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Nearly 80 years after first stepping foot on a rugby league field, Canterbury stalwart Neville Diggs has become New Zealand Rugby League’s newest life member.
Diggs, 86, was nominated by longtime friend and legendary coach Frank Endacott for years of service to the code, serving as Canterbury’s manager in the 1990s with a heavy involvement in schoolboy league as well.
Diggs said the award was a big surprise.
“Frank rung me up, he said ‘I think I’m going to do something for you, for all you’ve done,” he said.
“It was out of the blue, I never even thought of it. Never in my wildest dreams would I get a life membership from New Zealand Rugby League.”
One of six children, Diggs was introduced to the sport as an eight-year-old growing up in Sydenham in the late 1940s.
“My dad died in the war and I only had a mum, and she worked every day of the week from seven o’clock, eight o’clock. I was with the people I liked during the day, we were just getting up to a bit of mischief, not much really.
“We were just down at Sydenham Park one day and this guy who came up was Jack Wakefield, who was the president of the rugby league club. He said to me, ‘what you boys doing, mucking around? Would you like to have a game of rugby league?’
“We said, ‘what’s rugby league’, and he told us to come over to Bradford Park tomorrow, so we all went, he showed us rugby league and we started playing.”
Diggs was taken with the game. He played for Sydenham through the grades until he was 23, when he made the move to Marist-Western Suburbs.
“The worst thing I’ve ever done, switching,” he said.
“The first game I played, Marist played Sydenham. Ivan Pimley wasn’t even playing in those days, but I saw him put a jersey on and run onto the field.
“I went up to play the ball and he kicked me through the knackers. I went down and he got ordered off. I still remember it.”
An accomplished front-rower and hooker, Diggs debuted for Sydenham’s premier side at 18 and Canterbury at 20, facing the touring French side in 1960.
That same year he was in line to be a non-travelling reserve for the Kiwis’ World Cup squad, only for a dislocated shoulder to put an end to any chance of selection.
He represented Canterbury until 1966 and Marist until 1969, although by his own admission the shoulder injury troubled him for the rest of his career.
While he was a fine player, it was off the field that Diggs cemented his legacy as one of the game’s great servants.
In 1983 he became manager of the Schoolboys Kiwis side and took over the same role with Canterbury in 1985.
“I was manager (Canterbury) with Ray (Haffenden) for about three or four years, and then with Frank (Endacott) for five or six years. Both marvellous coaches.”
The highlight came in 1993 when Canterbury claimed its first national title, upsetting a star-studded Auckland side packed with Kiwis internationals 36-12 in the grand final at Addington Showgrounds.
“They came down with all their Kiwis, they were going to thrash us and we ended up thrashing them. It was quite a cool feeling, we went on for a few days after.”
As team manager Diggs would lend players money if they needed, and take it out of their next payment. He would keep a list of names and how much they owed written on his hand.
“One night I’d come home, and without thinking, jumped in the shower,” he said.
“I’m showering away then looked at my hand and thought, ‘bloody hell’, so I shoved my hand out. Frank Endacott walked in, said ‘what are you doing, you’ve got your bloody hand out with all that writing on it’. I said yeah, I have to.”
Endacott remembered the occasion: “It was hilarious, believe me,” he said.
“We were up north playing Bay of Plenty in Rotorua from memory, and we’d had a couple of drinks the night before, had a couple of bets and that at the races, and several players had asked Neville for a loan.
“He gave them 20 bucks there and 10 bucks here, and he wrote it on his arm, so he’d remember for the morning.
“He was in the shower and I just happened to walk into his room to see him about something, and here he is with an arm out of the shower so he wouldn’t get it wet.”
Endacott said it was typical of Diggs to share a laugh with him and the players.
“He was a players’ manager, they speak highly of him even today. We were lucky to have some good managers for Canterbury in that era, but he was one of the special ones.”
Diggs recalls waiting at Christchurch Airport on one occasion for a flight to Auckland.
“We were playing up at Auckland, everyone was there and we were goofing around.”
Diggs asked who was missing.
The answer did not surprise him – the immensely gifted player was notorious for taking nothing too seriously.
“He’d go out the night before and get a booze on and he’d come good as gold if he played.”
Diggs told the team to board the plane while he waited for the player to arrive.
“Next thing I heard a call on the intercom saying, ‘Mr Diggs, Mr … you’re at number four, last call’. Next thing, this guy comes running in, no blazer, no tie, no football gear, just a shirt.
“He says ‘Diggsy, can you pay the cab for me?’ I said, ‘get on the plane’. I had to run out, pay his cab, get back on the plane.
“Luckily another player had spare gear, boots, everything.”
Diggs recalls the Canterbury team of the 1980s and 90s fondly.
“Mark (Nixon) was a good leader, he was the captain, and a good player too, then you had Brendon Tuuta, who led the team as well. The standout player was Logan Edwards, he was gifted.
“All the players played well, everyone complimented each other. They worked as a team.”
He also spent several years involved with the Schoolboys Kiwis in the 1980s, managing the team and serving as selector while also being involved in the Southern Zone team.
His son Jason was in the Schoolboy Kiwis in 1986.
Diggs’ family legacy lives on in the sport he lives and breathes. Son Darren is club captain at Halswell Hornets while Darren’s son Conrad plays for Halswell’s under 18 team on a Monday night at Ngā Puna Wai, something Diggs enjoys watching.
He watches plenty of league, including his beloved Warriors in the NRL, and is grateful for his recognition as a life member.
“Frank said, ‘you’ve done a lot of work in the background and no one appreciates you’, and I said I didn’t do it to get that, I did it because I like sport, I like rugby league.
“Rugby league did a lot for me, it gave me something to do and then I thought, well, I’ll give it back.”