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Silver Fern - Source: Photosport
Dave Gallaher, Irish-born captain of the 1905 All Blacks Originals, may be immortalised in bronze in time for the Rugby World Cup in Auckland.
Ponsonby Rugby Club, one of the oldest in the country, has resurrected a 10-year-old plan to cast a life-size bronze statue of the legendary Gallaher and erect it at the redeveloped Eden Park when it reopens in 2011.
If the plan is approved it would be the first life-sized statue of a rugby player in the country, said club president and former All Black great, Bryan (BG) Williams.
The club already had a small statue of Gallaher, done for the club's 125th anniversary in 1999.
The plan then was to have it cast as a life-sized statue but Williams said it was shelved because of a lack of funds.
The new proposal had been submitted to Auckland Rugby Union, Williams told said on Thursday.
He said he had no firm idea of the cost but it could be between $200,000 and $300,000.
"So many other famous stadia throughout the world have these sort of things that represent so much of the history and heritage."
He said in the English town of Rugby there was a statue of William Webb Ellis, the man who picked up a soccer ball during a game at Rugby School and ran with it to begin the game of rugby, but in New Zealand there was nothing.
"Someone as iconic as Dave Gallaher should be commemorated in such a form, such as a statue at Eden Park," Williams said.
"He is regarded as one of the fathers of rugby in this country.
"He needs to be commemorated. He is of huge national significance as far as rugby in this country goes."
The 1905 team Gallaher led to Britain and France was the first to tour as the All Blacks. They won every test except the controversial test against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on December 16, 1905, when Bob Deans was denied a certain try. Wales won 3-0.
Gallaher, a 1.83m tall forward and considered one of the deep thinkers of the game, played 30 games for the All Blacks, 23 as captain.
Several rugby trophies have been named after Gallaher, who came to New Zealand from Ireland as a child and settled in Katikati in the Bay of Plenty before moving to Auckland.
In 1922 the Auckland Rugby Union introduced the Gallaher Shield for the championship winner of Auckland provincial rugby. New Zealand and France play for the Dave Gallaher Cup and in 2005 the Letterkenny Rugby Football Club, the club closest to his birthplace in Ramelton, County Donegal, named its ground the Dave Gallaher Memorial Park.
Gallaher is buried in Belgium after he died on October 4, 1917, in the Battle of Broodseinde, one of the battles of Passchendaele. He was one of 10 All Blacks to die on the Western Front during World War 1.
