![\"Owen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Owen-Todd-with-the-100-year-Queenstown-Bowling-Club-history-that-he-wrote-for-the-2004-celebration-c.jpeg\")
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Owen Todd with the 100-year Queenstown Bowling Club history that he wrote for the 2004 celebration during a visit to the Bowling Club late last month.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s managed legendary Southland Rugby teams and eyed up many an up-and-coming All Black during his rugby administration and selector days, but it\u2019s bowls where rugby legend Owen Todd, 99, left his mark in Queenstown.<\/p>\n
Owen not only managed the Southland Rugby Team to its historical Ranfurly Shield draw with Auckland in 1976, but was President of the Southland Rugby Union, manager, and Southland and New Zealand U18 selector during his 1970s and 80s prime. His mini Ranfurly Shield takes pride of place in his room – walls adorned with Southland Rugby memorabilia, at Queenstown\u2019s Arvida Country Club rest home.<\/p>\n
Turning 100 next July, Owen vividly recalls every yarn as if it were yesterday.<\/p>\n
All that rugby leadership aside, his most memorable personal sporting victory was in his 80s cleaning up with two mates \u2013 Bill Johnston and Dave Weir \u2013 average age of 80, at the Queenstown Bowling Club Triples Championship. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe qualified for the final playing three top club champions,\u201d Owen says. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a dog show in hell that we\u2019d win \u2013 three underdogs playing three champions and at our age, but we won it!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGeez, it was late home that night,\u201d he grins. Owen got the trophy engraved, their ages too. <\/p>\n
A former committee member, he wrote the Queenstown Bowling Club\u2019s 100-year history book celebrating 1904 \u2013 2004.<\/p>\n
While sporting accomplishments were proud moments, 23 January 1950 was his most memorable day. \u201cMarrying Ray at St John\u2019s Church in Invercargill was the greatest moment of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadly, wife Ray passed away in 2015 after 65 years of happy marriage.<\/p>\n
Childhood sweethearts, they met at Invercargill\u2019s South School: \u201cI sat up the front with the dummies, and she was the dark-haired brainy girl up the back,\u201d Owen grins.<\/p>\n
Owen\u2019s dad transferred to Balfour where Owen continued school. \u201cThat\u2019s where I got introduced to rugby, watching it over the fence,\u201d he says. After moving to Gore, Owen worked as a butcher\u2019s delivery boy before and after school on his bicycle. But it was the intrigue of the men making things with metal at the blacksmith\u2019s shop next door that inspired his 44-year career as a mechanical fitter-welder.<\/p>\n
The family moved back to Invercargill where Owen played for the South School Rugby Team, selected for the Southland Primary Schools Team to play Otago. \u201cWe gave them a thrashing. There were three of us from our school and the headmaster made the senior class stand up and clap for us.\u201d Then at playtime \u201cthe dark-haired brainy girl\u201d (Ray) gave him a dig in the back and said, \u2018Good on ya!\u2019<\/p>\n
At 12 during World War II a World Boys\u2019 Brigade Jamboree in Wellington was downsized to the \u2018Southern Hemisphere\u2019 due to safety threats. \u201cWe went by train and boat. No lights were allowed on the boat at night in case the enemy spotted them. A huge passenger liner was loading soldiers to take them to war. It was scary alright.\u201d <\/p>\n
Head prefect at Southland Technical College, Owen took on an apprenticeship at J.K. Stevenson Engineers, working his way up to shareholdings.<\/p>\n
His voluntary rugby administration began on the Invercargill\u2019s Blues Rugby Club Committee, now a Life Member for almost 50 years, the club\u2019s oldest. Owen was star of the show at the Blues 150th anniversary last year and organised Southland\u2019s annual Rugby Life Members Club gatherings, attending his most recent one three years ago.<\/p>\n
Before long he\u2019d been nominated to the Southland Rugby Union by two NZ Rugby Union members and was off managing the Blues team trip to Australia.<\/p>\n
He was also a Southland and NZ U18 selector.<\/p>\n
A dad of three, each time he was nominated he\u2019d say, \u2018I\u2019ll have a yarn to my wife\u2019. \u201cShe always said, \u2018Go for it!\u2019. I owe her so much. I couldn\u2019t have done any of it without her fantastic support, and that of my family,\u201d Owen says.<\/p>\n
Chairman of Southland Rugby\u2019s Grounds Committee for the 1981 Springbok Tour, Owen\u2019s highlight was meeting Errol Tobius, the first coloured member of the Springbok team. \u201cErrol told me some of his own team seldom spoke to him, which was really sad. He had his own separate manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Southland manager Owen had to keep the boys out of strife, like the time Southland Juniors got into a brawl with bikies in Blenheim. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had three cops in my senior team, so I had to let them go help. When the others heard what had happened I couldn\u2019t hold them back despite the hotel manageress\u2019s warning to stay at the hotel.\u201d Two guys \u2013 a player and liaison officer, ended up in hospital. \u201cIt was all over the 6 o\u2019clock news!\u201d<\/p>\n
Many happy years were spent at their family crib in Queenstown Camping Ground \u2013 \u2018Toddle Inn\u2019, Owen and Ray retiring to Queenstown in 1985.
Owen enjoyed bowls and Ray golf. Owen did fluke a Hole in One in Wanaka once though.<\/p>\n
Both he and Ray volunteered for Meals on Wheels.<\/p>\n
Owen\u2019s met some \u201cmarvellous people\u201d and always encouraged the younger generation.<\/p>\n
As for those two newest great grandsons, well, hopefully they\u2019ll grow up to be Stags.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owen Todd with the 100-year Queenstown Bowling Club history that he wrote for the 2004 celebration during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-338083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}