Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 136: Clarrie Gibbons

Clarrie Gibbons was synonymous with rugby in Wellington for many years

Gibbons was a player in Wellington in the early 1930s, then a Wellington A selector and coach in the 1950s and 1960s and later an administrator and WRFU Chairman between 1964-68 and NZRU President in 1967.

As well as rugby, Gibbons was a track athlete in his youth and was subsequently New Zealand’s first marathon champion in 1939.

As a coach and selector, Gibbons was directly involved in Wellington teams that won the Ranfurly Shield in 1953, 1956 and 1963.

Clarence Gordon Gibbons was born in Marton on 4 November 1905 and was educated at Marton District High School. He commenced his first-class rugby career as a player in 1927 for Whanganui. He also played for Whanganui in 1929.

In 1930 he moved to Wellington and joined the Eastbourne club, who were then a leading contender in the new Jubilee Cup competition and who were coached by former All Black Teddy Roberts.

This was the season that Eastbourne were runners-up to Petone in the Jubilee Cup, losing to them in the ‘final’ at Athletic Park that season.  Petone won 14-6 in front of 10,000 spectators, but with a season record of 10 wins, four losses and a draw, Eastbourne were a clear second.

Eastbourne were sixth in 1931, but were contention for the title again in 1932, finishing a close third behind Pōneke.

In 1933 Gibbons was coaching an Eastbourne junior team and was on the club’s committee, as well as playing, as Eastbourne were eighth in the Senior Championship.

By 1934, Eastbourne’s stocks had fallen, and they were competition wooden-spooners. But they famously beat Petone 17-0 in the last game of that season, which was likely Gibbons’ final match for them.

In 1935 he moved to Dunedin in his work role as the commercial manager for Otago and Southland for the New Zealand Truth newspaper, where he would remain for five years before the start of the second world war when he joined the army.

Whilst in Dunedin he coached the Mosgiel club for all those five years. He also helped coach and select the Otago representative side in 1938,1939 and 1940.

In the late 1930s he was in Dunedin and was an Otago selector 1938-40.

These Otago teams were amongst the best in the country at the time and they won the Jubilee Cup in 1938 when they beat Southland 7-6 on 30 July, defended it five times then lost it again to Southland 10-5 on 10 September.

Continuing his athletics prowess from his youth, in 1939 Gibbons won the inaugural New Zealand Marathon Championship, winning the race in Napier in a time of 2:44:56.2

Gibbons spent time in the Pacific Islands during the war and played a lot of rugby in various camps until the end of 1945, including captaining the Army and Navy team against Fiji in the last year of the war, aged 41.

Returning to Wellington after the war, Gibbons resumed coaching Eastbourne and was elected on to the WRFU committee for the first time.

In 1952 he was first appointed to the Wellington selection panel, continuing in that post for nine straight seasons until 1960 when he became a North Island selector for a season in 1961.

In shades of Otago in 1938, in 1953, Wellington won the Ranfurly Shield off Waikato 9-6 on 1 August, defended it five times and then lost it to Canterbury 24-3 on 19 September.

In 1956, Wellington won it off Canterbury 8-0, defended it once against Auckland in 1956 and three more times in 1957 before losing it to Otago 19-11.

Gibbons’ fourth stint and third for Wellington being involved with the Ranfurly Shield was also the briefest. On 31 August 1963 Wellington beat Auckland 8-3, then a week late on 7 September lost to Taranaki 17-3 and the log ‘o Wood was on its way again.

Gibbons returned to be a Wellington selector in 1962 and 1963, before a change in 1964 saw Bill Freeman was appointed sole selector-coach of the Wellington representative team.

That same year, Gibbons took over from Norman Millard as WRFU Chairman and was Chairman for five seasons until stepping down in early 1969 to be replaced by Jack Taylor.

In 1967, Gibbons was elected President of the NZRU, in its 75^th season.

Gibbons was made a Life Member of the WRFU when he ended his tenure as the union’s Chairman in 1969

By the late 1960s he was still coaching Eastbourne and other teams in various grades.

For many years Gibbons owned and operated the famous bookstall in Post Office Square – with the then NZRU and WRFU offices both nearby at the time – this was in turn taken over by his son Murray when he retired.

Gibbons’ brother Ken played for Whanganui in 1929 while still at school as a boarder at New Plymouth Boys’ High School. In 1930 the 19-year-old captained his team in their match against the touring Great Britain side.

Gibbons died in Upper Hutt on 26 March 1986.

REFERENCES

• Akers, Clive. New Zealand Rugby Register 1870-2015. New Zealand Rugby Museum, 2016.
• Club Rugby – previous articles published at https://clubrugby.nz/wp/2023/07/18/ranfurly-shield-match-savers-wellington-v-auckland-1956/
• https://clubrugby.nz/wp/2022/09/22/when-wellington-won-the-ranfurly-shield-off-waikato-ushering-in-50-days-of-fanfare/
• The Dominion /Papers Past – various editions early 1930s
• Knight, Lindsay, Shield Fever. The Complete Ranfurly Shield Story. Rugby Press Ltd, Auckland 1986.
• Veysey, Alex and Fox, Bob. Wellington’s Rugby History 1951-1979, Part 2. Tolan Printing Co, 1979. In particular an article on C.G. Gibbons WRFU Chairman 1964-69, pp12-17.