Honours Board

All blacks

M.J.A.Cooper
D.A.Evans
B.D.M.Furlong
S.Gemmell
I.R.MacRae
F.Shelford
E.R.G.Steere
K.R.Tremain

END OF SEASON AWARDS

PAST CLUB OFFICIALS

FOUNDERS CUP
Competition between the Napier Marist and Napier High School Old Boys Rugby Clubs was always intense, so much so that in June 1958, a     Mr J.P.Flood presented a trophy for competition between the two  clubs Senior teams.  The  trophy, the
Brother Virgilius Cup, was named after a co-founder of the Napier Marist Rugby  Club, Rev Brother Virgilious.

Winners over the Years:
1958  Marist  16-9
1959  Napier OB  21-0
1960  Marist  15-9
1961  Napier OB  19-5
1962  Marist  16-3 
1963  Marist  6 Napier OB 6
1964  Napier OB  11-9
1965  Napier OB  8-0
1966  Marist  8-6
1967  Napier OB  21-17
1968  Napier OB  14-8
1969  Napier OB  19-8
1970  Marist  11-6
1971  Marist  17-14
1972  Napier OB  15-9 
1973  Napier OB  15-9
1974  Marist  35-3
1975  Napier OB  7-0
1976  Marist  16-9
1977  Marist  59-6
1978  Napier OB  18-6
1979  Marist  14-6
1980  Marist  23-7
1981  Napier OB  16-6
1982  Marist  36-6
1983  Napier OB  22-21   
1984  Napier OB  24-18
1985  Marist  19-9
1986  Marist  25-10
1987  Marist  17-6
1988  Marist  23-16
1989  Marist  34-13
1990

Info re the winners scores are currently being researched....  Ed

Club History

Merge two of Hawkes Bays most successful clubs and the result is Napier Old Boys Marist.... a powerful force in Hawke's Bay Sport.

The new organisation was formed from the amalgamation of Marist and Napier Old Boys clubs in late 1990. Both clubs have a proud history of sporting success since being founded in the early 1900's. They are in fact among the Bays most successful clubs, with a total of some 28 Maddison Trophy titles between them within a 60 year period.

Napier Old Boys, established in 1910, won the first of their 15 inter town championships in 1930 while Marist, founded in 1908, first became champions in 1936 and finished with 11.

Anyone around during the heady days of the 1960's and early 1970's will relate tales of titanic battles between the two clubs for inter town supremacy.Games between the McLean Park based clubs often attracted crowds of 4000 to 5000 , more than for most Bay Rep matches these days.

Marist won the Maddison Trophy in 1962 and 63 and shared the title with Old Boys in 1969-the last season of the three season Hawke's Bay Ranfurly Shield reign. The Kel Tremain led Napier Old Boys won the trophy seven times between 1964-71. The two clubs supplied near two thirds of the Bay shield squad during that magnificent 1966-69 era.

Although Napier Old Boys failed to win the Maddison Trophy after sharing it with Taradale in 1971, they did win the Baywide championship in 1988.The provincial competition (for which the Maddison Trophy has been at stake from 1990) was won by Marist in 1987 (also their last Maddison inter town success) and in 1989.




Club Life Member and Patron Bruce Hawkins unveils the Foundation Stone for the new club complex at Tremain Field, Park Island on Sunday 4 June 2000.  From left Club Chairman Phil Beck, guest speaker Sir Brian Lochore and Club President Gary Macdonald.

AND THE NEW ERA
The combining of two glorious histories such as these naturally led to more success.  But this took some ten year following the amalgamation in 1991. Yes it was not until 2001 and with the club based at it's new club base, Tremain Field that the first Maddison Trophy win by Napier Old Boys Marist was recorded. 

YEAR OF 'THE TREBLE'
Following on from this first major trophy win, 2002 got even better.  The season commenced with the Howard Murray led Premier's taking out the prestigious Spillane Cup at the annual NZ Marist's Easter tournament in Palmerston North - a first for the combined club.  The next triumph saw the first round Nash Cup title come OB Marist's way.  And to top of a memorable year another Maddison Trophy victory added up to an impressive array of silverware on display in the clubrooms.

No doubt a future of success lies ahead as the club comes of age.........

2002 NAPIER OLD BOYS MARIST PREMIERS
Winners of the McKew Cup and the
 'treble' 
Spillane Cup - Nash Cup -  Maddison Trophy
Played 21- Won 20 - Lost 1    Points For 668 - Points Against 201

Back row: Marius Kriel, Steve Kahu, Glen Varcoe, Bevan Pickett, Paki Waerea.
Third row: BenTrew, Clint Chamberlain, Michael Johnson, Alan Gardiner, Nigel Halpin, Adam Jerram, Herman Ah Kiong, Earl Anderson.
Second row: Peter Bainbridge (Manager), Glynn Smith, Ian Baty, David Byrne, Jason Rhodes, Bevan Hanlon, Paul Teddy, Phillip Rumpler (Coach).
Front row: Pat Benson (Manager), Manu Petera, Scott Taylor, Howard Murray, Donovan Hall, Maaka Papuni, Phil Beck (Chairman).
Absent: Jason Bright, Richard Caccioppoli, Mich Dennehy (Asst. Coach), John Galo, Steve Harrison, Tane Lee, Johnno Williams, Tony Snell (Physio).

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- The Amalgamation -

 Letter sent to members of both clubs 2 July 1990 -
"As most of you would have heard by now our two clubs are contemplating an amalgamation in time for the 1991 season, we are jointly taking  this opportunity to inform you of the facts.
To date sub-committees of both Clubs have held two meetings to investigate the possibilities of an amalgamation.
Representing Napier High School Old Boys are: Bill Reilly, GrahamWall, Gary Macdonald, Jim Fitzsimons and Neil Tilton-Mist.  From Napier Marist Old Boys are: Dennis Buckley, Ian MacRae, Kevin Murphy, Joe Kelly  and Eddie Wilson.
As Chairmen of both Clubs we feel it is important that our members are kept informed through regular communiques as to our progress in these discussions, rather than hearing speculative comments from other sources."
 
Signed: Bill Reilly, Chairman Napier HSOB   &   Dennis Buckley, Chairman,
Napier Marist Old Boys
 
'Daily Telegraph' quotes: Mr Buckley said there had been no stumbling blocks in the joint discussions so far," and like Mr Reilly had previously indicated that he was hopeful that the combined working party could work out details to members of both clubs' satisfaction.  "We want to advance quickly but we want  to be seen  to be doing it very correctly."
Both men applauded the co-operation between the two clubs to date.  "If we are going to merge it will be by the end of the season so we can start operating together over the summer," said Mr Reilly.  There was, however, considerable work to do before achieving that position. "Special meetings of both clubs will have to be called and  will have to approve the proposal."

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> As something of a forerunner to a possible amalgamation ocurred in 1989 and again in 1990 when Napier Old Boys and Marist fielded a combined XV in the Division 3 grade which was coached by Barry McBride, as neither club had quite sufficient numbers to make up a competitive team in this grade on their own.  Napier Old Boys only other team at this stage had been relegated the previous year to Division 2.  Under coach Jim Fitzsimons, Old Boys won the Division 2 grade in 1990 and the right to promotion back into Division 1 in 1991.   Marist fielded a Division 1 (Premier), Division 2, Division 3A, (+ the Division 3B combined XV), Colts and Under 19 sides.
 
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'TeamTalk'
October -
Marist Annual Report 
BARTON AVENUE  Barton Avenue certainly made the Club take a long and hard look at its resources.  Now the property has been sold many may ask what happend?  In summary DEBT exceeding $200,000 potentially could have place the club in a position it was unable to contend with.  Notwithstanding  this early realisation the executive worked long and hard at the project, and it would have been fair to say failed on two counts. While there was manpower and some finance forthcoming, however there certainly was nowhere enough.

AMALGAMATION  Due to be decided once and for all on 29th October, again many may ask why?  Once Barton Avenue was sold the membership who have looked at several projects over recent years and driven by a level of expectancy, generated by examining  these various projects have reacted with strong support for a merger with Napier Old Boys, our McLean Park neighbours.  While the merger is logical and has many benefits for both clubs, members should at the Special Meeting be clear on the path they wish the club to take and be prepared to thoroughly examine the proposals.

1990 SUMMARY  In summary the club performance this past season was a great effort.  On the field, achievements were of a high standard annexing two championships and supplying some outstanding players to representative duty.  We had some excellent nights on the social scene and promoted the Madison Trophy final in a format continued by the Hawkes Bay Rugby Union for the representaive season.  The club made a healthy profit and is in a sound  financial position with a small overdraft to conclude the season.

LOOKING BACK  It is time to reflect back on the work of the founders, workers and players over the past eighty years and remember  with pride  their contributions to our Club.

Dennis Buckley, Chairman

'Herald Tribune'  29th October sports reporter Brent Reid: In the editorial in the October issue of 'TeamTalk'  editor Eddie Wilson said: "It has been a pleasant surprise as to just how well and painlessly we have joined so earnestly together.  Wilson who attended the joint sub-committee meetings, said delegates respected the values and traditions of the respective clubs in pursuing a common interest for a successful amalgamation.
"During this time we have covered almost every aspect for the formation of a new combined club to be up and running by mid-November 1990 and be ready to play for the 1991 season.  Wilson said the proud heritage of both clubs, spanning more than eighty two years for Marist and eighty for Old Boys, should ensure the new club becomes a major force in
Hawkes Bay rugby."  
"An important ingredient of the proposed merger is that both clubs will retain their identities in the new name Napier Old Boys Marist," he said.
 
'Daily Telegraph'  29th October - Both club's Annual General Meetings had Notices of Motion on their agendas; 'That the Amalgamation of the two clubs be approved'.  Marist's annual meeting was unanimous in approving the merger proposal while Old Boys members were 90% in favour of joining forces with their long-time rivals and McLean Park neighbours.  Meetings over recent months between representatives of the clubs had paved the way for the amalgamation and only the signing of a contract remains to complete the exercise.  This formalisation will be signed-off by the chairmen Bill Reilly and Dennis Buckley who at the new Napier Old Boys Marist Rugby Football Club Inc inaugural Annual Meeting will both stand for the top job.  Other executive positions within the new organisation appear to have been settled by a trade-off system with even representation.
 
 
'Daily Telegraph'  8th November 1990 - Former Marist chairman Dennis Buckley won the job as chairman of Hawke's Bay's newest rugby club  -  Napier Old Boys Marist - last night.  The meeting was attended by 120 members of the two former clubs.  "Everything went well - there was a positive attitude and no dissension on any vote" the inaugural President Blair Furlong said. 

The officers elected are as follows:

Patrons - Bruce Hawkins and Frank Mahony. 
President - Blair Furlong. 
Chairman - Dennis Buckley. 
Secretary - Linda Hogan.  Treasurer - Sheryl Woolhouse. 
Vice Presidents - Neville Chittenden, Mick Dennehy snr., Tony Dick,  David Evans, Murray Holland, Clyde Jeffery, Peter Kale, Jim McGrail, Rod McRae, Jim McMinn, Pat Magill, Leo Murphy,  Kevin O'Connor,  Gerard O'Shaugnessy,  Sir Russell Pettigrew,  Ernie Smith, Bill Reilly, Kel Tremain, Bill Willis. 
Life Members - The life members of both former clubs bacame life members of Napier Old Boys Marist
Delegates - Napier Sub Union - Gary Macdonald.  NZ Marist Rugby Federation - Eddie Wilson.  Napier Old Boys Association - Kevin Douglas. 
Executive Committee - Phil Beck, Tom Davis, Paul Campbell, Terry Gittings, Ian MacRae, Jim Meredith, Richard Nichol, Bill Reilly, Mark Tremain,
Graham Wall, Neil Weber,  Ian Winnie. 

Club Captain - Kevin Murphy  Assistant Club Captain - Shane Gibson. 
Junior Club Captains - Ross McDonald & Dawn Clements.

Coaches for the 1991 season:
Senior 1 - Jim Fitzsimons. 
Senior 2 - Laurie Kaye & Irwin Wirepa. 
Senior 3 - John Symons & Gary Taurimu. 
Colts - Andy Robertson & Ken Johnstone. 
Under 19 - Tom Davis, Jack Davis , Derek Woodford.

Life Members

Life Members:
R.J.Blundell
R.Exeter
Dr A.F.Foley
H. Hall
T.W.D.Ireland
J.J.Kelly
R.N.I.Macdonald
M.McGill
I.R.MacRae
T.F.Mahony
B.R.Meredith
E.H.Wilson
P.S. Bainbridge
W.P.B. Benson
G.J. MacDonald
W.J. Reilly 

FLASHBACK  -  Those Were the Days  -  TeamTalk  1991

The Amalgamation  Begins....................
 
Under new Premier team coach Jim Fitzsimons Old Boys Marist kicked of the their pre-season rugby  by picking up new clubs first silverware in winning the Hawkes Bay Sevens title at the Waipawa hosted tournament.  The proven first five-halfback duo of Peter O'Shaughnessy and Neil Weber departed  for an early season five match Australian tour as members of the NZ Divisional team.
 
The 1991 Spillane Tournament was replaced by a one-off national Marist tournament  hosted by the Marist St PatsClub in Wellington at Easter. Some 28 affiliated clubs from throughout the country participated in the u7 division event, with the four metropolitan clubs playing in division one.  In division two Napier OBM played against the winners of the 1990 South Island tournament Hokitika, in their opening pool game winning convincingly in the end 44-6.
In Easter Mondays final the new Napier club who lead the other sections day one winner Hamilton Marist 22-6 at the break, went on to notch up a 40-12 win to take out the division two title.
 
Napier's efforts were recognised by their consistent performances over the weekends competition with prop Greg Halford, lock Aaron Bartlett and the 'Leinster Express'  Mick Dennehy on the wing being  selected  for the  New Zealand Marist XV.  Mick's nickname came courtesy of the Irish media when he played a season with the Skerries RFC as the Marist's Irish exchange player, and he proved his worth as a prolific try scorer in the Leinster competition.  Mick also carried this through as a Magpie representative with his hat-trick in the Bays 43-6 win over neighbours Poverty Bay.
 
Havelock North ended the Premiers Maddison Trophy hopes 15-26 in the semi-finals. The much bigger loss though was to Old Boys Marist's general Peter O'Shaughnessy who suffered a second bout of concussion in successive weeks.  This unnecessary injury accounted for his premature retirement from the game as a player.    Peter's vast experience club, provincial and international levels has since been of great benefit to the club in the coaching field both at Premier and Junior levels.
 
The new club's first Hawkes Bay club competition game played at McLean Park was against old rivals Taradale resulting in a hard fought 15-6 win to Old Boys Marist.  The team finished the first round as runners-up winning 10 of their 11 matches, losing only to Clive 15-18.
 
The Premiers leading point scorers for the first up 1991 season were Peter O'Shaughnessy with 264 from 16 games club
games. And Mick Dennehy with 21 tries from 16 games.
 
Teams fielded by the club in 1991 included - Premier, Division 2, Division 3, Division 4, Colts, Under 19.  The Junior Club fielded 15 teams in the first year and six of their layers were selected for the Napier Ross Shield XV.  Karl McDonald went on to make the Hawkes Bay Ross Shield side. Our Shamrock Golden Oldies team presented the club with a cheque for $1000 toward the purchase of gear for our Junior rugby division.
 
The club organised the Coca-Cola Invitation Sevens tournament at McLean Park which featured two teams from Napier Boys High, St John's College, Colenso High and two Old Boys Marist Colts teams. Pool one final saw an 18-14 to NBHS 'A' over NBHS 'B'  and in Pool two St John's 'A' defeated OB Marist 'A' 24-4.  The Napier Boys High 'A' sevens side went onto win the HB Secondary Schools Sevens title at the provincial tournament.
 
Of interest the Coca Cola tournament winning teams featured players who later 'teamed up with OB Marist'.  From St John's - Clint Chamberlain, Mark O'Shaughnessy, Aidan Gilhooly, Mathew Hannan, Mike Kearney, Eddie Savage.  And from Napier BHS - Scott Taylor and Earl Anderson.

Under the guidance of coach Laurie Kaye the club fielded two teams in the North Island Marist Guinness Sevens which were hosted and run by the College Old Boys Marist Club in Taupo, and played at the Owen Delany Stadium.  Sixteen teams from nine of the affiliated clubs participated in this inaugural event.  The club's 'A' team recorded wins over Taupo OBM 30-6, Tauranga's Greerton Marist 20-6 and Wellington MSP 20-4 on their way to the Cup final against an impressive Auckland Marist lineup who tookout the title with a 40-14 win.   Our 'B' combination had a default win over Marist North Harbour (maybe Sid McCann couldn't find his boots?),  a 16-20 loss to MSP 'A',  then wins over Palmerston North Marist  42-0, Hutt Valley Marist 22-16 to make the Plate final which saw Napier winning a tough encounter 12-7 against Counties Marist.     
 
Club finances were assisted  what would prove to be a major source of income  for several years - Housie.  This was initially run from the Onekawa Hotel but then transferred to the club's Latham Street headquarters.  This regular income stream was helped pay of two thirds of the club's $100K mortgage.  A great team of volunteers who ran the weekly operation included Joe Kelly, Jim Meredith, Neville Chittenden, Gerard O'Shaughnessy, Peter Loomes, Ron Halpin and the late Ian Winnie to name a few.
 
Non-playing member Bill Ripley was instrumental in getting an Old Boys Marist Supporters Club going.  And John Hogan, one of a band of an enthusiastic 'youngsters' was the driving force behind the club's Shamrocks Golden Oldies team.
 
REPS 1991
NZ Divisional Team - Peter O'Shaughnessy, Neil Weber.
NZ Colts - Greg Halford.
The Club's first Hawke's Bay 'A' representative players - Aaron Bartlett, Mick Dennehy,  Gary Exeter,  Alan Gardiner, Greg Halford,  Mark McHattie, Neil Weber.
Hawkes Bay Sevens - Mick Dennehy, Gary Exeter, Alan Gardiner,  Jonathon O'Dowd,  Peter O'Shaughnessy, Neil Weber.
 
Premier prop Pat Benson, also a noted Ocean Beach Kiwi Surf Club member received Surf Life Saving New Zealand's highest honour when he was named  'NZ Surf Lifeguard of the Year'.
 
The Old Boys-Pirates and Marist Cricket Clubs amalgamated during the winter to be become the Napier Old Boys Marist Cricket Club in preparation for the new club's teams to enter the HBCA 1991/92 club competition. 
The officers of the new club were: Chairman - Lee Ford. Secretary - Brian O'Rourke.  Treasurer - John O'Shaughnessy. Club Captain - Lawrence Willis. Committee - Jeff Blake, Matt Browne, Bernie Duley, Phil Stevens, Mike Swaysland.
 The club fielded a Premier, Senior 1, Senior 2, Senior 3, Presidents and Womens teams.
 
And Did You Know ?  Who scored the new club's first 'ton'  - Stu Gourdie  (Senior 2 batsman) with 101 on  the opening day of the season.  And in the bowling stakes veteran (and also rugby club President) Blair Furlong, after a two year lay-off captured his fourth hat-trick - in a career spanning almost three decades.
 
Coaches Appointed - At the conclusion of the 1991 season, Laurie Kaye and Graham Weber were appointed coaches of the Premier team for the 1992 season.
 
The club's NZ Marist Colt on the tour of the Nelson - East Coast was Anthony Hannan.  1991 Napier Old Boys Marists first Sportsman of the Year -Shane Gibson.