Garry Pankhurst made a huge contribution to the Pirates Rugby Club in Invercargill.

Garry Pankhurst

Garry Pankhurst had a long history with the Pirates Rugby Club.  He attended Southland Technical College and was first introduced to Pirates as a schoolboy rugby player in 1952.  
He carried on through the grades making the senior team for the first time in 1964.
Garry played senior rugby until 1979 and captained the seniors for many years.
An astute thinker of the game Garry was associated with many winning teams over the years.  He was involved in the U23 team as a co-coach with his good mate, Robin Welsh,  they won the competition in 1979.
Garry was also a great softball player, having represented Southland for many seasons as an outfielder and was a New Zealand trialist several times.
His efforts were eventually rewarded when he was chosen to play for the national side.
Garry put a lot of work into the Invercargill Pirates Rugby Club as a player, coach and administrator and was the President for the centennial in 1983.
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