Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

From rugby pitch to WWI battlefield

By Staff Reporter
Whanganui Chronicle·
1 Jan, 2016 08:42 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An exhibit from Balls, Bullets and Boots, currently on display at the Waiouru Army Museum. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

An exhibit from Balls, Bullets and Boots, currently on display at the Waiouru Army Museum. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

An engaging, interactive exhibition that has just opened at the Waiouru Army Museum explores the reality of war on colonial sportsmen as they were transplanted from the rugby fields of home to fight for the "mother country".

Balls, Bullets and Boots is told through the eyes of New Zealand rugby players and coaches. It features people from every background, those who served and those who stayed behind, those who came back and those who did not return.

Fifty All Blacks went to war and 13 died. No fewer than 728 provincial reps served, 163 died and by late 1915 (before conscription) it was estimated that 10,000 active club players nationwide had volunteered.

The exhibition looks at the impact the hostilities had on New Zealand's signature sport and its sportspeople. Rugby players during the Great War were often held up by recruiters as heroes, athletes turned soldiers, making noble sacrifices for their country as they traded the cheers of spectators for the roar of artillery fire.

Ex-All Black captain Anton Oliver features as the exhibition's "digital guide". Oliver is passionate about the need to confront the realities that New Zealand men and women went through during wartime. "I'm interested in this project because it attempts to strip away all of the political, nationalistic rhetoric and describe what really happened to people in the war by telling people's stories."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

-The exhibition, from the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North, will be on display in both the Freyberg and Thornton galleries until February 26.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

13 Jul 05:15 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

13 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

13 Jul 06:00 PM

'Basically, on a windy day, there won’t be any training.'

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

13 Jul 05:15 PM
‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

13 Jul 05:00 PM
RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP