Greytown's old-time rugby players get together again

More than 80 former Greytown Rugby Football Club players gathered at the clubrooms on Saturday for their annual get- together to have a drink and support the town's young rugby talent as they took to the paddock.
Nobody knows quite how long the old-timers have been getting together but it seems it's been long enough to escape their memories.
GRFC patron Kingi Matthew, 83, was there and so was his former charge Bruce Smith.
Mr Matthews coached Mr Smith as a member of the Greytown senior squad throughout the 1960s and neither of the two men can remember when the annual lunch began.
"How long have we been getting together Bruce?"
"I don't know Kingi but the gap is closing," Mr Smith said.
Both men may be getting on now but Mr Smith can remember many victories under coach Matthews' tutelage.
"As a coach he was hardcore man, I don't know what his style was but I know we won a lot of games the record book shows we didn't have a bad team in those days," Mr Smith said.
The old-timer catch-up is planned to coincide with the long-contested Greytown/Carterton rivalry for The Grant Cup and Mr Matthews knew exactly who he was putting his money on "the Big G valley of the giants and land of the champions".
"If the Big G wins Carterton will go home and they'll be blaming the ref, they'll be howling in their beer and crying into their handkerchiefs."
Mr Matthews is one of the last surviving 1946 Maori All Blacks and played 108 first-class games for Wairarapa-Bush.
His dedication to the local game has helped make the Matthews' family name synonymous with Greytown rugby.
He reckons the modern game is very much faster than when he played a change he attributes to action-hungry spectators.
"A lot of the play revolves around the backs, it's changed from our days when it used to be 'take it up with the forwards'.
"I think the public were getting sick of the 'pick it up and charge it up the paddock' style of play," Mr Matthews said.
He said the yearly chinwag was a great chance to have a yarn with fellow old-timers but it was also an important way to support Greytown's young up-and-coming rugby talent.
"We just get together and the boys support the young ones," Mr Matthews said.
The annual event was also a chance to commemorate the life of Mr Matthews' younger brother Bill who died last week and was an avid supporter of rugby in Greytown. His death was marked with a minute's silence.
Bill Matthews was a popular face around Greytown as a young man and was brought back to Wairarapa and buried at Blackbridge Cemetery near Carterton on Wednesday.