The first WAGs: A 1970s All Black wife on rugby and women’s lib

August 27, 2018 2:06 AM

The man from the rugby union is resolute. If he lets us in, the floodgates will open. You’ll want fancy stuff to drink, he says. But, he says, moist-eyed with magnanimity, if you’d like to help out in the kitchen with the other ladies, you’re more than welcome.

The Spinoff: "We asked former All Black great Bob Burgess to review a new book on his team-mate Keith Murdoch. But then we changed our mind, and asked his wife Linda Burgess to write whatever she wanted about rugby".

A few footnotes:
WAGs - wives and girlfriends [of the players]. Originally used in relation to the high-profile partners of England football players.
Keith Murdoch - the All Black was sent home from a tour of the UK after assaulting a security guard. He never made it back to New Zealand, instead disappearing in Australia.
The [Ranfurly] Shield: prestigious challenge trophy played for by New Zealand provincial teams. Burgess played for Taranaki, a relatively small team. In the 1970s, rugby was strictly amateur.
The Hurricanes: professional franchise based in Wellington; Taranaki is part of the franchise.
The Lions: the combined British & Irish team, who would tour NZ once every 12 years at most. Playing against them would be the pinnacle of any rugby player's career.
HART: Halt All Racist Tours. A group campaigning against sporting contacts with South Africa. New Zealand was ignoring international boycotts at the time. The dispute over the 1981 South African tour was bitter and violent.

posted by Pink Frost (6 comments total)

When we ask where his room is, the lift man won’t take us up. But I’m his wife, I say, cravenly. If we let you in, he says, who knows where it’ll end?

Random man annoying random woman in a petty way to Preserve Western Civilization: one of the three pillars of Western Civilization.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:00 AM on August 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

The piece reminded me a lot of the Alex quartet by Tessa Dudder although I'm not entirely sure why. Probably the attitudes of men towards women in 'untraditional' places back in the 60s and 70s.
posted by poxandplague at 4:20 AM on August 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Spinoff did the right thing giving the article to this writer. This is a small-scale beautiful piece, so restrained and warm. Think what she might have written had she been (justifiably) angry and unforgiving.
posted by Wrick at 4:22 AM on August 27, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh yeah this is great.

Playing against the Lions would be the pinnacle of any All Black's career. Playing against the All Blacks would be the pinnacle of anyone else's I think.
posted by awfurby at 5:14 AM on August 27, 2018

That was a great essay; I particularly liked Ms. Burgess' description of Mr. Murdoch's charms.
posted by suelac at 12:10 PM on August 27, 2018

This was amazing. It really painted a picture of the time like a carousel on a slide projector.
posted by Megafly at 4:45 PM on August 27, 2018