In recognition of Powell River Otago Rugby Club’s 50th anniversary, a display of the club’s history has been established at Powell River Recreation Complex.
“Our whole desire is to get as much information out there as possible and to contact as many of the old members as possible as well,” said Otago spokesperson Jack Beardmore. “We’ve been trying to track down people who we haven’t seen in 40 years. As well as the display in the complex, we’ve been using all the new technology to track people down.”
Beardmore said the display shows a detailed history of Otago, including a photo of the original club. There are many other old photos, newspaper clippings and uniforms. Beardmore pointed to an old newspaper clipping featuring Karl Fix, who is a Rugby Canada executive member.
“His claim to fame is he scored the very first try for Otago,” said Beardmore. “He’s coming from Saskatchewan and I’m sure he’ll remind us of that.
“We’re just trying to make everybody in the community aware of the history of Powell River Otago. Any club that achieves 50 years has boasting rights.”
Beardmore said when Otago came into the Vancouver Island Rugby Union, word from the union was that Otago wouldn’t last a year.
“So, we can say ha ha to them,” he added.
Beardmore said there is already an impressive number of people planning to attend the 50th anniversary celebration on June 20 and 21.
“We have people coming from as far away as Japan, Texas, California, Montreal, Toronto, Saskatchewan, Alberta and other parts of Western Canada,” said Beardmore. “It’s looking good and it’s looking positive.”
Other rugby teams are planning on attending the event. Beardmore said a team from Burnaby has indicated it will be travelling up with a full side, meaning there will be three over-40 teams coming, as well as whoever the local team can put on the pitch.
“Things are shaping up the way we hoped,” said Beardmore. “There’s a lot of excitement, especially among the older members. However, as things get closer, the younger members are starting to realize what a big achievement this is and they are getting excited, involved, and they are putting in a lot of work at the clubhouse.”
Looking back at the club’s history, Beardmore said Otago started off in the second division. That was in the days of the old island highway and the old ferry system. Beardmore said third division clubs, at the time, would not have travelled to Powell River, whereas second division teams had no choice.
“Even at that, we suffered some default games,” added Beardmore.
However, the team eventually made its home in third division, which is where most of Otago’s competition is to this day, although some of the competition has played first division players in contests against the local side.
“We can even claim one victory against the first division,” said Beardmore.
He said the team is heading in the right direction, having competed well in recent 10-a-side tournaments with a winning record.
“The coaching under Geoff Matheson has been a really positive change,” said Beardmore. “Coaching as long as I did, the team gets tired of hearing the same guy in the same voice, and as much as I tried to stay up to date and to change things, Geoff is much more attuned to newer tactics, using video and technology. It has made a difference.
“The influx of new players has also helped. We have some very high-quality players, which has made a big difference.”
Current Otago club strength is about 33, which includes the men’s side, the old boys and the women players. Beardmore said in terms of the men’s side, the team can usually field 18 players, but there should be a minimum of seven spares, so ideally, the team would have at least 22 active young players.
“A couple of our guys are getting a little long in the tooth,” said Beardmore. “We’re hoping that the 50th anniversary weekend is going to attract some more young people. We want more players because in the coming season we’re looking at playing even more games.
“We also really want to promote women’s rugby. We have seven women now who are practising with us and I would love to get at least 12.”
Beardmore said Otago is also trying to build the team by running mini camps for players from six to 12 years old. He said a program has been started in town, and the hope was 18 to 20 kids would show up.
“We ended up with 28; that’s a very positive thing,” said Beardmore. “We have also been in contact with a fellow from Gibsons who is a South African rugby player, and they are trying to develop a league down there. He said they would be more than happy to play a jamboree here, and obviously, we would go there.”
For those who want to see Otago in action on the anniversary weekend, on June 21, there will be afternoon rugby games, with women’s rugby scheduled for 12:30 pm, old boys at 2 pm and senior men’s games starting at 3 pm.
Otago practises at Cranberry Field, starting at 5 pm, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All are welcome to attend.
Beardmore said Otago takes its hats off to City of Powell River, which has supported the team over the years and maintains a phenomenal field in Cranberry, close to the team’s clubhouse, known as the Church of Rugby, since it is a converted church.
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