By Rob Jenkins
The late Arthur Goddard shows the All Blacks jersey he was given after his town's team Cheltenham played against New Zealand in 1905. Photo: Supplied
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is under fire for refusing to help a British woman get her historic and hugely valuable All Blacks jersey back.
Sophie Ferguson has spent much of the last 10 years longing to retrieve a jersey worn by a New Zealand player during their UK tour of 1905/06.
Sophie Ferguson with a copy of a Gloucestershire Echo story written by her father in 2005, 100 years after the Cheltenham v New Zealand match. Photo: Rob Jenkins
It became famous, because it was the Kiwis' first overseas tour and impressive performances made their 'All Blacks' nickname widely known.
The jersey was worn by NZ front-row forward George Nicholson, when his team beat Cheltenham Rugby Club 18-0 at its ground in Gloucestershire, England, on 6 December 1905.
After the match, Nicholson swapped tops with Cheltenham scrumhalf, Arthur Goddard - Sophie's great-grandfather.
The All Blacks jersey was passed on to her father -veteran Gloucestershire Echo sports reporter Derek Goddard - who kept it for a long time, before lending it to Old Patesians, another rugby club in Cheltenham, to display in its clubhouse.
Sophie said her father, who died in 2015, lent it to the club, but when she later asked for it back, it denied ever having had it.
The club told her it had another of the All Blacks jerseys from the game, but not the one belonging to her family.
She claimed she was repeatedly fobbed off by the club and later by the RFU, after it was lent the jersey so it could put it on display in its World Rugby Museum at Twickenham in London.
In the past, other All Blacks jerseys from the tour have sold for as much as £180,000 {NZ$420,880) at auction, but Sophie, of Eastcombe, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, insists money is not the main issue.
"It's just wrong, what they've done," she said. "This is not about how much the jersey might be worth - it's about getting it back and not losing that part of the Goddard family history."
The 54-year-old has been massively disappointed and frustrated during her long campaign to find out where the jersey is.
All Blacks and Cheltenham teams before their match on 6 December 1905. Photo: Supplied
She said Old Patesians disputed its ownership and had been very unhelpful, when she made her enquiries.
She said the RFU, which is the oldest rugby association in the world, refused to properly help her son, when he enquired about the matter on her behalf.
"I'm really disappointed with how the Old Patesians and the RFU have failed to help me find the jersey, which rightly belongs to my family," she said. "The whole process has been very stressful and, at times, exhausting.
"I even spent a large sum of money on employing solicitors to deal with it on my behalf, but it was all to no avail."
World Rugby Museum curator Phil McGowan declined to comment, other than to say the jersey had been kept in a storeroom, because there had not been enough space to display it to the public.
A spokeswoman for the museum said: "We are regularly loaned items to exhibit, as was the case with the shirt, which has now been returned. Details of any loan are confidential between the museum, and the company or individual who loans the item."
She added that the museum accepted the All Blacks jersey on loan for five years, which was its standard period, before deciding to return it, after being contacted about its ownership.
The Old Patesians club has been contacted for comment, but has not responded.
This story first appeared on the Gloucestershire Live website.
