnside-Merivale, Holland, and Teachers ensured a passage through to the final of the club tournament against the Crusadettes, boasting eight New Zealand representatives. In an epic tussle, Paremata Plimmerton went down by eight points. Rere wrote in Te Awa-iti, Porirua on August 23, 1990.

“The finale was a hard, fast, and physical game, with both teams not giving an inch. Canterbury in the dying minutes of the first half managed to slip past the right Paremata Plim’s defense and score a try in the corner. The second half saw some good bursts by the Paremata Plim’ forwards but we couldn’t finish off the good efforts by us.”

She was named Paremata Plimmerton player of the year; and subsequently selected for the New Zealand XV for the internationals at the same tourney alongside teammates Fiona Johnson and Lise Baker. Winger Mel Bossman (nee Ngati) later became a two-time Rugby World Cup-winning prop.

Ericka Rere’s Black Ferns jersey, in the Paremata-Plimmerton clubrooms.

Rere played in victories against Holland (56-0), the Soviet Union (8-0), and the USA (9-3) and started the final match (effectively a 1991 World Cup trial) against the World XV. She was singled out for special praise by New Zealand coach Laurie O’Reilly who observed after the 12-4 win.

“She’s only recently turned to propping, but she’s fast, strong, and good on the charge.”

Rere attended the World Cup in Cardiff and was rewarded with a start in every game on the loosehead side of the scrum. New Zealand made the semi-finals and was unbeaten in a handful of lead-up matches, most of which she featured. Propping runs in the family genes; All Blacks prop Kane Hames is a cousin.

“The whole World Cup was the biggest buzz. So many memories come flooding back when I look at the worn-out photo albums.

“Beforehand I turned up, to the Porirua shopping mall to visit every shop to ask for money. After the third shop, I was intercepted by security and told I was forbidden from doing what I was doing unless I had a permit. When I explained, I was fundraising to go to the World Cup the mall management gave me the permit and $500. It was incredible. Even the Tawa Rugby Club held a fundraiser for me. We used to laugh all their players looked like models. How could these skinny blondes play rugby?”

Rere’s original 1991 World Cup jersey that resides at the Paremata-Plimmerton rugby club is historic because it comes from the first official Test match the Black Ferns played. Paremata-Plimmerton life member Bob Smith lobbied for a senior women’s team to exist and help organise many fixtures and fundraising schemes for the Rere, including his famous discos.

Rere stopped playing in 1994 to become a Jehovah’s Witness, a commitment which she has remained to this day. Rere recalls breaking the news to Laurie O’Reilly.

“When I told him he put his hand on my shoulder and said it was a good decision and he wouldn’t stand in my way. Other people were angry with my decision, but having Laurie’s support meant a lot. I was sad when I heard he had passed away.”

She is an HR coordinator for Red Badge Security and worked for Aotea Finance as a lending officer for a dozen years. She is also involved in catering for major sports events.

She named her first child after Litara Lua, a Paremata-Plimmerton teammate and Tokelauan firefighter who tragically drowned while fishing for seafood.

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