The Kurow Rugby Club, situated in the heart of the beautiful Waitaki Valley in North Otago, is a legendary name in New Zealand grassroots rugby. Formed in 1898, the club has carved out a towering legacy that vastly outweighs the size of its small, rural township.
The history of Kurow is a mix of fierce country grit, regional championship success, and its status as the starting point for arguably the greatest player to ever play the game.
Foundation & The Early Eras (1898)
The club was established in 1898, just as rural settlements in the Waitaki Valley were expanding due to pastoral farming and early infrastructure projects.
• Affiliation: Kurow became a foundational pillar of the North Otago Rugby Football Union (NORFU), fighting it out with larger, coastal town clubs from Oamaru.
• The Milestones: The club has proudly kept its records alive. They celebrated their Centennial in 1998 with a 120-page history book written by Anne Watherston, and recently marked their 125th Jubilee in 2023 with a comprehensive commemorative book by Lynley Eade.
The Famous Red Jersey & Wallaby Giant-Slaying
Kurow traditionally takes the field in a striking, classic Scarlet Red jersey.
This specific jersey color holds an immortal place in wider North Otago rugby folklore due to a famous event in 1962:
In June 1962, the Australian national team (the Wallabies) toured New Zealand and played a provincial match against the North Otago “Old Golds” at the Oamaru Showgrounds. Because Australia’s gold jerseys clashed with North Otago’s traditional gold, the North Otago side took the field wearing Kurow’s scarlet red jerseys. Clad in Kurow red, the heavily underestimated country boys pulled off one of the greatest upsets in rugby history, defeating Australia 14–13.
Championship Pedigree: The Citizens Shield
Kurow competes fiercely for the Citizens Shield, the premier club prize in North Otago rugby.
• The Golden Eras: Kurow established themselves as regional heavyweights during dominant title-winning eras in the late 1970s and early 1980s (capturing championships in 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1982).
• Modern Triumphs: The club went through a prolonged championship drought before making a massive, emotional resurgence in the late 2010s and early 2020s, reclaiming the Citizens Shield to the roaring support of the Waitaki Valley community.
The Boyhood Home of Richie McCaw
You cannot speak about the history of Kurow without mentioning its most famous son. Kurow and the neighboring Hakataramea Valley are celebrated worldwide as the boyhood home of Richie McCaw (All Black #1014).
McCaw played his very first years of structured grassroots rugby in the Kurow JAB (Junior Advisory Board) kids’ grades. The club’s tight-knit, hard-working farm community heavily shaped the work ethic of the future legendary All Black captain, who would go on to win two Rugby World Cups and play 148 Tests for New Zealand.
Today, tourists traveling the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail often stop in Kurow just to take a photo at the local sports grounds where rugby’s greatest modern icon first learned to tackle. Driven by local farming families and intense community pride, the “Red Devils” of Kurow remain as vibrant and stubborn a rugby force as ever.
