How BeeGee was tricked into Ponies

Bryan ‘BeeGee’ Williams was tricked into playing his first game of senior rugby for his beloved Ponsonby club by a former All Black whom he didn’t dare say no to.

It’s fair to say he has been helping out the venerable old club ever since, going from aspiring schoolboy to star player in an association that has now been going 57 years. And counting.

Williams first joined the club as a 10-year-old in 1960, following in the footsteps of brothers Ces and Ken, but was briefly lost while he was performing his special deeds for Mount Albert Grammar.

Briefly. ‘‘I actually had a game for the premiers in my last year at Mags,’’ he recalls of his first tentative steps as a Ponies senior. ‘‘I was 16 at the time. One day my brother said to me, ‘Boggsy said to bring your gear, we could be short today’. The coach was Eric Boggs who was an ex-All Black.

‘‘Of course I got to the ground and it was all a set-up. Eric said ‘get your gear on, you’re playing’. We were playing Manukau, I managed to score a try, and that was the beginning of a 16-year senior career.

‘‘I was as nervous as a kitten, as you could imagine. The guys were big and strong. I was a pretty big secondary school player, and I generally could hold my own physically. And I had a bit of speed and a step.’’

Within a year he was playing for Auckland Colts, another year he was in the provincial seniors and by 1970 he was a young All Black.

Williams’ dedication to the club never faltered.

His first year out of school he was included at late notice on a club tour of Japan as a 17-year-old.

‘‘Boggsy rang me and said you’re coming to Japan . . . It was the start of my career at Auckland University, but I was away for the start of the year when you’re meant to find out where the lecture theatres and all the other important places are. When I got back I was absolutely lost and wandered around the university for the rest of the year and failed all my exams. Rugby definitely contributed to that.’’