![](https://clubrugby.nz/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Web_banner-Rugby33.png")
Sydney (left) and Jack Shearer, both Poneke/Selwyn/Oriental and Wellington forwards operating a century ago. The Shearer brothers, older brother Sydney and Jack, were both hard-nosed forwards who flourished in Wellington club rugby in the years following the cessation of World War One, both making Wellington representative teams and the All Blacks
Rugby History
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 037: Stan Dean
Stanley Sydney McPherson Dean was a titan rugby administrator for over three decades in the first half of last century. Dean was a Poneke Football Club, WRFU and NZRU administrator, Chairman and President for many years and also served twice as All Blacks manager on two overseas tours. Originally an Aucklander, Dean
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 036: Charlie Gillespie and Alexander Pringle
Gillespie left and Pringle right, Oriental club All Blacks 1913 and 1923. Two Oriental clubmen who played a decade apart but had much in common. Both Gillespie and Pringle were hard-nosed forwards who both gave unwavering commitment to Oriental in Wellington club rugby over several seasons, both played a similar number of
Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 035: Albert de Clifton
The Wellington representative team in 1919, with Albert de Clifton circled. Then, as now, several well-known players stayed in the game post-retirement and became referees. In the early years, people like J.P. Firth and Peter Webb were prominent officials as well as players (in a couple of instances doing both at the
