The exploits of Going brothers on display

The exploits of Northland rugby-playing brothers Ken, Sid and Brian Going are legend. Decades after the Goings retired from the game, the family has adorned the walls of the Percy Going Memorial Building in Maromaku with photos, newspaper cuttings and jerseys from their heroic days. Northern Advocate reporter Imran Ali talks to Brian about the collection

IT STARTED life as a church. At one time, it was a tool shed. Now, the non-descript building in rural Northland houses some of the region's - possibly the world's - most important rugby memorabilia belonging to three greats.

Until a few months ago, much of it had been gathering dust under the bed of one of the Going brothers' beds.

So far there have been no advertisements to declare it open, so news of the treasure trove is spreading via word-of-mouth.

The collection passed under the radar of a team of French journalists sent to cover the Rugby World Cup. The group included diehard fans of the Going brothers who made a special pilgrimage to visit the Jack Morgan museum in Hukerenui.

If they had continued a bit further up the road they would have found the shrine to three brothers who became Northland's favourite rugby-playing sons.

Brian Going smiles when told the collection escaped the attention of the tour group.

The "tool shed" that sits on a farm owned by a Going family member contains the sort of information the foreign scribes were after.

During the Rugby World Cup, Brian emptied a container from under his bed containing newspaper clippings, photos and rugby jerseys from his playing days and used them to adorn the walls of the tool shed - a few hundred metres away from where brother Ken - the elder statesman of that famous Northland rugby triumvirate of Ken, Sid and Brian - was laid to rest.

It's now known as the Percy Going Memorial Building and the French journalists (had they know of its existence) or anybody from around the world can visit free of charge.

The Going brothers are part of Northland sports mythology for their Ranfurly Shield-winning feats for the provincial rugby team in the 1970s. Their star power was evident in June 2008 when 250 tickets to the Ken Going Tribute Luncheon sold out, even though the event was not advertised.

The new memorial hall contains pictures and stories about the peerless 1970-71 North Auckland side that won the Ranfurly Shield in Whangarei, and the Goings' prowess. Also proudly displayed are NZ Maori, Northland and All Black jerseys.

"We decided to restore this for family purposes. There are a vast number of Going descendants and a lot of them are living overseas," Brian said.

"We want everyone to know it's a heritage, where a lot of family oriented events take place ... to preserve it for our children and grandchildren.

"It's important for them to know about uncle Sid or uncle Ken and how good they were and things like that."

The first reunion of old mates in the renovated building was organised at short notice last week and about 20 turned up.

Laly Haddon, Wayne Carey, Mel Hepple, Frank Colthurst, Terry Sullivan, Denis Panther, Rod Jones, Wayne Dunning, John Snelling, Des Chitty, and Cliff Poynter were among those that not only attended but also sang Pearly Shells and Ten Guitars.

Brian's grandfather, Percy, built a structure from kauri in 1939 - about 20 metres away from the memorial hall - to be used as a church, but it was outgrown years later.

Half of that building was moved to where the memorial hall now sits and in 2002, the late Ken and his wife Patricia formed a committee to restore the old building. After Ken's death, Brian took over restoration work.

Before the Goings' initiative, the closest exhibition about the Mid Northern/Northland All Black Going country was at Hukerenui's Jack Morgan Museum, where the French journos visited.

Brian says his family has a wonderful relationship with that museum and does not wish his exhibitions at Maromaku be seen as competing against with it.

"I think ours is a brilliant exhibition and the more people come and look, the happier we'll be.

"For a long time, I had a container full of stuff under my bed and I kept shifting it, thinking 'What am I going to do about it?'

"Now I can display them and share stories with sports-crazy people. A lot of our younger family members aren't too aware of what we achieved. My grandkids don't know that Jared (his nephew and Sid's son) was a New Zealand sevens player. Now that I've got pictures, I can show them how good he was.

"By bringing the Northland team to that reunion, we wanted to show to others that we are still united, we'll be good friends and our friendship will go on forever. There was another team that won the (Ranfurly) Shield after us but I don't know whether they had a reunion or where those players are now," Brian said.

He still enthuses about the famous triple-scissors the brothers pioneered, apparently perfecting it in the farm paddocks before pulling it off on the rugby field.

"Ken and I sort of messed around on the lawn and later Joe Morgan was involved at the end of the move and him and Northland coach Ted Griffin encouraged us to try. We had the guts to try it. With our kids, they'll only do it when there's no opposition,' he said and chuckled.

"It's a shame those sort of things are not done now because we used to score heaps of tries from those razzle-dazzle, pretty loose and unorthodox sort of stuff."

Only Todd Miller, Brian's nephew, has made it into the All Blacks since the brothers retired, while 12 others have played for Northland.

Their latest talent, Levi Clark, 15, who plays in Kerikeri, and Kalani Going, have made it into the Northland age groups.

What made the Goings excel?

"When we were young, we seldom got out of the valley. Rugby was a bit of an outlet, although we didn't know who the All Blacks were until much later.

"We were more physical in our approach than current players and because most of us were farmers, we were strong and we'd normally assemble on a Friday, had a run and play the next day.

"There were no gyms, we didn't know about diets, body fat and things like that ... even had no idea what a hammy (hamstring) was," Brian burst out laughing.

Anyone interested in visiting the Percy Going Memorial Building can make an appointment with Patricia Going on (09) 433 4973 or on 021 433 497.