Ivan Matthew Henry Vodanovich (8 April 1930 – 2 September 1995) was a 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, coach and administrator. He played three

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for 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 ...

in 1955. Vodanovich was All Blacks coach from 1969 to 1971. As then coach and chief selector of the New Zealand team, he gained some notoriety for warning that the first test of the British Lions 1971 tour of New Zealand could be "another Passchendaele" for the Lions if they continued to play negative rugby as they had in a preliminary match against

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. The Lions went on to record a rare series win 2–1. In the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, Vodanovich was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to rugby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vodanovich, Ivan 1930 births 1995 deaths New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby union team coaches New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand people of Croatian descent Rugby union props