Focusing on some of the supporters and looking at three individuals that were well known or helped galvanise the Wellington rugby public in years gone by. These days you can count the crowd at some games, it seems. In a bygone era there were many characters and supporters who helped shaped
Rugby History
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 061: Artie Lambourn
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 060: Herb Lilburne
Herb Lilburne could be one of the most valuable players to have ever transferred from Canterbury to Wellington. In the 1920s and 1930s, New Zealand rugby and especially Wellington was blessed with super-talented backs that were popular and helped draw big crowds to the game in an era of wing forwards
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 059: Hugh McLean, Don Oliver and the 1930 Wellington Axemen
Hugh McLean (left) and Don Oliver (right) - both Wellington Axemen All Blacks in 1930. In 1930 the Wellington Football Club won Wellington’s Senior B Championship in emphatic style – scoring 508 points and conceding 29 in 15 matches, in an era of three-point tries. This was perhaps unsurprising, given that the