William Michael Osborne (born 24 April 1955) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. A second five-eighth and centre, Osborne represented

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

and

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

at a provincial level. Started his club career with the local Kaierau Rugby Union Club in Wanganui. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, between 1975 and 1982, playing 48 matches including 16 internationals.

Post rugby playing career

After retiring from playing rugby Osborne has had a successful business career, including: * group manager of

New Zealand Post NZ Post ( mi, Tukurau Aotearoa), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunica ...

* CEO of

Quotable Value Quotable Value Limited (QV) is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its main commercial operations are the provision of full market valuations. History QV was originally established as a Crown-owned company on 1 July 1998 a ...

* inaugural chair of 2degrees mobile * chair of CoreLogic New Zealand * director of

Transpower New Zealand Transpower New Zealand Limited (TPNZ) is the state-owned enterprise responsible for electric power transmission in New Zealand. It performs two major functions in the New Zealand electricity market. As the owner of the National Grid it provi ...

* director of Rangitira Services Ltd * director of Ports of Auckland Ltd * serving on the Maori Economic Development Commission * establishing Te Huarahi Tika Trust, a trust handling Maori interests in the radio spectrum * chair of Hautaki Limited, the commercial arm of the Te Huarahi Tika Trust. He also served on the New Zealand Maori Rugby board. In 2017 he was elected vice-president of

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

, later ascending to the president's position. In 2022 he was appointed Chair of the Chiefs Rugby board.

Osborne Taonga

In 2021 a new challenge trophy named after Osborne was announced for the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

teams, to follow similar rules to the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

References

1955 births Living people Rugby union players from Whanganui People educated at Wanganui High School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Wanganui rugby union players Waikato rugby union players Māori All Blacks players Rugby union centres {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1950s-stub