A former Kaitaia College 1st XV player is planning to write a book about a particularly purple patch in the mid-80s when the secondary school team was the toast of the town.
Leon Busby called in to the Age earlier this week announcing his intentions to detail two glory years for the Far North secondary school team, in particular 1985 when they were unbeaten in Northland age-grade rugby, and 1986 when they hosted and drew with the best secondary schoolboy team in the country.
"In terms of the college rugby history, Kaitaia has always had a successful team but those two years were pretty special. I have got a real good story about that experience. It was the whole journey, a really good story to share, especially with all those following us at the time. When I told my mate he asked me, 'when are you going to do the movie?'," he laughed, before adding, "I've been thinking about doing this for quite a while and if I don't do it now ..."
Busby noted the side "won everything" they contested over the two years and the triumphs galvanised the school team for many years afterwards. Holding down the No.7 blindside flanker role at the time, he, like many, felt the side's greatest achievement was the famous 12-all draw with St Stephen's, the national 1st XV champions, which was played out in front of an Arnold Rae Park packed to the hilt on April 26.
The outcome eventually became a moral victory for the hosts and has since become entrenched in Mangonui rugby lore. At the time, it was referred to as the "best game in decades" by then sports reporter Ted Bagshaw who Busby still remembered fondly: "Every one of our games, he [Bagshaw] was always there taking photos, did all our match reports."