Don Clarke’s 1964 jersey found in attic
An All Blacks jersey originally worn by the legendary Don Clarke has been found in an attic in Yorkshire, England.
The No 1 fullback’s jersey was worn by Clarke in New Zealand’s win over England at Twickenham in January
1964.
Clarke exchanged his jersey with opposite John Willcox, who made 16 appearances for England and was also the leading scorer on the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in
1962.
“I don’t recall too much about the game,” said Willcox. “And when the family rediscovered the shirt in an old trunk full of rugby memorabilia, we initially assumed it was a prop forward’s. The thought occurred that it might have been a swap with Wilson Whineray, because he and I were the captains that day.”
Willcox said after some checking, he found the New Zealand side were yet to make the swap from fullbacks wearing No 1 and the jersey was worn by Clarke.
“A bit of research thanks to the Pathe News clips of the match show Clarke kicking his goals with a No 1 on his back. England had already changed the fullback shirt to No 15 at that time but some fullbacks still wore the No 1 shirt until the late 1960s.”
DB Clarke, nicknamed The Boot for his kicking prowess both at goal and from the hand, was instrumental in New Zealand’s 14-0 victory over England, scoring two penalties and a conversion.
Clarke played 89 times (31 tests) for New Zealand from 1956 to 1964, scoring 781 points, a record that stood for
24 years until broken by Grant Fox in
1988. He also played 27 first-class cricket matches as a right-arm opening bowler, mostly for Auckland and Northern Districts.
Older brother Ian also played for the All Blacks and brothers Douglas, Brian and Graeme all represented Waikato. All five were on the pitch when Waikato beat Thames Valley in
1961.
Moving to South Africa in 1977 with his family, Clarke set up a tree-felling business and remained in the Republic until his death from melanoma aged 69 in 2002.
The Canterbury-made All Blacks No 1 jersey and socks worn by Clarke are being auctioned this month by British auction house Mullock Jones as part of Willcox’s collection of international jerseys.