The New Zealand Rugby Museum, based in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, is a museum dedicated to the sport of

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 ...

. Founded by John Sinclair and modeled after the Trophy Room in

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, the museum's collections include equipment, clothing, books, photographs, trophies, badges and almost everything else related to the game. Until his death in 2012,

Wilson Whineray Sir Wilson James Whineray (10 July 1935 – 22 October 2012) was a New Zealand business executive and rugby union player. He was the longest-serving captain of the national rugby union team, the All Blacks, until surpassed by Richie McCaw i ...

was the museum's patron while Stephen Berg is the full-time director. The museum moved into larger premises adjacent to the Civic Centre and

Te Manawa Te Manawa (Māori: ''The Heart'') is a museum, art gallery and science centre in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It is operated by the Te Manawa Museums Trust, a charitable trust incorporated on 20 August 1999. From that date, the Trust assumed r ...

cultural complex prior to the

Rugby World Cup 2011 The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

. The Museum was part of the ''REAL New Zealand Festival'', a series of cultural events and activities coordinated with the hosting of the Cup. A handful of the approximately 50,000 holdings are contributed to NZMuseums, the combined catalog of museums across New Zealand. As well as collecting objects connected to key historic matches, the museum also loans particular items for particular uses. The museum is managed by the ''Rugby Museum Society of New Zealand'', a registered charity and Associate Member of the

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 ...

References

External links

* Culture in Palmerston North Sports museums in New Zealand Rugby union in New Zealand Museums in Manawatū-Whanganui Rugby union museums and halls of fame Sport in Palmerston North {{NewZealand-museum-stub