The Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union is 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 its m ...

within the Gisborne district, in the area surrounding

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa'') is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the north ...

on the east coast of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

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 ...

. The men's representative team play from Rugby Park, Gisborne, and currently compete in 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 ...

History

The Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union was established in 1890 by four clubs in the Gisborne area - Gisborne, Turanganui, Poverty Bay and Warerenga-a-Hika, with the union's inaugural first-class match being held against

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

the same year. Since then, the union has played against every other existent union in New Zealand as well as an array of overseas touring sides, including but not limited to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, against whom Poverty Bay drew in 1974. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, Rugby Park was the scene of clashes between pro-tour supporters and anti-tour protesters prior to a match against the touring South African side. Poverty Bay ultimately lost the game by 6 - 24.

Heartland Championship

Poverty Bay won the Third Division of the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

(NPC), in 1987 and 2005, and finished as runners-up in the same division in 1994, 1995 and 1999. Since 2006, Poverty Bay have competed in the Heartland Championship, a competition organised by 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 ...

for New Zealand's amateur unions. Since the introduction of the format in 2006, the team have had great success, winning the

Lochore Cup The Lochore Cup is a New Zealand rugby union trophy named after famed Wairarapa Bush and All Blacks player and coach Brian Lochore. It is contested during the Heartland Championship. It was first awarded in 2006, when the Heartland Championship ...

on four occasions -

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Heartland Championship placings

Poverty Bay's placings in the Heartland Championship are listed below:

Ranfurly Shield

Poverty Bay have never held 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 ...

, although they have challenged for the Shield on 16 occasions. In 1980, Poverty Bay came close to defeating

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, losing a hard-fought encounter 12 - 19.

Poverty Bay in Super Rugby

Poverty Bay along with

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, Wairarapa Bush, Wanganui, East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Horowhenua-Kapiti fall within the catchment.

Hosea Gear Hosea Emiliano Gear (born 16 March 1984) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played as a wing. He has also played 14 international matches for New Zealand. Early life The younger brother of Rico Gear, he was born in Gisborne, New Ze ...

is the most notable player from the Poverty Bay region to have played for the side.

All Blacks

There have been seven players selected for 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 ...

whilst playing for Poverty Bay. Most notable amongst these players are

Ian Kirkpatrick Ian Andrew Kirkpatrick (born 24 May 1946) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. Described as "supremely athletic, fast, fearless and with an uncanny sense of anticipation", Kirkpatrick is widely regarded as one of the greatest flankers t ...

and Richard "Tiny" White. Other players include John Collins, Brian Fitzpatrick,

Lawrie Knight Lawrence Gibb Knight (born 24 September 1949) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A lock and loose forward, Knight represented Auckland and Poverty Bay at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All B ...

, Mike Parkinson and Hika Elliott There have also been players such as

Rico Gear Rico Levi Gear (born 26 February 1978) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He was a specialist right wing but also covered midfield positions. He is the older brother of New Zealand winger Hosea Gear Club career Gear was educated at Gi ...

and Charlie Ngatai who became All Blacks having started their careers with Poverty Bay.

References

External links

Official Website

Poverty Bay rugby
(NZHistory.net.nz) {{Gisborne District New Zealand rugby union teams New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Sport in the Gisborne District Sports organizations established in 1890