Sid Going
Encyclopedia
Sid Going MBE  is a former New Zealand rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer. Dubbed Super Sid by his fans, he played 86 matches, including 29 tests for the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 between 1967 and 1977.

Sid was educated at Maromaku Primary School, Northland College and Church College of New Zealand
Church College of New Zealand
Church College of New Zealand was a private secondary school in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand, that was operated by the Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It was closed at the end of the 2009 school year.-History:Construction of the Church College of...

. In 1962, at the age of 19, he served as a missionary in Canada for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is father to 5 children, husband to Coleen and grandfather to a host of grand children. He recently served a mission in Sydney Australia with his wife for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Many rate him as New Zealand's greatest running halfback, his flair and unpredictability bagging him 10 tries in test matches, and 23 in all All Black games. He was a key member of the 1972–1973 All Black touring side to Great Britain and Ireland, his combination with flanker and captain Ian Kirkpatrick
Ian Kirkpatrick
Ian Andrew Kirkpatrick is a former New Zealand rugby union player, who was captain of the All Blacks.Kirkpatrick began his first-class career in 1966 at the age of 20 playing for Poverty Bay. One year later in he moved to Canterbury and established himself in the local provincial team...

 was pivotal. The side won tests against Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

, England, and Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

 before being narrowly denied an unprecedented Grand Slam
Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...

 by their 10–10 draw with Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

.

He delighted North Auckland fans during his long tenure as halfback from 1965 to 1978, often serving alongside his brothers Ken and Brian in that side, and in New Zealand Maori
New Zealand Maori rugby union team
New Zealand Māori is a rugby union team that traditionally plays teams touring New Zealand. A prerequisite for playing in this team is that the player is to have Māori whakapapa or genealogy. In the past this rule was not strictly applied. In the past non-Māori players who looked Māori were often...

 sides. Their speciality was a blindside triple-scissors movement, which almost gave North Auckland a late victory in the 1971 match against the legendary touring British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

. That side featured the Welsh great Gareth Edwards
Gareth Edwards
Gareth Owen Edwards CBE is a former Welsh rugby union footballer who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey"....

, whose duels with Going was a feature of the tour, which produced for the Lions the first and only test series victory over the All Blacks.

He was also a member of the 1976 All Black touring side to South Africa, a tour remembered for the frustration of dubious refereeing decisions, and for the heart-breaking 3–1 series loss to the Springboks. Although only a part-time goal-kicker, Going was called upon to do the kicking duties in at least one test because of injuries to other players.
The curtain came down on his All Black career during the 1977 British Lions tour, when he was replaced after two test-matches of four.

Going was honoured with an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

 in 1978 for his contributions to rugby, and continued to be involved with the game after retiring that same year. He coached Northland secondary school teams from 1988 to 1992, and was selector-coach of the provincial side from 1993 to 1996.

In 1978, a book was written about him entitled: SUPER SID – The Story of a Great All Black by Bob Howitt.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK