Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid

Whenever the story of New Zealand’s biggest provincial rugby prize, the National Provincial Championship, is told, the inaugural victory of the Bay of Plenty Steamers nearly fifty years ago takes centre stage in the narrative.

Before the birth of the National Provincial Championship (NPC) in 1976, provincial rugby superiority was determined by the boastings of the leading contenders after they played a schedule of annual fixtures.

The first NPC to determine the best provincial side in the country was a first-past-the-post title race contested by 11 sides.

A semi-final against Canterbury on the Tauranga Domain on 17 October 17, 2024 seems like a good time to return to the Steamers Bay’s championship victory some 48 seasons ago.

Their first campaign started at the Rotorua International Stadium, losing a close match to Counties by just one point, their only defeat in the competition.

In the days where touchdowns tried were worth just four points, All Black Eddie Stokes, crossed the tryline twice in the Steamers 24-13 victory over Marlborough in their second NPC appearance.

Greg Rowlands, another All Black who made the 1976 tour of Argentina, kicked four penalties and a dropped goal at Athletic Park, in a drawn match with Wellington.

A Tuck Waaka penalty goal completed the Bay of Plenty total in the 18-18 result.

Possibly, the most significant win was against Manawatu in their three-match road trip. The lower North Island province would later rebound from the 28-9 drubbing administered by the Bay of Plenty Steamers.

Shades of this weekend’s semifinals was Canterbury's 12-6 defeat in front of a large, passionate base of blue and yellow supporters at the Tauranga Domain.

Late August saw the Steamers visit the Whakatane Domain, which was on the Bay Unions representative fixture list in the 1970′s, where they dispatched Southland 27-12.

There was arguably no more vital victory in the title race than the two competition points the Steamers snatched from Auckland when they squeezed home 31-28 at Eden Park.

The three-home game stretch saw the Blue and Yellow brigade defeat Northland 17-3 and Otago 19-6 to set up an absolute must-win in their last NPC game of the season.

Peering through the mists of time, it is hard to imagine the dramatic finish to the new NPC, with Bay of Plenty and Manawatu locked together at the top of the standings, entering the final stanza.

Bay of Plenty had their last throw of the dice against arch-rivals Hawke’s Bay, with Manawatu squaring off with Marlborough.

The game with Hawke’s Bay belonged to legendary Bay of Plenty fullback Greg Rowlands, who scored his team’s solitary try and booted home two penalty goals at the Rotorua International Stadium in the 10-9 victory.

Decades before cellphones and the internet, the Bay of Plenty fans at the Hawke’s Bay match had to rely on the irregular updates the Rotorua Stadium ground announcer provided.

The partisan Bay of Plenty crowd were in a frenzy after it was announced that Marlborough had scrambled home from Manawatu 13-12 to hand