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Kirwee Rugby Football Club

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NameKirwee Rugby Football ClubDescriptionIn 2006, the Kirwee Rugby Club commemorated 100 years of club rugby, and more than 300 members celebrated and reminisced at a grand banquet. Today, there is still pride in the club jersey, with the motto being 'work hard, play hard and be part of the club culture'.

Kirwee is a club where traditions are valued and a presence in the future is assured. The club played its first games against Darfield just prior to the Malvern Rugby Sub Union being formed in 1906 when competition also began.

Even in these first few games the club had some interesting stories to tell. Usually they involved copious quantities of liquid refreshments. Some traditions never die. Play got so rough in one early match against Darfield that many players finished minus their shorts and jerseys and the referee walked off in disgust.

In 1907, Len Leslie drove two horses pulling a dray full of Kirwee players to Springfield. The beer began to flow before the team had even reached the ground, so it was not surprising that they were beaten by a comparatively sober Springfield. However, in the return game Kirwee got their revenge with a 30-point win. They must have had lemonade on this trip.

A shortage of players during World War 1 meant club activities were discontinued, however the late 1920s brought a new surge of players and junior competition matches were introduced. Joe Bolton, who played for the club between 1944 and 1952, said his greatest memory was switching from a coach who was a farmer to another who was the local minister.

"He didn't know much about rugby but my father always said he could keep us together as a team well. In 1950 the senior team went on to win every competition of the year."

President of the Centennial Committee, Russell Calder, has a long association with the club, dating back to the 1960s. He went right through the grades reaching senior A in 1979. However, it wasn't the games that stuck out so much in his mind now as the antics they got up to as under-20s.

'We had a hard-case coach called Jack Stubberfield and you wouldn't believe the things we used to get up to on a Saturday night. On one occasion we managed to round the sheep up and get them into his lounge.' The social approach must have worked. That year they beat Springston which hadn't lost a game for two seasons. Mr Calder himself scored the winning try.

Some extremely talented players have gone through the club in its 100-year history.

Former All-Black Jules Le Lievre, and Canterbury player, Robin Cocks, coached Kirwee teams during the early 1960s. One of the best players the club had was Don Hayes who went on to captain the Canterbury team during the shield era in the 1980s. Gavin Hill, who also played in the 1980s, turned to league and went on to play for the Kiwis.

Malvern Record: 04 April 2006

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Kirwee Rugby Football Club