First person to score in a Rugby World Cup
It was the first Rugby World Cup and it was the first time the try line was crossed at the tournament. But Geoff Dale’s photograph of it nearly did not happen. By Virginia Winder.
Geoff Dale’s photo of All Black (Sir) Michael Jones flying across the try line during the first game of the first Rugby World Cup in 1987 nearly did not happen.
‘‘I was not accredited to cover the Rugby World Cup,’’ he says.
So, the New Zealand Herald photographer took his boss aside to ask for permission to cover the inaugural sporting event and was given the nod, with a caution.
‘‘He said: We can’t promise you any games.’’
But Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka had other ideas.
Rabuka, the third in command of the Royal Fiji Military Forces, led a coup d’etat, overthrowing Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, removing Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and declaring the island nation a republic.
The Herald sent the two world cup accredited photographers – John Sefton and Nigel Marple – to cover the coup. But instead of returning to New Zealand to shoot the rugby, they found themselves detained and stuck in their hotel room.
‘‘Suddenly, I was the only photographer on the staff who could actually cover the event,’’ Dale says.
The first game was played between Italy and the New Zealand All Blacks at Eden Park on May 22, 1987. The All Blacks won 70-6.
‘‘Here is a Trivial Pursuit question – who scored the first try at the first Rugby World Cup? The answer to that question is, it was a penalty try. The All Blacks were pushing over and the Italians collapsed the scrum,’’ Dale says.
‘‘But the first person to score a try was Michael Jones.’’
Before the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Dale’s daughter, Natalie Stamilla, created a 4.5m bronze sculpture of Jones scoring that first try. The sculpture is on the Eden Park grounds.
‘‘He [Jones] made a nice speech at the unveiling of the sculpture that my daughter made from my picture.
‘‘He spoke about the fact that he was told if you score a try in your first game you might be a great All Black,’’ Dale says.
That first game of the first world cup was also Jones’ All Black debut.
Dale recalls more of that speech: ‘‘He said he was running along and he could see Grant Fox had the ball and he had never scored a try in his life, so stick with Grant, he will let it go, he won’t go for the try line.’’
Jones was in the right place at the right time and so was Dale.
‘‘He got sort of tripped up, which meant he floated into the try line, which was really nice in the picture.
‘‘It is one of those pictures that stands out in my mind.’’
That photo is one of four Dale has in the ‘‘Brotherhood’’ Photojournalism NZ Charity Auction to raise funds for Hospice Taranaki.
A signed photo was taken in 1979 of boxer Muhammad Ali in central Auckland sparring with two young lads – future rugby league star Dean Bell, 17, and his 16-year-old cousin, Wayne Bell.
Another was Dale’s 1980 Dulux Picture of the Year image of a poignant moment in New Zealand’s history.
It is of Air New Zealand chief executive Morrie Davis at a press conference on November 29, 1979, delivering the news there was no sign of Flight TE901, the Air New Zealand DC10 undertaking a sightseeing flight in Antarctica.
TE901 had crashed into Mt Erebus the previous day, killing 257 people on board, including crew.
The final photo is dubbed the ‘‘fish and chip brigade’’. It is of David Lange, Dr Michael Bassett, Roger Douglas and Mike Moore, eating takeaways in Lange’s office after he lost a caucus vote to lead the Labour Party in the 1981 general election.
A photojournalist for 52 years until retirement, Dale won five Qantas awards for his images.
He started his career in 1970 as a cadet photographer with the New Zealand Herald, where he spent 28 years on staff before going freelance.
Dale’s four pictures will be among more than 120 photojournalism images up for auction at the Plymouth International Hotel on September 24 to support Hospice Taranaki.
The idea for the fundraiser came from veteran photojournalist Rob Tucker, who has terminal cancer and is under hospice care.
Tickets are now on sale and available from the Plymouth International or online at photojournalismnz.co.nz, where people can also view the entire catalogue.