KEY POINTS:
When the rugby men and women of the Marist Brothers Old Boys club sit down to their 100th birthday dinner at Easter the odds are that it will be a joyful, perhaps even boisterous occasion - after 100 years of practice Marist know how to throw a party.
Or so Lindsay Knight relates quite often in the book he has written to mark the event.
With his typical industry he has trolled through the past and present of this distinctive club, the ups and downs, the superstars and the back-room heroes.
Knight has long been a distinguished sports writer, who has cherished rugby and its traditions. He is also a man of earthy honesty, so much so that while rejoicing at Marist's life over the last 100 years Knight has been compelled to wonder whether Marist, or any rugby club for that matter, will exist for even the next half-century.
Knight laments that the clubs appear at the bottom end of the New Zealand Rugby Union priorities.
The pursuit of money to fund the commercial needs of international, Super 14 and representative rugby has impoverished club rugby - in both monetary and talent terms
"It isn't just the All Blacks, the Super 14 and the Air New Zealand Cup which are impacting on club rugby, either," writes Knight.
"Players are continually being skimmed off to play for other national sides such as the Maori, sevens, Junior All Blacks, the colts and the under 19s. The Pacific Island nations also are another drain on club resources."
Knight offers a new blueprint for club rugby:
* It should have its own uninterrupted window.
* Clubs should get a share of transfer fees.
* An attempt should be made to find a national club champion.
* Rationalising the number of clubs with, say, major cities having eight to 10 clubs.
* Leading clubs be given academy status, with young pupils given rugby and work skill training.
Knight has some comforting words for Marist, but he fears that some Auckland clubs may not have such a strong future.
