Infamous yellow card rests in Palmerston North

Alan Lewis' infamous yellow card wielded against the All Blacks at Twickenham on November 20 has found a final resting place in Palmerston North.

The Irish referee yellow-carded three All Blacks when they beat England 23-19 on the grand slam tour.

New Zealand Rugby Museum chairman Clive Akers immediately got in touch with Lewis via New Zealander and Dublin-based International Rugby Board (IRB) referees manager Paddy O'Brien.

Akers emailed Lewis asking him if he'd like to donate the card and his whistle from the game for the museum.

"We had the whistle from the 1905 game, so I thought it would be good to have one from 100 years later," said Akers.

Lewis didn't hesitate. Akers was a little surprised Lewis was prepared to part with his rusty whistle, because he'd used it in all of his 19 tests, including two against the All Blacks, at Wellington in 2001 and Hamilton in 2003.

While Akers was on a roll, he followed up with another email telling Lewis the museum didn't have a current IRB referees' jersey and popped the question. Lewis also agreed to donate the jersey.

"He said he'll have to bring his family out to New Zealand to see them on display."

Lewis also hinted the third yellow-card he issued against All Black flanker Chris Masoe at Twickenham might have been a little harsh.

Lewis said: "People are still talking about the game. It was raw rugby and genuine rugby people loved it. It is an honour to be part of that history."

The museum also has the first yellow card waved at an All Black. That was from the 1995 tour of France when Irish referee Gordon Black showed it to lock Mark Cooksley after he'd punched an opponent in a midweek match at Nancy.

Black was later told the card system hadn't yet been introduced to international rugby.

The Irish linkage doesn't stop with Lewis and Black. All Black legend Colin Meads was ordered off against Scotland at Murrayfield in 1967 by Irishman Kevin Kelleher and the museum has his whistle. It was obtained by museum founder John Sinclair.

The other famous whistle in the vaults at the museum is the one used to start all five Rugby World Cups. It was used by English referee Gil Evans during the 1905 All Black Originals' tour against England and again by Welshman Albert Freethy when he sent off All Black Cyril Brownlie against England at Twickenham in 1925.

That whistle was also used at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.

As Akers noted, the common theme has been that three of the museum's whistles were used to send players to the sideline.

- nzpa