Richard Alan Guy (born 6 April 1941) is a New Zealand former international

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 and rugby administrator.

Playing career

He played four

test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for

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 All Blacks, in 1971—all against the touring British Lions. He also played five non-Test matches in a domestic tour of New Zealand by the national team in 1972. Provincially he played for

North Auckland The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā ...

(now Northland) between 1966 and 1974, before becoming involved in rugby as an administrator.

Administration

By 1981 he was chairman of the North Auckland union, and joined 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 ...

(NZRFU, now New Zealand Rugby) council in 1984. He was team manager for the All Blacks in 1986 and 1987, including during their successful

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

campaign. He continued as an administrator, including as chairman of the NZRFU in 1995 and 1996 when the game was transitioning to professionalism, until 2001 when he was unseated from the board. His chairmanship in 1995 and 1996 was particularly significant, the NZRFU formed a consortium (

SANZAR SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from ...

) with the national unions of Australia and South Africa in order to administer two new competitions:

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

and the Tri-Nations Championship. The significant broadcast revenue from the new competitions forced the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

to abolish their regulations regarding amateurism and sanction full professionalism. In 2002 Guy was made the first life member, for "exceptional service", of the New Zealand Rugby Union. In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, for his services to rugby, Guy was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guy, Richie 1941 births Living people New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Rugby Football Union officials Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Rugby union props Northland rugby union players Rugby union players from Lower Hutt