The Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union was the governing body for

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 it ...

in the Motueka and Golden Bay area, in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand, between 1920 and 1967.

History

The Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union was formed in 1920, following representations by Harry Manoy and Gordon Boundy at the annual meeting of the

New Zealand Rugby Football 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 ...

in Wellington in May of that year, which saw the area split from the

Nelson Rugby Union Nelson Rugby Union was founded in New Zealand in 1885 and played provincial rugby till 1967 when it merged with the Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union to create Nelson-Bays. Nelson in Ranfurly Shield In the history of the Nelson Rugby Union, Nelso ...

Keith Holyoake Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, (; 11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 ...

served as the union's president from 1930 to 1933. After the 1967 season, Golden Bay-Motueka re-amalgamated with Nelson to form the

Nelson Bays Rugby Union Nelson Bays Rugby Union was a New Zealand rugby union team that played from 1968 to 2005. Nelson Bays was founded in 1968 when Nelson merged with Golden Bay-Motueka and played until 2005 when they joined with Marlborough to become Tasman Rug ...

Ranfurly Shield

In the history of the Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union, they contested 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 ...

once only. They played the holders,

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

at New Plymouth in 1958 and were defeated by 56 points to 8.

McGlashen Cup

The McGlashen Cup was contested between the Golden Bay-Motueka and Nelson Rugby Unions.

References

Ranfurly Shield at scrum.co.nz
* Lindsay Knight, ''The Shield: A Century of the Ranfurly Shield'', Celebrity Books (2002) Defunct rugby union teams in New Zealand Defunct New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Sport in the Tasman District 1920 establishments in New Zealand Motueka Sports organizations established in 1920 1967 disestablishments in New Zealand Sports organizations disestablished in 1967 {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-team-stub