Ponsonby District Rugby Football Club is a
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 ...
club based in
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. The club was established in 1874 and is affiliated with the
Auckland Rugby Football Union. Ponsonby is the oldest extant member of the Auckland union, and the second oldest club in the Auckland region, after
North Shore, who are now affiliated with the
North Harbour Rugby Union
The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of rugby union that encompasses a wide geographical area north of Auckland that includes North Shore City, Rodney District, the Hi ...
.
The men's premier team have won the
Auckland Premier competition a record 45 times, including 33 times since the introduction of the
Gallaher Shield, itself named after Ponsonby stalwart
Dave Gallaher
David Gallaher (30October 1873 – 4October 1917) was an Irish-born New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the " Original All Blacks"—the 1905–06 New Zealand national team, the first representative New Zealan ...
. Ponsonby have dominated the Auckland competition in recent years, having been champions on eight consecutive occasions between 2004 and 2011. The club has produced numerous
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 ...
,
the most recent being
Rieko Ioane
Rieko Edward Ioane (; born 18 March 1997) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Centre (rugby union), centre or Wing (rugby union), wing for the Blues (Super Rugby), Blues in Super Rugby and Auckland Rugby Union, Auckland in the Bu ...
.
Honours
Auckland Championship/Gallaher Shield (46): 1883, 1884, 1885, 1887, 1890, 1891†, 1897, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1913, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1933‡, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1948, 1954, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019
*Notes: † – Shared with
Parnell.
*Notes: ‡ – Shared with
Marist and
University
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
.
See also
*
:Ponsonby RFC players
References
External links
Club website
{{Coord, -36.86499072, 174.72591191, region:NZ, display=title
Rugby union teams in the Auckland Region
Rugby union teams in New Zealand
Rugby clubs established in 1874
1874 establishments in New Zealand