Otorohanga is both Waikato's newest and oldest rugby club.

The move from King Country to Waikato was made in 1998 and a three-year battle with the King Country Rugby Union was finally resolved by the New Zealand union, in Otorohanga's favour, in 2000.

By 2002 they had earned premier status and have remained there, reaching the championship semifinals in 2007.

However, the proud club's history goes back a much further – it having been formed in 1895 and affiliated with the Waipa Sub-Union before formation of the King Country provincial union.

One of Otorohanga's oldest active stalwarts, Graham Wilshier, has a lifetime-involvement with rugby and sport and believes joining Waikato was the best thing the club ever did.

Wilshier, the club president and delegate to the WRU council of clubs, is now 72.

"I've lived here all my life and have deep roots in Otorohanga and am also involved with other sporting codes," Wilshier said.

His 78-year-old family firm Otorohanga Timber Company – these days run by son Steve – is heavily involved in the club and community as a major financial backer and employer.

"I started playing in 1956 for Tigers, who then went into recess, then Otorohanga and then Old Boys, who were resurrected from Tigers," Graham Wilshier said. "I played in the same era as the Meads brothers, who played for Waitete in Te Kuiti."

He got involved with Otorohanga Sports Club again in the late 1970s/early 80s when Steve started playing. Steve went on to a senior career that spanned between 300 and 400 games.

"I helped out on the playing side through the 80s and early 90s in a team management role.

"Then, when the club made the move to go away from King Country and into Waikato, I was asked to be involved in the move on the administrative side because they were having legal difficulties.

"The president at the time was Jim Pinny, who did a huge amount for Otorohanga rugby and was president from 1992 to about 2007. He asked me to get involved."

Wilshier said it was felt that for rugby in Otorohanga to survive they had to move north.

Concerned about declining playing numbers and teams in King Country and the demands on players to find time to travel long distances to play their rugby, coupled with changing job dynamics, club officials fought hard to push the move north through.

Since 1990 King Country rugby has shrunk from 32 senior teams to just eight.

"We felt the time was right for the move to be made and we're pleased to have done it," Wilshier said. "We're very happy to these days be recognised as a Waikato club."

Wilshier said he believed it was vital for local communities to have people playing sport but clubs these days found it difficult to make ends meet. "There are a lot of demands placed on clubs and with funds drying up everywhere it is difficult to balance the books. But we struggle on and we do it because we love it."

The club has strong premier A and B teams, which finished the preliminary round in third and second positions, an under-21 side and supports six school teams in the North King Country junior competition. Four netball teams are affiliated to the club and the squash section has 60 members – all from a population of 3000.

CLUB PROFILE

Name of club: Otorohanga Sports Club.

Year founded: 1895.

Playing colours: Royal blue and gold.

Teams entered this season: Three senior (premier A & B, under-21) and six junior (play in King Country primary schools competition).

Playing numbers (approx): 90 seniors and 120 juniors.

Best on-field achievements of club: Semifinalists Waikato Breweries Shield 2007, winners premier B 2008.

Most notable players to come from club: All Blacks Neville Thornton 1947-49, Phillip Coffin 1996.

Key club contacts: Board chairman Paul McConnell 027-290-1922, club president/delegate Graham Wilshier 027-498-8207, rugby contact and senior A manager Merv Carr 027-333-1942.

"There are a lot of demands placed on clubs and with funds drying up everywhere it is difficult to balance the books." - Graham Wilshier