All the old magic's still there

Graham Fulton

When Graham Fulton first played at Eden Park he was 18.

It was 1930 and he was playing flanker for Auckland Grammar against New Plymouth High School as the curtain raiser for the Lions versus All Blacks. He remembers it as though it was yesterday.

"We beat them 28-nil."

And, as an afterthought, "New Zealand won, too."

Tonight, and every night that he's come back to Eden Park since - certainly for every inter-provincial and international - Fulton gets a kick out of the occasion.

The ground is way different now from when he and the rest of the team caught the tram or walked from Remuera.

The shaggy grass is clipped tight, the short goalposts that used to be made out of "little bits of trees" now gleam white in the night lighting. But the thrill is still the same.

"I love coming up these steps and seeing Eden Park alight," says Fulton, sitting there at 93, in his tartan soft hat, thick rugby jacket and wool pants, binoculars in his hands.

He bought two tickets for the game and his five children went into a ballot.

Tonight the youngest, Vicky Broadbent, won. Father and daughter sit together, putting away a bottle of Corbans red and their traditional fish and chips, while the crowd boils around them.

Eden Park is at its best tonight. The rain stays away, the SkyCity cheerleaders are energetic, and the atmosphere is electric.

"Auckland, Auckland, Auckland," chant the fans, drowning out the "Lions, Lions, Lions," of the opposition.

Out in the carpark behind the members stand they're having boot parties, making predictions. Winemaker Steve Nobilo, from Kumeu, thinks Auckland should do the trick tonight.

Bryan Craies, who used to coach Auckland, is not so sure.

"I just feel we haven't got the experienced, thinking players in key positions".

He's thinking of the first five-eighth and flankers. Halfway through the game his prediction is making the fans frustrated.

"Oh no!" they yell. "Off, off, off."

"Kick it deep in the corner boys."

"Throw it short! And straight!"

And then, when Auckland start to get the idea, the roars of sheer joy drown out any wafts of Bread of Heaven from the Lions fans.

"I think it's one of the more interesting games," says Tom Woodhams, who is heading off on his OE next month. "A bit of biff a few solid tackles, plenty of running. Great."

And Graham Fulton, always the gentleman, is well pleased, too.

"It's been a great night. The atmosphere's been wonderful. After all it's one little town against the whole of the bloody British Isles."