When the former Super 10 competition format was restructured in 1995 to form what is now known as Super Rugby, the plan was to form five New Zealand franchises: Dunedin, Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and North Harbour.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally we [Waikato Rugby Union] were upse t… mainly, because we hadn\u2019t been asked [to apply to be a franchise].<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we were interested in being one of the franchises because of the number of people we were associated with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shergold said Waikato matches had big crowds, in New Zealand and overseas.<\/p>\n
He said the support for Waikato went so far that even when the team, alongside South Africa\u2019s Sharks and Bulls, failed to qualify for the 1995 Super 10 competition, Waikato was invited to South Africa by the Bulls and the Sharks to play two matches there – separate from the Super 10 competition.<\/p>\n
The match in Durban had a crowd of 33,000 and the match in Pretoria had 24,000 – the same as a regular Super 10 match would have had, Shergold said.<\/p>\n
The godfather of the Chiefs, Don Shergold. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n
Knowing they had good arguments, the Waikato Rugby Union appealed to New Zealand Rugby for an opportunity to make its case about why it should be the fifth franchise and not North Harbour.<\/p>\n
Waikato won.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were absolutely ecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
All five franchises comprised of players from areas represented in the national provincial championship (NPC).<\/p>\n
The first Chiefs team included players from Northland, North Harbour, Thames Valley, King Country, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s in a name<\/p>\n
Naming the teams was no small feat, but in the end, all parties agreed on a \u201cbattle\u201d theme.<\/p>\n
The Dunedin franchise was inspired by the Scottish Highlanders, while Canterbury went back to the English Crusaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we got to Wellington and we couldn\u2019t think of … a fighting name, so we called them the windies, because of the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n
This later became the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
Auckland had several name ideas, including the As, but, in the end, they were named after the colour of the jersey, similarly to the Australian team, the Reds.<\/p>\n
Waikato initially wanted to be the Warriors but that was not possible due to the NRL team which debuted in 1995. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo [after brainstorming] we came back with two names, one was Chiefs … and the other one was Trojans, based on the ancient Greek fighters,\u201d Shergold said.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs logo (right) was an extension of the logo of the Waikato Rugby Union, Don Shergold said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a university girl, Vanessa Williams … working with me part-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I told her the two names … she said \u2018You can\u2019t call them Trojans … the university will take you to bits\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrojan\u201d is an American condom and sexual lubricant brand, so the decision to go for the name \u201cChiefs\u201d was easy.<\/p>\n
Initially, all five teams included their region\u2019s name, meaning the Chiefs were called the Waikato Chiefs.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs\u2019 logo ended up being an extension of the logo of the Waikato Rugby Union, an arm holding a traditional M\u0101ori weapon, Shergold said.<\/p>\n
In the Chiefs logo, the arm is across the chest of a person, symbolising that even when they are beaten, they will never be defeated, he said.<\/p>\n
Super Rugby kicks off<\/p>\n
In the first Super Rugby competition in 1996, there were 12 teams: five from New Zealand, four from South Africa and three from Australia.<\/p>\n
The first match was between the Wellington Hurricanes and Auckland Blues, played at The Showgrounds in Palmerston North, with the Blues winning 36-28.<\/p>\n
Chiefs captain Richard Turner in action during the 1996 season. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
The Chiefs\u2019 first match took place on March 3, 1996, defeating the Canterbury Crusaders 27\u201326 at Rugby Park in Hamilton.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs were coached by Brad Meurant and captained by Richard Turner.<\/p>\n
Don Shergold – godfather of the Chiefs<\/p>\n
Shergold, born in Waihi, describes himself as being \u201csports-minded\u201d since he was 5 years old.<\/p>\n
He played softball and cricket and swam, but there was something about rugby, something he can\u2019t quite explain, that made that sport more special to him than the others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just am a rugby nut,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Shergold has held several roles with the Chiefs.<\/p>\n
Don Shergold aged 87, at his home in Hamilton. He was the Chiefs first executive officer in 1996. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n
He was the Chiefs\u2019 first executive officer, before becoming operations manager and from 2010-17, assistant manager.<\/p>\n
\u201c[In between] I retired about three times,\u201d Shergold said.<\/p>\n
Now a life member, he is still very much connected to the Chiefs, and respected not only by the club, but also the players.<\/p>\n
Shergold said he felt like he had become a \u201csounding board\u201d for some players, to whom he often offered kind words of support.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of years ago, Sam [Cane] was given a bit of grief after a match.<\/p>\n
Chiefs flanker Sam Cane in 2018. Photo \/ Bruce Lim, Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not my place to say what they should or shouldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I just sent him a message, [saying], \u2018Look, it all doesn\u2019t matter when you come home to your boy. He won\u2019t care about any of it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAn hour or so later, Sam sent me a photo of himself, his wife and his son and said, \u2018Thank you, godfather\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiefs success<\/p>\n
Shergold said he loved seeing the players develop.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing young players grow. The dedication that they put in is just [incredible]. They give everything.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The Chiefs] made some magnificent men out of boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think you can get any more proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chiefs have been Super Rugby champions twice, winning back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n
Hika Elliot and Sona Taumalolo celebrate with the Super Rugby trophy after Chiefs beat the Sharks in the 2012 final in Hamilton. Photo \/ Stephen Barker<\/p>\n
He said the secret to the club\u2019s strong fan base and sporting success was in the culture and the way the Chiefs play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe success of the Chiefs is on the paddock … people come to see the way they play the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know you are going to see exciting rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have known this then [in 1996] and now.\u201d<\/p>\n
This weekend, the Chiefs\u2019 first game of the season will be against the Blues at Auckland\u2019s Eden Park on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs have their first 2026 home game on Saturday, February 28.<\/p>\n
Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the former Super 10 competition format was restructured in 1995 to form what is now known as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3589,128706,5263,4624,1863,52364,177,17909,46326,4596,35934,5275,221,8454,702,5844,32573,111,139,69,27257,6327,6926,1962,213,11555,1569,313,165,1961,32951,686,157313],"class_list":["post-281114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-3589","tag-30year","tag-all","tag-anniversary","tag-back","tag-beginning","tag-celebrate","tag-chiefs","tag-clubs","tag-competition","tag-danielle","tag-goes","tag-how","tag-including","tag-it","tag-journalist","tag-mark","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-occasion","tag-rugby","tag-season","tag-special","tag-sports","tag-started","tag-starts","tag-super","tag-their","tag-this","tag-turns","tag-week","tag-zollickhofer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}