A pilgrimage to the Otago Peninsula burial site of the man responsible for the All Black uniform is set to be a drawcard for rugby fans.
Dunedin-based author and historian Dr Ron Palenski said Tom Ellison, who was born at Otakou, probably within a year of 1867, was one of the most influential people in New Zealand rugby in the 19th century.
A member of the New Zealand native football team which toured Great Britain and Australia in 1888-89, Ellison moved at the first annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 1893 that the team's black jersey with silver fern, be adopted as the official New Zealand team uniform.
"A couple of months later when the first team under the auspices of the New Zealand union was chosen ... he was the captain," Dr Palenski said.
Ellison was responsible for the black jersey and the silver fern becoming the New Zealand team jersey, and "subsequently everything else in New Zealand sport derived from it", Dr Palenski said.
"Without Ellison, you wouldn't be talking about it."
He said it was pleasing the Rugby World Cup was awakening interest in some of the pioneers of the New Zealand game, such as Ellison.
Ngai Tahu representative Tahu Potiki reminded the England rugby team of the Dunedin connection to the All Blacks' jersey at the capping ceremony in the Town Hall on Tuesday night:
"Although it is a little bit of a skite from the people here, it is something we would like to acknowledge."
The English team will wear its black alternative playing strip against Argentina at Otago Stadium on Saturday.
Otakou runanga manager Janine Karetai said any visiting rugby fans wanting to pay their respect could first call into the marae office.
On the native football team's 1888-89 tour, Ellison scored 113 points, including 43 tries. (A try became worth three points in 1893.)
His first-class record was 117 (68 first-class) matches, in which he scored 160 points, including 51 tries. A wing turned halfback, he was credited with developing the wing forward position.
In 1902, he published one of the first coaching manuals, The Art of Rugby Football. One of the first Maori admitted to the Bar, he worked in Wellington.
