Consent granted for Jock Hobbs’ Mausoleum

Spinner

More News

Thursday, 03 May 2007 13:41

AUCKLAND – The Auckland City Council has granted resource consent to the Jock Hobbs Mausoleum. The final resting place for the legendary All Black player, captain and administrator is set to begin next year, assuring completion well before the man is finally laid to rest.

“Through good fortune and some dithering by politicians like that Mallard geek, we’ve been able to secure a block of land to build a suitable shrine for the commemoration of my remarkable life once I leave this world for the great rugby field in the sky.” Hobbs, still currently in good health, told Spinner yesterday.

The Jock Hobbs Mausoleum will sit on the site of the present day Bledisloe Wharf on the Auckland waterfront. It will be built from Oamaru stone and Takaka marble, and will feature a large golden egg, said to represent either a rugby ball or Jock Hobbs’s head. Provisional estimations are at $955 million, which a Hobbs-approved NZRU press release confirmed as a “suitable amount to spend on a shrine honouring the greatest flanker the game has seen.”

Accolades for the New Zealand Herald’s New Zealander of the Year 2005 have been pouring in from around the world. Rupert Murdoch told Spinner the Mausoleum would be a suitable tribute to “the man who saved rugby”, after Hobbs convinced rogue All Black players in 1995 not to join a breakaway professional circus backed by Kerry Packer. His hard work ensured all the souls of rugby greats throughout SANZAR world would instead be protected by the sponsorship of News Ltd.

Hobbs debuted for the All Blacks in 1983 against a strong British Lions contingent. An enigma, the great openside flank successor to Graham Mourie hadn’t played representative or provincial rugby. There were even rumours he was the second coming, though these would later be dispelled when the aging Hobbs was eventually replaced in the 1987 World Cup squad by the actual second coming, Michael Jones.

Hobbs captained the All Blacks from 1984 to 1987, being unfairly stripped of the role after supporting apartheid in the 1986 Cavaliers tour to South Africa. Hobbs is said to “regret” his role in the tour. “Particularly wearing that yellow jumper with the black stripes,” he told Spinner. “There was really no room for blacks on that trip, sorry… I mean black on that strip.”

When the final whistle does blow for Hobbs, he will be most remembered for his leadership of the NZRU’s successful bid to host the 2011 World Cup. Entry prices to both the World Cup final and the Jock Hobbs Mausoleum are likely to be set at the same rate – “around $500 per person.”