It has been 86 long years since the Kiwis last played in Dunedin - but now we have only 16 days to wait for their return. Otago league historian Carey Clements looks back on the two previous tests to be held in the city and ponders rugby league's tumultuous history in the South.
The only two rugby league tests held in Dunedin were a sharp contrast to each other.
The first gave way for the game to be born and prosper in the province, while the second effectively cast the first spell in causing the code to die a natural death in the region six years later.
First, some background.
During the 1924 annual meeting of the Canterbury Rugby League (CRL), president Dr Henry Thacker said he would look at trying to introduce the game to Ashburton, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill as a means of strengthening league in the South Island.
The following month, the CRL asked to use either Carisbrook or the Caledonian Ground, so it could promote a forthcoming Canterbury-Great Britain game at a neutral venue.
Both of the grounds at the time were leased by the Otago Rugby Football Union, which sent a rejection letter, stating the game would only act as a ''propaganda tool'' for its rival code, despite having allowed a football game to be played at Carisbrook earlier that year.
Although the CRL was defeated in its bid, the New Zealand Rugby League picked up the slack by seeking a Dunedin ground for the third test between the Kiwis and Great Britain.
Over the next two months, NZRL organiser Henry Millard, along with Dunedin land agent Harry Divers, battled with the ORFU, the Dunedin City Council, the St Kilda Borough Council, the Forbury Park Trotting Club and the Otago A&P Society.
After Carisbrook and the Caledonian Ground were declared out of bounds by the ORFU, a public meeting was held in Dunedin on June 25, which led to the formation of the Otago Rugby League.
More than 100 attended the meeting and two hours later, a steering committee of 14 was elected, with Dunedin dentist John Cooper elected chairman.
Finally, after having bids to use Forbury Park and Culling Park rejected, the ORL secured Tahuna Park, literally days before the test was due to kick off, but not before the ORFU was successful in getting the A&P Society to hike up its rental for Tahuna Park.
In a bid to sabotage crowd numbers for the league test, the ORFU hastily scheduled a rugby game on the same day between Otago and Canterbury at Carisbrook.
In the end, between 12,000 and 15,000 watched Great Britain beat New Zealand 31-18 at Tahuna Park, while an estimated 7000 union diehards went to Carisbrook.
The Otago Daily Times labelled the league test a ''swift and spectacular display'', while the Star Sports Special reported that it was a ''thrilling and spectacular exhibition'' that ''was full of exciting episodes''.
Just three weeks later, the first rugby league club in Dunedin, Pacific, was born, following a meeting in South Dunedin.
Three more clubs - Athletic (North Dunedin), City and Christian Brothers Old Boys were formed a short time later, followed by Kaikorai and Kaitangata the following year.
This was the golden era of rugby league in Otago. Not only were clubs sprouting up and growing, but four local players - Bert Eckhoff, Herb Pearce, Harry Thomas and Alf Townsend - were selected for the Kiwis, while others such as Gordon Blazey, Ted McKewen and Don Oliver were given South Island selection.
The ORL obtained 16,000 from the Art Union Lottery in late 1925, resulting in a purchase of a 28-acre property in South Dunedin, in an area originally called Colossal Park before it was renamed Tonga Park.
The capital gain led to Otago loaning the NZRL 820 in 1927 after it had lost money from the disastrous Kiwi tour of Great Britain the previous year.
All good things, as they say, come to an end.
The writing was on the wall for league in Otago when Dunedin was asked to host the second test in 1928, against another touring Great Britain side.
By this stage, the ORL had negotiated a five-year lease on the Caledonian Ground, so although there were no issues with the venue, a problem arose during the actual game.
After New Zealand had won the first test 17-13 at Carlaw Park in Auckland, a record crowd was expected for the Dunedin test to see if the Kiwis could wrap up the series and avenge their series loss to the same opposition in England just over a year earlier.
In the end, just over 10,000 turned up to watch the test, which Great Britain won 13-5 to take the series to a decider in Christchurch.
The Dunedin test was marred by constant fighting, resulting in British forward Bill Burgess being sent off. The media had a field day at the ''Donnybrook'' and the ''disappointing display'', lamenting the prominence of ''rough play''.
The Otago Daily Times summed it up by claiming ''the spectators who patronised the match in the hope of seeing a good game went away thoroughly disgusted and disappointed that the players who were responsible for the deplorable exhibition that was given have done incalculable harm to the code in this district''.
Besides blaming the touring side for being responsible for starting the ''rough stuff'', referee Sam Devereux, of Dunedin, was criticised for allowing some of the offenders to continue, when a stronger hand may have calmed the situation.
In the days that followed, the game was examined more widely by the media, and the conclusion was that ''the most likely explanation was that everything was sacrificed to the winning of the match''.
In addition to the disgusted media, the game served as a powder keg to the Dunedin public. Many seemed to decide the new code was not worth following and was only played by thugs.
The following year, the Great Depression hit. Playing numbers declined, ORL stalwart Divers died aged 53, and the ORL fizzled out by the end of 1934.
It took a further 19 years before the Otago Rugby League was reborn in a city that has arguably maintained a love-hate relationship with the 13-a-side code to this day.
The sport gained wider acceptance through television coverage from the late 1980s, and has survived in Dunedin thanks to its small band of volunteers. A Kiwis test in the city is their reward.
