September 8, 2026 • 11 mins
Murray Heath looks ahead to a special get-together of Southland rugby players from the 1970s which is happening this weekend.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening down in
Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on for Southland Rugby,
the team... Well, the players featured in the 1970s decade
are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty and
Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of the
organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for the
(00:28):
Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf of the boys.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong. So, yes, I'm just reflecting
through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since. But back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Absolutely. You didn't have a day off, really, in Southland
training on the Sunday. So sub-union games, Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travelled from Riverland by myself. But we had the
(02:04):
Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few from Tokanui
that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss and then I had
(02:26):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at three o'clock and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Oh, yeah, we did. After we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but we're all great mates
off the paddock. It didn't matter if you played one
game for Southam or or one for the country, you're
all part of the team. And, you know, when we
get together, it's just like the good old days, you know.
(03:02):
So I did catch up with a couple of old
buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and Jeff Gardner,
having a bit of a holiday in the sun and
caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice. And yeah, you could ruck.
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(04:03):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we had
a beer together and are still great mates. His daughter
is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(04:26):
which is lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
to Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(04:50):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from the Tower play prop that
day and up she went. And I had to go
out the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(05:24):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(05:47):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
It was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, to
say coming home, I don't know if you could say
that if I had a reunion another 50 years' time
of all these guys that are playing for Southam now.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So, like I said, the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the comradeship while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yes. Well, Sam, I... Well, Lester Rutledge has said to me,
why don't we organise it and let's get together before
it's too late? Because in one photo, there's 13 that passed.
So this is their swan song, really. Our goodbyes to
one another. Yeah, it's going to be a enjoyable time,
(06:36):
but a sad time as well. And we'll also be
honouring all those guys that we played with and that
have passed. We'll light a candle in remembrance to those
guys and thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah,
it's a great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Now the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Ascot. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's the MC
for the event.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray, I want to be EMC for
that function. That's my era. I know everybody. I just
(07:31):
want to be there. And we've kept in contact, and
he's honouring that commitment. And we were talking yesterday, so
he's on his way down, which is great. Awesome. He'll
share some stories, and he knows a lot of those guys.
You know, like, he, you know, I think he played
(07:53):
for Southland B. Did he tell you that?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 or the likes.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
If I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, did he have a white mate, Matt?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I'm not too sure. I haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes, and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen Richardson Transport Museum, so we'll
have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to come
along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll get
together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's Kick-off
time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us all
(08:44):
the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour as the
players come out. We're just organising someone to talk and
give the jerseys to the players for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It's 50 years ago NPC started. Yes. And Bay of
Plenty won that. first NPC tournament.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
They did.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50 years ago, Wakatane.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get that nowadays.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Back at the start of the NPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, I'm
billeted out. But yeah, we're billeted out at Wakatane, hard
and fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in
the Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand
15 to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South
(09:54):
Africa in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, it was... a
name that comes to mind with a few stories. So yeah, so,
you know, it's 50 years ago since the two unions
played in the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't
plan it that way, but it's really iconic that it's
happened like that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, a real poignant moment ahead of what's going to
be an awesome weekend. Murray, hey, thanks for your time
this afternoon. Going to be a hell of a reunion
for everybody from the 1970s Southland team. Enjoy the weekend.
Thanks for your time once again.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Oh, thanks, Andy. It's been great. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
What do you call a dinosaur who just totaled his car?
Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's us for the afternoon. The podcast is
going up very shortly. I'm Andy Muir. The show, of course,
is brought to you by Peters Genetics. Enjoy the afternoon,
and we'll see you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening down in
Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on for Southland Rugby,
the team... Well, the players featured in the 1970s decade
are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty and
Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of the
organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for the
(00:28):
Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf of the boys.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong. So, yes, I'm just reflecting
through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since. But back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Absolutely. You didn't have a day off, really, in Southland
training on the Sunday. So sub-union games, Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travelled from Riverland by myself. But we had the
(02:04):
Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few from Tokanui
that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss and then I had
(02:26):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at three o'clock and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Oh, yeah, we did. After we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but we're all great mates
off the paddock. It didn't matter if you played one
game for Southam or or one for the country, you're
all part of the team. And, you know, when we
get together, it's just like the good old days, you know.
(03:02):
So I did catch up with a couple of old
buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and Jeff Gardner,
having a bit of a holiday in the sun and
caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice. And yeah, you could ruck.
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(04:03):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we had
a beer together and are still great mates. His daughter
is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(04:26):
which is lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
to Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(04:50):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from the Tower play prop that
day and up she went. And I had to go
out the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(05:24):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(05:47):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
It was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, to
say coming home, I don't know if you could say
that if I had a reunion another 50 years' time
of all these guys that are playing for Southam now.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So, like I said, the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the comradeship while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yes. Well, Sam, I... Well, Lester Rutledge has said to me,
why don't we organise it and let's get together before
it's too late? Because in one photo, there's 13 that passed.
So this is their swan song, really. Our goodbyes to
one another. Yeah, it's going to be a enjoyable time,
(06:36):
but a sad time as well. And we'll also be
honouring all those guys that we played with and that
have passed. We'll light a candle in remembrance to those
guys and thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah,
it's a great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Now the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Ascot. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's the MC
for the event.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray, I want to be EMC for
that function. That's my era. I know everybody. I just
(07:31):
want to be there. And we've kept in contact, and
he's honouring that commitment. And we were talking yesterday, so
he's on his way down, which is great. Awesome. He'll
share some stories, and he knows a lot of those guys.
You know, like, he, you know, I think he played
(07:53):
for Southland B. Did he tell you that?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 or the likes.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
If I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, did he have a white mate, Matt?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I'm not too sure. I haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes, and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen Richardson Transport Museum, so we'll
have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to come
along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll get
together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's Kick-off
time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us all
(08:44):
the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour as the
players come out. We're just organising someone to talk and
give the jerseys to the players for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
It's 50 years ago NPC started. Yes. And Bay of
Plenty won that. first NPC tournament.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
They did.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50 years ago, Wakatane.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get that nowadays.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Back at the start of the NPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, I'm
billeted out. But yeah, we're billeted out at Wakatane, hard
and fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in
the Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand
15 to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South
(09:54):
Africa in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, it was... a
name that comes to mind with a few stories. So yeah, so,
you know, it's 50 years ago since the two unions
played in the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't
plan it that way, but it's really iconic that it's
happened like that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, a real poignant moment ahead of what's going to
be an awesome weekend. Murray, hey, thanks for your time
this afternoon. Going to be a hell of a reunion
for everybody from the 1970s Southland team. Enjoy the weekend.
Thanks for your time once again.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Oh, thanks, Andy. It's been great. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
What do you call a dinosaur who just totaled his car?
Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's us for the afternoon. The podcast is
going up very shortly. I'm Andy Muir. The show, of course,
is brought to you by Peters Genetics. Enjoy the afternoon,
and we'll see you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.
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