This is a story with a good ending, but a bad beginning.
Elliot returned from playing in France earlier this year to discover his storage unit in Hawke’s Bay had been broken into, with a box of his old jerseys among the items stolen.
About a dozen jerseys were taken, including Māori All Blacks, New Zealand Under-21s, New Zealand Under-19s, Hurricanes, Hawke’s Bay’s 2005 NPC final winning jersey, multiple other international teams such as Ireland, England and the Wallabies and a Chiefs jersey from their match against the British and Irish Lions in 2017.
“The sentimental value of those jerseys, you can’t put a dollar price on that,” Elliot said.
“The memories that I have wearing those jerseys, there’s a lot of memories there. To find out that quite a few had been taken, well as you can imagine, it was a little upsetting.”
Chiefs' hooker Hika Elliot warms up ahead of the Super Rugby rugby match between the Chiefs and Bulls in April 2017. Photo / Photosport
The former Chiefs and Māori All Blacks front-rower has been working hard to track the stolen jerseys down.
“I sort of reached out to a few people and I had a couple of collectors message me saying that one of the jerseys was doing the rounds. I tried to make contact with the seller on Facebook marketplace and got crickets. I told him that I was the rightful owner and that a few of my jerseys had been stolen. I didn’t hear back from him.”
The jersey being sold was the one Elliot wore while playing for the New Zealand under 16s more than 20 years ago and marked a special milestone for the now 38-year-old.
“The jersey was my first New Zealand representative team in back in the year 2000. So that was quite an important jersey for me.”
Enter Dylan Booth, a New Zealand collector born and raised in Otago who is now based on Australia’s Gold Coast. He was one of the collectors who initially saw the jersey and tried to help Elliot recover it.
“I’ve got an Instagram called Boothy’s Rugby Relics. It’s just what I do with my spare time. I do jersey restorations to finding people something that they’ve wanted for a long time or something that has some nostalgia. Sometimes in cases, it’s getting jerseys back to where they belong,” Booth said.
“On my lunches from work and stuff, I’ll just be flicking through Facebook seeing what sort of steals and deals I can come across. A little while ago I’ve come across this one jersey and I wasn’t really too sure what it was. It’s not often that you see New Zealand Under-16 jerseys. They’re pretty rare.
“It had a number on the back and it was number 16. I did a bit of research and sent a few photos and stuff to a couple of collectors and one of them got back and said that’s Hika Elliot’s jersey. I was like, ‘oh wow, he’s up there with one of the greats of New Zealand rugby’.”
However, the trail went cold for Booth as well, with the Facebook seller disappearing. That was a blow for Elliot and Booth, but they story was not over yet, with a moment of serendipity leading to the jersey’s discovery.
“It all happened last Sunday. I had plans to go out and do some things with my partner but unfortunately the weather didn’t play ball and was wet. So, I thought I’ll go ahead and look at the vintage market here on the Gold Coast,” Booth recalled.
“I’m having a look through one of the one of the store’s racks and I was like ‘I reckon that’s the jersey’. I picked it up, low and behold, there it was.
“It was the exact same jersey. I didn’t want to act to keen, but I asked how much he wanted for it and he said $120. I gave him the money and took the jersey.
“I guess it was there for a reason and now it’s on its way back to where it really belongs.”
Booth said he was happy to fork out the cash.
“I think it’s $120 well spent. It’s pretty sad that it got stolen along with the others. That’s probably the one that almost meant the most to him. So I’m pretty happy to get that back to him.”
Booth believes the vintage market vendor was the same person who tried to sell the jersey on Facebook.
“I reckon it was. One thing that I always tell people is that if these jerseys could tell you tales of what they’ve been through, you’d have a whole book for each one. I think that’s one of the reasons why I love the whole jersey stuff that I do as well.”
Elliot said it felt like Christmas had come early when he received the news his jersey was on its way home.
“It’s just been a pretty big blessing in terms of being in the right place at the right time. I really appreciate all the all the support that Dylan has given me in terms of trying track these jerseys down. I put in a lot of work, put in a lot of effort to be in a position where I actually got to wear these jerseys or swap some of the jerseys that I’ve worn for other countries' jerseys.
“Now I’ve had other collectors reach out to me asking me about the contents of the box and what other jerseys were stolen. I’m really hopeful that I can track those down, especially for my kids and my son. He’ll be a happy kid [to get this one back].”
