Greatest moments in Otago sport - number 135

Hayden Meikle counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.

No 135: Registration of national archery association (1943)

They called Nick Ryan the father of New Zealand archery. He was the driving force behind the sport's introduction and the establishment of the country's first organised competition.

Ryan played a major role in the formation of the Dunedin club in 1938, and then helped register the New Zealand Archery Association in Dunedin on February 16, 1943.

The Dunedin club's buildings and records were destroyed by fire in 1949, but other archery literature indicates the club was the first in New Zealand.

Ryan had developed an interest in the sport a year or so earlier when he was looking for an unusual activity for his family to enjoy.

The first archers practised at an area appropriately labelled Robin Hood Park near the Beverley Begg Observatory.

Later, a range and clubhouse were constructed at Jubilee Park.

Ryan, guided by an American archery book, made his own targets from thick straw rope fed between the spokes of two horse carriage wheels which he had mounted on an axle and frame.

The Ryan name lives on in the form of the Ryan Shield, the New Zealand club championship. Dunedin won it in 2004 for the first time in 38 years.