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South Africa vs Wanganui King Country programme

Souvenir programme for the rugby game between Wanganui–King Country and the South African Springboks played at Whanganui on 8 August 1956.

The tourists won 36–16. The local selection was one of eight combined teams the South Africans faced while in New Zealand. They played 23 matches in all, including four tests.

The 1956 Springbok tour to New Zealand had been eagerly anticipated by Kiwi rugby fans still smarting from the 4-0 drubbing the All Blacks had experienced in the 1949 tour. Hopes were high for revenge in the return series in 1956. Waikato obliged with a 14-10 victory in the opening match of the tour. Canterbury and New Zealand Universities also defeated the tourists but it was the 3-1 series win to the All Blacks that gave local fans the greatest satisfaction.

Ian McGibbon collection

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King Country vs Hawke's Bay programme

Souvenir programme for King Country’s Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawke’s Bay at McLean Park, Napier, on 9 August 1969.

This game was the closest King Country has ever come to winning the Ranfurly Shield. Trailing 19–6 early in the second half, King Country was inspired by Colin Meads to score two converted tries, bringing the score back to 19–16. Meads was everywhere. Legend has it that one of the touch judges asked the referee to count how many Bay players were on the field, because ‘I think Meads might have eaten one’. The Bay held on to win the match and keep the Log o’ Wood.

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Logging train with picnic party, 1911

Even bush tramways had their picnic trains. In this January 1911 image, New Year's picnickers perch precariously atop logging wagons near the King Country settlement of Manunui. Such a scene would not have occurred on the more safety-conscious New Zealand Railways' system.

Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: Levesque Collection, F-84474-1/2
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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King Country memorials

Click on pins to find links to memorial pages. Zoom in to find exact locations using Satellite, Map or Street views. Memorials are also listed below the map or you can see them in an image gallery. See memorials from all other regions here, or follow links on right.

King Country rugby

King Country represents the rural traditions that have become the backbone of grassroots rugby in this country. King Country plays in the Heartland Championship, a competition for New Zealand’s amateur and semi-professional provincial unions. One of the two trophies in the Heartland Championship is named after King Country’s legendary Colin (‘Pinetree’) Meads. No other player has better personified New Zealand rugby’s self-image. Along with Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Counties Manukau, King Country is part of the Chiefs Super Rugby franchise.

The King Country Rugby Football Union was formed in 1922. An earlier attempt to form a Main Trunk Union involving a number of smaller sub-unions in the central North Island had failed to gain approval from the New Zealand Rugby Union. Over the next decade King Country grew by acquiring Kawhia, Otorohanga and Kaitieke. The Ruapehu sub-union centred on Ohakune returned to its original parent union of Wanganui in 1970, but in 1987 the Taupo sub-union joined King Country from Hawke’s Bay.

Great moments in King Country rugby

Like many rural unions, King Country has struggled in the professional era to attract and retain players. King Country was promoted to the NPC’s first division in 1992 and managed to cling on to top-flight status until it was relegated at the end of the 1996 season. King Country’s fortunes then went into decline, and by the early 2000s the team found itself in the third division.

King Country vs Hawke's Bay programme, 1969

King Country has failed in 18 attempts to win the Ranfurly Shield. A 19–16 loss to the all-conquering Hawke’s Bay side in 1969 remains King Country’s best effort in a shield challenge. They trailed 19–6 early in the second half before Meads inspired his team to fight back with two converted tries. He was everywhere, so much so that one of the touch judges is said to have asked the referee to count how many Bay players were on the field, because ‘I think Meads might have eaten one’.

In 1966 King Country combined with near neighbours Wanganui to defeat the British Lions 12–6 in one of the biggest triumphs for rugby in the region.

Pinetree

King Country rugby and Colin Meads are inseparable. Selected by New Zealand Rugby Monthly in 1999 as New Zealand’s Player of the Century, Meads remains one of the few players known to most simply by his nickname – Pinetree. He was given this name by three of his New Zealand under-23 teammates - Kevin Briscoe, Roger Boon and Ross Brown (all from Taranaki) on the 1958 tour of Japan. Raised on a farm in Te Kuiti, Meads exemplified the rugged, rural image of heartland rugby in this country. He was a backblocks farmer who – despite becoming the biggest name in New Zealand rugby and playing a then-record 55 tests – remained loyal to his small provincial union as a player, coach and administrator.

In the age of professional rugby Meads has been seen by the media and the public as a champion of the game’s old values. His strength was legendary. For most of Meads’ playing days substitutes were not allowed. During the 1970 tour of South Africa he broke his arm while playing against Eastern Transvaal but stayed on the field. At the end of the match Meads muttered, ‘At least we won the bloody game.’ Exploits like this made him a folk hero and seemed to sum up what we wanted our rugby heroes to be like. His rugged style did not endear him to all. In a match against Scotland at Murrayfield in 1967 Meads became only the second All Black to be ordered off in a test for dangerous play. And he ended the career of the Wallaby halfback Ken Catchpole by wrenching his leg while he was pinned in a ruck during the first test of the 1968 series.

… and others

Meads is undoubtedly the most famous of King Country’s eight All Blacks. But he was not the only Meads to wear the black jersey. Stan Meads played 30 times for the All Blacks between 1961 and 1966. Colin later noted in his best-seller Colin Meads, All Black, that ‘without being parochial, biased or unduly moved by brotherly love, I would say that Stan was the best [locking] partner of all the great ones I had.’

Other players of note to have worn the maroon and gold of King Country include Martin Johnson, the captain of the 2003 World Cup winners, England. Johnson played two seasons for King Country in 1989–90 and gained selection for the New Zealand under-21 side before returning home to England. Paul Mitchell (the brother of former All Black coach John Mitchell and son-in-law of Colin Meads) has played the most first-class games for King Country, 147. Hutana Coffin scored a record 917 points for the union between 1984 and 1995.

Tell us your King Country rugby stories

Add your story to the Community contributions section below. We're also keen to get more regional rugby images - please email us at [email protected]">[email protected] if you can help.

Tensions ease - Maori King movement 1860-94

Normalising relations

It was clear by the 1870s that the Kingitanga posed no threat beyond its borders and was in no fit shape to fight a war. Attempts were made to ease relations between the king and the colonial government, and Tawhiao met Native Minister Donald McLean at Waitomo in 1875. Reserves of land on the west bank of the Waikato River were offered in exchange for taking the oath of allegiance. Tawhiao rejected the offer.

In 1878 Sir George Grey, now the premier, attended the Maehe, an annual hui that saw Kingitanga subjects renew their allegiance and commitment to oppose land selling. Grey's presence was viewed as another step towards normalising relations with the government while retaining the aims of the Kingitanga.

Etching of Whatiwhatihoe

Of greater significance to settlers and the government was the formal act of peace made by the King movement in 1881 at Alexandra (Pirongia). Tawhiao and 500 supporters appeared before the resident magistrate, Major William Mair, and laid down their weapons. This was quickly followed by another attempt to persuade Tawhiao to take the oath of allegiance and open the King Country to settlement. The king was offered a pension, a position as a legislative councillor, the return of 20,000 acres (8100 hectares) of confiscated lands and a furnished house. Tawhiao refused, and continued to bargain for independent authority and the return of all confiscated lands.

In 1892, however, he accepted a government pension. Tawhiao argued that his acceptance was a test of the government's sincerity in promising that he could retain the title of king and control local Maori affairs. Other Waikato leaders were outraged, and Tawhiao was forced to reject the offer.

New initiatives and rebuilding

In 1884 Tawhiao led a deputation to England to petition Queen Victoria. He sought an independent Maori parliament and an independent commission of inquiry into the land confiscations. He stressed that the Kingitanga was not separatist and did not reject the Queen's authority. It was rather an attempt to unify Maori so that they might more effectively claim the Queen's protection. In his view the Maori King and the British Queen could peacefully coexist, with God over both. Maori felt they had a special relationship with their Treaty partner, Queen Victoria, and believed they had a right to meet with her in person. They were to be disappointed. They met instead with Lord Derby at the Colonial Office who referred the petition back to the New Zealand government on the grounds that the imperial government no longer had responsibility for such matters. The New Zealand government dismissed it.

Railway comes to King Country

From 1886 'King committees' operated at Whatiwhatihoe, Kawhia, Aotea, Thames and Ohinemuri, providing local government within Kingitanga territory. These committees issued summonses, heard cases, opposed surveys and blocked government works wherever possible. They also operated in opposition to the committees set up under the Native Committees Act 1883.

A petition was sent to the native minister calling for a Maori legislative council, but this was merely met with another offer to Tawhiao of a seat in the colonial Legislative Council. The Kingitanga made plans for its own parliament, the Kauhanganui, which was set up at Maungakawa, near Cambridge, around 1889 or 1890. The Kauhanganui enabled Tawhiao to communicate with his subjects through tribally appointed delegates.

Maintaining Te Kingitanga - Maori King movement 1860-94

Struggling to survive

King Tawhiao's whare after occupation

By the early 1870s, the Kingitanga was struggling. Living conditions within the Rohe Potae (the Maori King's territory) were poor. Allies such as Ngati Haua had begun selling land again, even before the death of Wiremu Tamihana in 1866, and other tribes outside the Rohe Potae allowed the Native Land Court to sit and recommenced selling land, despite having placed their lands under the Maori King's mana.

In the 1880s, partly to relieve supply problems and partly to increase support in other regions, Tawhiao visited Kingitanga marae throughout the North Island. He was always accompanied by hundreds of supporters, and these visits were later institutionalised as Poukai: annual ceremonial visits to enable the king to meet the people and gather revenue.

Tawhiao's whare, 1885

By 1886 the Land Court was at work within the Rohe Potae, so the Kingitanga centre could not be moved south. Kawhia or Aotea were options, but this would have isolated Tawhiao's followers from the Waikato tribes. Any move north was blocked by the confiscation line. In 1888 Tawhiao was forced to choose between land awarded to his followers in the Compensation Court or the dispersion of his people. He chose to accept the land. A new settlement was developed at Pukekawa, close to Mercer. He moved again in 1893 to Parawera, southwest of Maungatautari.

Living in Ngati Maniapoto country had been difficult from the start. Ngati Maniapoto feared that Waikato actions might lead to confiscation of their lands. The fact that Ngati Maniapoto had escaped confiscation clearly upset many Waikato Kingitanga supporters. Some Ngati Maniapoto feared that Waikato would claim the land on which they were now living. In the end Ngati Maniapoto sought to have their title guaranteed by the Land Court, thus ignoring one of Tawhiao's key edicts.

In 1879 Rewi Maniapoto was 'received like royalty' in Auckland and provided with a house by the government on their side of the aukati (the boundary between Crown and Maori territory). This cleared the way for a deal with Ngati Maniapoto that allowed the government to begin building the main trunk railway across their territory in 1885, guaranteeing European access to the Rohe Potae.

When Rewi Maniapoto returned to the Kingitanga fold by 1884, any hopes of a Maori 'state-within-a state' in the central North Island were effectively dead.