Cotton and co wallow in not-so-glorious mud

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s July 20, 1977 and in one of the muddiest first class games of rugby ever completed, Lions prop Fran Cotton is taking a moment against the Junior All Blacks at Athletic Park Wellington.

At the time the photographer – Colin Elsey, always known as Big C – thought it was a humorous but unremarkable ever-so-slightly out-of-focus image on a day when he and other photographers captured scores of memorable ‘mud glorious mud’ pictures.

This is the one, however, that the media picked up on and over 40 years on it remains a classic.

What is the story behind the picture?

After the successes of 1971 and 1974 the pressure was on the 1977 Lions to complete the hattrick but it was an ill-starred, and slightly unlucky, tour. It started raining in New Zealand the day they arrived and scarcely seemed to stop until the day they departed four months later for the sandy beaches of Fiji.

In one way the weather should have suited the Lions who boasted a pack the equal of 1974, a set of forwards capable of controlling games who, by the end of the Test series, had the All Blacks experimenting with quick fire three-man scrums in an attempt to avoid a full-on confrontation up front.

However, the 1977 backs lacked the class and nous of the two previous tours. JPR, Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies all opted to stay at home, Mike Gibson wasn’t the force of old and skipper Phil Bennett struggled to produce his moments of magic on the quagmire pitches. The Lions struggled to press home their territorial advantage and the glut of possession their forwards won. The weather was often so bad that it was best not to be in possession, to rely on a spoiling game.

The squad developed a slightly gallows sense of humour. The weather couldn’t get any worse could it? That’s before they pitched up in Wellington to play the Junior All blacks, effectively New Zealand B. It sluiced down from the moment they arrived but there seemed no move to cancel the match. The show must go on.

What happened next?

The match clearly should not have taken place but incoming tour matches are sacrosanct in New Zealand and the word came down that the fixture must be played.

In one way it suited the Lions though. After going 1-0 down in the Test series – a match they should have won – they had bounced back to win the second Test to level things up. Then they beat New Zealand Maoris and now came the Junior All Blacks and Auckland ahead of

the potentially decisive third Test. It would be good to keep that momentum going.

And that’s pretty much what they did with tries from Jeff Squire, Bobby Windsor and Elgan Rees paving the way for a 19-9 win over a side that, despite the conditions, tried to run everything. Why is it iconic?

This picture, more than any other, sums up rugby’s complex relationship with mud and rain, grime and dirt. And the ridiculous. Viewed from afar rugby can often appear plain crazy. This image captures all of that.

It features an elite player – England prop Fran Cotton – but could just as easily have been taken in an anonymous Fourth

XV match watched by one man and a dog. This is the kind of rugby that Michael Green in The Art of Coarse Rugby

espoused and glorified. It makes idiots and clowns of everybody.

It should come as no surprise that it was Big C who captured this picture – a rumbustious lock with various junior sides in his day, this was his kind of rugby. He didn’t just want a muddy shot – every snapper would get a dozen or more of those on the day – he was looking for a dollop of poignancy and humour.

Deep down there is a primeval satisfaction at overcoming the elements as well as the opposition but you sense that even Fran has had enough, he just wants to climb into a hot shower or bath and soak for half an hour. After the match the Lions bagman reportedly had to recruit three members of the tour party to help carry the sopping wet jerseys and shorts to his minivan to take back to the squad’s hotel for washing.

There are other elements that come into play. It would appear that Cotton had his eyes wiped clear of mud a few minutes before because there is an unnatural orbit of clean white skin around both eyes which add to the absurdity and humour. At first glance it is not a flattering image but these were not flattering conditions, that’s the point. Very soon it became an iconic picture and a regular earner for Elsey and Colorsport the agency he had started with Stewart Fraser in the late 60s

Footnote: Just for a week or so the collective madness and shared experience of this game did appear to help keep the Lions on track. Four days later they produced arguably their best performance on tour with a thumping 34-15 win over an Auckland side packed with All Blacks. It was the high point of the tour though. The following week they slipped to a 17-9 defeat against New Zealand in Dunedin and they finished the tour with an unlucky 10-9 reverse in the final Test, another game they should probably have won.

“The picture sums up rugby’s relationship with mud and rain and the ridiculous”