Talk:Whanganui Collegiate School/Archive 1

Archive 1

Wanganui Collegiate and 'the 'oldest' continuing rugby tournament the world' claim

The writer may be misinformed, or is being disingenuous.

In fact, The Quadrangular Tournament began in 1925

Nelson College did not compete with the other 3 teams prior to 1925. Therefore, the competition between these 4 schools in the tournament for all 4 only began in 1925. So, that Tournament is only 81 years old at best. The claim that the 4 member inter-college tournament is one of the world's oldest continuous rugby tournaments is false. This is easily verifiable:

Regarded as the oldest rivalry in college sports, the world-famous Harvard-Yale Rugby Tournament was inaugurated in 1875. (An inter-collegiate tournament if ever there was one! And 50 years before the NZ Quadrangular Tournament began!)

McGill and Harvard first played in 1874! And continue to do so, regularly. (Half a century before the NZ Quadrangular Tournament began!)

Any game that inaugurated the current 'quadrangular tournament' between 4 NZ schools must have occurred in 1876 or after when Nelson College first played Wellington College.

Admittedly, the first official rugby game in NZ was between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club on May 14, 1870. But it was/is not part of any Tournament. Nor was it inter-collegiate.

The first international rugby game was played between England and Scotland in 1871. This would evolve into the Five (and now Six) Nations Rugby Tournament. With over 125 years of history, the Five (and now Six) Nations Rugby Tournament is the oldest Rugby Tournament in the world. England first played Wales in 1882. This is over 40 years before the The Quadrangular Tournament began in 1925.

A secondary claim that the Quadrangular Tournament is one of the oldest continuous rugby tournaments in NZ seems plausible. However, evidence strongly suggests otherwise:

One example is the first Ranfurly Shield Tournament. The first match was played in 1902 (23 years before the Quadrangular Tournament began, in 1925) The tournament has been running continuously since.

At best, one can plausibly argue that the Quadrangular Tournament, started in 1925, is one of the older continuous rugby tournaments in New Zealand.

Edits Mr Bluefin 10:27, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Since the edits to this page have been made by many anons I'll post the reasoning behind my edits here for everyone's benefit. The following comments are in no particular order.

• Best rowing school: cut since it was just boasting. Anyone who wants to know about its rowing prowess will know about the rowing competitions anyway.
• One of the oldest schools in NZ: not needed, and anyway it sounds like promotion from the recent 150th events.
• Facilities: Details of buildings etc removed since it is of no interest to the public at large. Also it is not a prospectus. ALso I thought the golf course was only 9 holes...
• Houses: Again, these were cut since the names of houses are not likely to be of interest to those not connected to the school. However this is nothing in comparison to other lists I've seen, including a canteen price list!
• Name list kept intact. It is a short list, a rarity among school articles. I guess a school with a reputation like WCS' does not need a long list to establish its fame.

Mr Bluefin 10:27, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Co-ordinates

Latitude: 39° 55′ 44.51″ S
Longitude: 175° 2′ 15.48″ E
I do not know how to add them to the Infobox so will leave that to someone who does.
Bart 00:31, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

• Trial and error to the rescue B. van der Wee 23:41, 9 September 2007 (UTC)