William Michael Osborne (born 24 April 1955) is a former New Zealand
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player. A
second five-eighth and centre, Osborne represented
Wanganui and
Waikato
The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...
at a provincial level. Started his club career with the local Kaierau Rugby Union Club in Wanganui. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
, between 1975 and 1982, playing 48 matches including 16 internationals.
Post rugby playing career
After retiring from playing rugby Osborne has had a successful business career, including:
* group manager of
New Zealand Post
* CEO of
Quotable Value
* inaugural chair of
2degrees mobile
* chair of
CoreLogic New Zealand
* director of
Transpower New Zealand
* director of Rangitira Services Ltd
* director of
Ports of Auckland Ltd
* serving on the Maori Economic Development Commission
* establishing Te Huarahi Tika Trust, a trust handling Maori interests in the radio spectrum
* chair of Hautaki Limited, the commercial arm of the Te Huarahi Tika Trust.
He also served on the
New Zealand Maori Rugby board. In 2017 he was elected vice-president of
New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...
, later ascending to the president's position. In 2022 he was appointed Chair of the
Chiefs Rugby board.
Osborne Taonga
In 2021 a new challenge trophy named after Osborne was announced for the
Heartland Championship teams, to follow similar rules to the
Ranfurly Shield.
References
1955 births
Living people
Rugby union players from Whanganui
People educated at Whanganui High School
New Zealand rugby union players
New Zealand international rugby union players
Wanganui rugby union players
Waikato rugby union players
Māori All Blacks players
Rugby union centres
20th-century New Zealand sportsmen
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