📍Kurow, Waitaki, New Zealand
1980 – 1998“Richie McCaw grew up on a farm in the Hakataramea Valley, a remote high-country valley in South Canterbury near the Waitaki River, where sheep stations run up into tussock hills. His father, Don, farmed, and his mother, Margaret, was a teacher; he had one sister, Joanna. Farm life meant early mornings, work outside in every weather and a strong sense of practical responsibility, and the McCaws were a quiet, understated family. Rugby came through the local community. From about six he played for the Kurow club, across the river in North Otago, where a local farmer, Barney McCone, coached him for years, usually at number eight, and taught him the basics and the love of the game. His grandfather, Jim McCaw, a former fighter pilot, introduced him to gliding, and flying became a lifelong passion. At thirteen he left home to board at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, where he became head boy and captain of the first fifteen. A few years later he famously wrote on a napkin his goal of becoming a great All Black. He went on to study agricultural science at Lincoln University near Christchurch, played for Canterbury and the Crusaders, and became an All Black at twenty. He captained New Zealand to two Rugby World Cup titles and played 148 Test matches. Since retiring he has flown helicopters commercially and kept close links to the Waitaki district. The people of Kurow still speak with pride about the boy who learned his rugby on their small country ground, and the valley he came from remains part of who he is.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
🛰️ Satellite view · © Google