[ad_1]
Supplied / Stuff
Eddie Tonks, president of NZRFU between 1990 and 1995.
Former New Zealand Rugby President Eddie Tonks has passed away at the age of 85.
Tonks was president of NZR from 1990 to 1995 and also chaired the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby). He was named a life member of the NZR in 2004.
Current NZR president Brent Impey said Tonks’s contribution to rugby was immeasurable.
“Eddie started on what was then the NZRFU Council in 1986, and he played a key role in organizing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, which of course was a great success,” said Impey.
READ MORE:
* England rugby players receive a significant pay cut on test match fees
* In these difficult times, NZ Rugby cannot afford to bankrupt provincial unions
* New Zealand Rugby board does not come close to diversity target after AGM on Wednesday
“Almost a decade later, he helped lay the groundwork for the game to go professional in 1996.
Ross Setford / NZPA
The late Sir Colin Meads, center, chats with fellow life members Eddie Tonks (left) and the late Richie Guy at the NZ Rugby Football Union annual meeting in 2007.
“He was highly respected in both business and rugby and we will miss him. Our thoughts are with his wife Claire and his family. “
Tonks is survived by his wife Claire, children Murray and Carolyn, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
NZR CEO Mark Robinson said Tonks’s service to the game had been immense.
HURRICANES
The All Blacks and Hurricanes running back will miss Super Rugby 2021 to play in Japan.
“He served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wellington Rugby Football Union for over a decade, held various positions with New Zealand Rugby during a similar period and assumed the Presidency of the International Rugby Board.
“His record speaks for itself and he left the game in a better place than he found it.”
Tonks, who was educated at Khandallah Elementary School, Waipu District High School and Wellington Technical College, was appointed to the NZR Board of Directors in 1986, a time of significant change and controversy in the rugby scene.
He was part of a drive to have more business experience on the national board, largely as a result of changing requirements in the administration of the game, especially with regard to the start of the Rugby World Cup and the increasing demands, many of them led by All Black. Andy Haden, for a better treatment of the players.
Tonks had his own export company and had made a name for himself on the Wellington rugby scene. He was a life member of the Onslow Rugby Club, which later became Western Suburbs after some local mergers.
supplied / Stuff
Former NZRFU President Eddie Tonks talks to former All Black Murray Mexted in 2007.
His appointment to the NZR board came amid the Cavaliers controversy. The team, all but two of whom had been selected for the canceled 1985 tour of South Africa due to legal challenge in New Zealand, went on a rebel tour without NZR approval.
Touring players received a two-test ban that helped New Zealand lose the Bledisloe Cup that year to Australia.
But it was also a period of changes in the game. World Rugby had been persuaded by New Zealand and Australia to host a Rugby World Cup, and Tonks became involved in the preparation of the inaugural event hosted by New Zealand and Australia in 1987.
During his tenure as NZR chairman, he was part of a controversial decision to appoint coach John Hart as co-coach, with current coach Alex Wyllie, ahead of the 1991 Rugby World Cup in Great Britain and Ireland in which the All Blacks finished in third place.
Tonks told TV commentator Keith Quinn on the documentary series, Legends of the All Blacks, “there has been some disturbance within the team with the coach setup.”
“Grizz [Wyllie] He didn’t get along with a lot of the players at the time, ” Tonks said. “There were certain issues that the players’ committee objected to …
“But it was too late from a World Cup point of view and we didn’t want to make an important decision, like getting rid of someone, because that would have been worse for us.
“It wasn’t the most platonic relationship between Harty and Grizz, and in hindsight I know perfectly well that the co-coach setup didn’t work out. They had almost identical points of view, but there was a difference in temperament. That’s what caused the conflict.
“But at the time we thought it was the best for the All Blacks. Without a doubt, I was one of the people behind the decision. I was the president and had to lead the way,” he said.
