George Nepia

George Nepia

Player information
birthday	April 25, 1905
place of birth	Wairoa , New Zealand
date of death	June 27, 1986
Place of death	Ruatoria , New Zealand
size	1.75 m
society
society	Career ended
position	Goalkeeper , goalkeeper
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
	Streatham and Mitcham	()
	Halifax	()
1922-25	Hawkes Bay	()
1927-47	East coast	()
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
	New Zealand (Rugby League)	()
	Dominion XIII	()
1924-30	New Zealand (rugby union)	9 (5)

George Nepia (born April 25, 1905 in Wairoa , † June 27, 1986 in Ruatoria ) was a New Zealand rugby union player . From 1924 to 1930 he was used in 46 games of the national team ( All Blacks ), nine of which were internationals. He was used in the position of goalkeeper and is still considered one of the best players of Moro descent. For several years he was also active as a rugby league player .

Career

George Nepia

His birth certificate states 1905 as the year of birth, but Nepia later claimed he was born in 1908. He married in 1926 and lived with his wife and four children on a farm near Gisborne , where he ran a dairy farm.

From 1922 Nepia played for the national team of the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union . Hawke's Bay was then considered the best team in the country and defended the Ranfurly Shield 24 times in a row . In 1924 Nepia was accepted into the national team, which that year went on a month-long tour to Great Britain . Nepia was one of the stars of this tour: He was the only player to appear in all 32 games, scoring 77 points. Since this team did not lose a single game, it has since been referred to as The Invincibles ("the invincible").

Nepia was not considered for the All Blacks tour to South Africa in 1928, probably due to racist prejudice on the part of South Africans. Due to a back injury, he had to cancel the tour to Australia in 1929 after just one game. He played his last international game for the All Blacks in August 1930 against the British Lions . Until 1935 he played occasionally for the New Zealand Māori team .

The global economic crisis plunged Nepia into financial hardship. In 1935 he decided to go to England and play rugby league in London with Streatham and Mitcham RLFC for £ 500. His family stayed in New Zealand. Since rugby union was a strict amateur sport at the time, Nepia was excluded from the association. In 1937 he returned to New Zealand and played, among other things, for the national rugby league team .

In 1947 the New Zealand Rugby Football Union granted amnesty to former rugby league players. 1950 Nepia completed his last game at club level. In the 1950s he was used as a referee, after which he dedicated himself exclusively to his profession as a dairy farmer.

In 1997 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame .

statistics

• International matches with the All Blacks: 9
• Other games with the All Blacks: 37
• First international match: July 5, 1924
• Last international game: August 9, 1930

Web links

Commons : George Nepia  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Portrait and statistics on the All Blacks website