Currie makes legends’ cut

The 1969 Ōhaupō senior rugby team

Ōhaupō Rugby Sports Club and Te Awamutu Sub-Union life member Ron Currie has been shortlisted for the Farmlands Rural Rugby Legend Award.

He is one of 14 finalists and one of three from the Waikato selected for the final voting round.

Ōhaupō Rugby Sports Club life members Evan Dela Rue and Ron Currie (right) pictured with the original 1996 Tri Nations trophy earlier this year. Photo: Ruakura Rugby Football Club

Following the public nominations, judges picked the finalists – who are regarded as trusted people who show up every time, in any weather. They get stuck in helping, not for the glory, but simply because the club needs it.

Currie has been involved as a player and volunteer during his lifetime in Ōhaupō.

He is the son-in-law of the late former New Zealand Rugby Union president Frank O’Connor – a proud Te Awamutu and St Patrick’s (Te Awamutu Marist) man – and much of Currie’s volunteering passion likely stemmed from him.

Like his father-in-law, Currie has also been involved in his club, Te Awamutu Sub-Union, Waikato Rugby and the NZRU in management capacities.

He has been involved in Ōhaupō club administration since 1970.

Ron Currie of the 1969 Ōhaupō senior rugby team.

This included coaching his children, through to his present role on the committee.

“I arrived over in the far corner of the Ōhaupō field as an 8-year-old boy,” Currie says. “I was so excited because I thought the All Blacks were playing.

“I went home to tell my mum and dad. Then I realised that black was the Ōhaupō club colours. From then I started playing junior rugby at the club.”

He played from primary school age through to senior rugby and 32 years later, the All Blacks did play at Ōhaupō.

On the club’s centenary weekend in 1988, Currie helped get the Auckland and New Zealand Harlequins teams to face off at Ōhaupō.

Currie said All Blacks selector Earle Kirton showed up and it quickly became a New Zealand trial match with plenty of gusto.

Currie was awarded Ōhaupō Rugby Sports Club life membership two years later and is also a life member of the Te Awamutu Sub-Union.

Involved in Waikato provincial rugby as chairman of Waikato junior and teenage rugby for many years, Currie also managed many Waikato Rugby teams up to Development level.

He was also a member of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union junior Advisory Board for eight years, chairman of Northern Regional Junior and Teenage Players Group, amongst many other roles.

At one point he even saved Ōhaupō from being cut from the competition completely as they were struggling for numbers, but he knew the rule book inside out and was the saving grace.

Since retiring from dairy farming and now living near the rugby grounds, Currie still looks after the three Ōhaupō rugby fields and keeps them in shape.

He’s also the permanent bus driver for Ōhaupō school, picking up children all around the district and returning them home.

On Saturdays, Currie drives the Ōhaupō rugby team to venues all around the Waikato.

Before Saturday games at home, he marks out the three rugby grounds.

He mows all the lines with a push petrol lawnmower, then marks the lines with a push line marker, not an easy task, particularly for a person at almost 79 years old.

He runs out tape and standards for crowd control, flags, goalpost protectors, parking cones and puts everything away afterwards.

On Friday nights, he sets up the grounds for junior rugby.

On top of all this, he is always seen at the end of the field watching at every Ōhaupō game, after spending the morning watching the juniors from his school bus run play in the Ōhaupō colours.

This year, Currie received the Leigh Cooksley Services to Rugby Award from the Waikato Rugby Union.

The 1994 Waikato Divisional XV, assistant manager Ron Currie is front row, far right.

Outside of rugby, he does plenty of community work, including marking the running tracks for athletics from October to February.

He gets involved with Ōhaupō school events, setting up for agricultural day each year – the rings for calves, lambs, goats, plus helping pack up the event.

These are just some of his never-ending list of contributions to Ōhaupō and Waipā.

“I just love being involved,” Currie says.

Voting is available via the Farmlands Rural Rugby Legends nominations webpage, closing on November 5.

The winning legend will be decided by a combined score from the panel of judges and the public vote.

Every vote counts as there is a people’s choice prize for the finalist who receives the most public votes, independent of the final judges’ scores.

The winner gains $50,000 worth of prizes for their club and $10,000 of prizes for themselves.

The 1969 Ōhaupō senior rugby team. Ron Currie is front row, second from left.