Hawkes Bay Rugby Union: Rugby in Hawke’s Bay started in 1875 when the then Napier Football (Soccer) Club changed to adopting rugby rules. By 1878 Napier, calling itself Hawke’s Bay, arranged matches with Gisborne on a regular basis. The Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union was formed in 1884 at a meeting of delegates from four clubs Napier, Union, Hastings, and Petane. Hawke’s Bay administrators, Ernest Hoben and Francis Logan, were instrumental in the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Union in 1891 with Hoben, a Napier journalist who moved to Wellington, becoming the first secretary and Logan, a Napier lawyer, became a member of the inaugural three-man appeal committee who also served as the first New Zealand selectors.​​​​​​​