Talk:Nelson College

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Nelson College and the Quadrangular Tournament

The writer may be misinformed, or is being disingenuous. 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:

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, the so-called Quadrangular Tournament is only 81 years old at best. Whatever existed prior, it had to have been named something different and Nelson College did not play in that event.

Consider the following:

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!) McGill and Harvard first played in 1874! And continue to do so, regularly.

Any game that inaugurated the current 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 09:55, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

This edit might seem quite substantial but if you check the page history you'll see nothing much has been lost, except for names. Name lists tend to get quite long on Wikipedia, but since this school has its share of Prime Ministers they've been kept. While it was tempting to keep the likes of Bagient and Trent VC, a short list makes the article clearer. WP is not some alumni listing after all. Mr Bluefin 09:55, 15 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also the "first rugby game" thing needs a citeMr Bluefin 10:00, 15 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]