Mr Northland - legend

AT A TIME when Northland Rugby is undergoing something of a renaissance, perhaps it is prudent to remember one Duncan Kaipara Ross, the man who guided North Auckland into the modern age of rugby.
Many former players and administrators swear that Northland wouldn't be the force it was without Ross at the helm and, given the fact that he was the chairman of the union for 30 years, it's hard to disagree.
He was never a great player of the game - his poor eyesight saw to that - but he loved rugby and was seen as a administrative wizard who modernised the game here and pushed the idea of Okara Park becoming the headquarters of the game in the north.
Many called him the "father" of North Auckland Rugby or "Mr North Auckland". Others preferred to dub him the "Churchill" of the union - less for the cigars and more for the steely determination.
Ross was known to be tough but fair, and he didn't suffer fools gladly. He was willing to delegate responsibility whenever the situation merited it and was rarely let down.
His ability to keep the engine room of the North Auckland Rugby Union running on the smell of an oily rag was legendary.
One former player recalls playing four provincial matches within eight days to save money on the union's shoestring touring budget.
In fact it was rumoured that the only time Ross ever lost track of anything - be it money or possessions - was when he misplaced the Ranfurly Shield in 1978, only to rediscover it again just in time for the start of the 1979 campaign.
He served as the chairman of the North Auckland union for three decades - the kind of term that can only be imagined these days.
Ross was rated then - and now - as one of the great administrators of the game, with an astute rugby brain. Shortly after taking the reins as chairman, he formed a partnership with another legendary figure of North Auckland rugby, long-serving coach Ted Griffin. Together the pair of them plotted the province's first ever Ranfurly Shield victory over South Canterbury in 1950.
He became a NZRU Councillor in 1954 - and did that job for 23 years - managing All Black teams in New Zealand and overseas before inevitably becoming president of the organisation.
He wasn't afraid of courting controversy and risked the wrath of the Australian Rugby Union when he criticised the standard of accommodation offered to the 1968 All Black team.
He will be remembered as one of the strongest leaders the North Auckland union has ever produced - on or off the field - and rugby in the north is forever indebted to him.
Duncan Ross died in 1981 at the age of 65.