Brothers in arms

From left, Doug, Brian, Graeme, Ian and Don.

They started as five. Now only Brian and Graeme Clarke, the youngest two of the quintet, remain as links to a sporting phenomenon.

It is a story that can never be told often enough and now, much more so than 40 years ago, the surviving siblings have come to appreciate that theirs was and always will be one of the most exceptional chapters in New Zealand's sporting annals.

Brian puts it this way: "When you think back that five of us were born with the ability to represent a major province, the amount of luck involved is mind-boggling."

Other families with multiple achievers will know exactly what he means. The fact is that New Zealand's sporting landscape has been enhanced by the deeds of countless families, but to achieve in both the numbers and to the level the Clarke boys did is challenging to grasp.

Maybe the Bracewells would be in that realm, achieving as they did in cricket and rugby through Doug, Kevin, John, Mark and Brendon. John and Brendon played test and one-day international cricket for New Zealand, while Doug and Mark played at provincial level.Doug, Kevin, Mark and Brendon also played provincial rugby.

Better still would be the Ropatis in rugby league with Joe, Iva and Tea all playing test football for the Kiwis while siblings Peter and John were Auckland representatives and younger brother Romi played top-class rugby union.

But the Clarkes were on another plane, Ian and Don as All Blacks and then combining with Doug, Brian and Graeme to provide a record of Clarke involvement in the Waikato rugby team from 1951 through to 1967.

"You had two [Clarkes] playing for Waikato in 1951 and three by 1953," says Brian. "Then the fourth made it [Brian in 1960] and they said, 'How good is he?' So you had to front up, and then Graeme did as well."

When the era ended, they had made 409 appearances for the province - Ian 126, Don 98, Graeme 72, Brian 70 and Doug 43. That doesn't begin to bring in the cricket equation as well, where both Don and Doug played up to first-class level.

Brian and Graeme look no further than an ideal upbringing and farm life as the key components in their quest for success.

"We had an absolutely brilliant childhood," says Brian. "Mum and dad were extremely good parents, teaching us that we all have to be accountable for our own actions ...

"Something else that helped us get along was the way we shared things. We got together as a group, for instance, to buy our first car.

"Imagine the logistics on the weekend of getting everyone to and from places and then getting all of us home later.

"There had to be a terrible amount of give and take. That taught us to appreciate the other's opinion."