When he joined the OBM “Red, White and Blue”, Dickson was primarily a loosehead prop, but he learned to play on both sides of the scrum and also at hooker.
In the past 13 years, he’s appeared alongside some of OBM’s great ones.
“I was fortunate to play with a few characters, legends really, when I started off ... Murray Hewson, Robert Tata, Sam Cairns, Trevor Crosby, David Philander, Dennis Hune, Matthew (Mufty) Brown, Puna Latu, Thomas Soloman and Keith Henderson, all OBM.”
The “scariest” he faced was Tom Miki, who started with Pirates before becoming an OBM man.
“He schooled me on my debut v Pirates. Joe Aukuso of HSOB – who debuted for Poverty Bay the year before I debuted in the Prems – was a gentle giant off the field, but he had great technique and was a handful on it.”
Campbell Chrisp, of Ngatapa, and James Higgins, who was with Ngatapa before he went to YMP, were also great scrummagers, Dickson said.
“Seymour Lambert (YMP) was incredibly strong, Toru Noanoa (Waikohu) was super-aggressive and Jarryd Broughton (Waikohu), was massive and presented me with different issues, as I was much shorter.
“All of them were hard in different ways, but I just turn up, train hard, give my time to the club and hope others do the same.”
Dickson said his playing highlights included winning the Lee Bros Shield in 2019 by a record 65-5 score versus YMP “and winning our club’s Most Valuable Player Award last year, almost 10 years after I first won it in 2016″.
“I love the people and the brotherhood the most – the connections you make with teammates.”
Dickson played his 100th game for the club in August 2020.
Week 5 of the Premier competition brings an end to round 1.
East Coast Farm Vets YMP have one hand on the Premier Cup for round 1 winners heading into their clash with Larsawn Ngatapa at Patutahi.
YMP, after their 28-12 win over reigning champions Kahu Scaffolding Tapuae last week, are top of the table on the maximum 20 points, Tapuae have 15, HSOB 11, OBM 10, Ngatapa 6 and Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates 0.
Tapuae are at home to a Pirates side looking for their first points while OBM and HSOB face off at the Oval for the Peter Martin Cup.
Poverty Bay senior club rugby draw, week 5
Premier Grade, Saturday, 2.45pm: Oval 2, Earthwork Solutions High School Old Boys v Enterprise Cars OBM (referee Matt Smith, assistants Les Thomas, Tony Watson); Patutahi, Larsawn Ngatapa v East Coast Farm Vets YMP (Lenny Ferris, assistants Joel Pearse, Barry Shirley); Tapuae Sports Ground, Kahu Scaffolding Tapuae v Kevin Hollis Glass Tūranga Pirates (Ben Holt, assistants Paul Brown, Neville Barwick).
Senior 1 Grade, 1pm: Oval 2, Earthwork Solutions High School Old Boys v Charteris Choppers Wairoa-Athletic (ref Keelyn Smith); Patutahi, Matawhero Transport Harvest Ngatapa v Mahia (Michael Pickering); Oval 1, Kevin Hollis Glass Tūranga Pirates v Nuhaka V8s (Thomas Nukunuku).
Bye: Tamatea R & M YMP Bumbles.
Heke-o-Te-Rangi Blackbee Contractors Ngati Porou East Coast men’s club competition, week 1
Saturday, 2pm: Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whangaparaoa, Cape Runaway, Tihirau Victory Club v Waiapu (ref Jackson Reuben-Swinton); Enterprise Cars Whakarua Park, Ruatōria, Ruatōria City v Hikurangi (Joseph Coleman); Uawa Domain, Tolaga Bay, Uawa v Tokomaru Bay United (Matthew Richards); Hatearangi Memorial Domain, Tokomaru Bay, Waima v Tokararangi (Peter Crawford).
Enterprise Cars Ngati Porou East Coast women’s club competition, week 1
Saturday, 10.30am: Te Kura Kaupapa Mana Maori o Whangaparaoa, Cape Runaway, Tihirau Victory Club v Waiapu (ref Jackson Reuben-Swinton).
11.30am: Enterprise Cars Whakarua Park, Ruatōria, Ruatōria City v Hikurangi (Sean Murtagh).
Bye: Tokararangi.
