yacck takes a look at Outstanding Sporting record of Gore family.

The selection of Robin Archer as first five-eight and vice captain of the All Black team to play Australia in the first test will be enthusiastically received in Eastern Southland.  His selection for the highest honour in New Zealand rugby is well deserved, for it is  doubtful whether any footballer in the south has aproached the game with such serious determination and with such tenacity of purpose.

Archer first came into prominence as a member of the outstanding team which the Gore High School produced in the years immediately after the war - a team which included such well known members as E. H. Diack, Arthur McMeeken and J. F. Ford.  After leaving school he played for a season with the Pioneer Club and represented Eastern Southland.  Going onto Otago University he soon made a name for himself in Dunedin football and gained Otage representative honours.  He also played for New Zealand Universities and was a member of a New Zealand XV.
This season Archer has played for the Pirates club of Dunedin and has continued his good form in both club and representative football. In the trials the combination of Archer and L.J. Townsend Otago half back won the day and no doubt will be the inside combination for the first test.  Incidentally, Townsend is the son of former well-known district football, I.G. Townsend.
Archer has taken his football seriously in both summer and winter seasons.  During the summer months he made a fetish of physical fitness and this factor has contributed much to his success in the winter sport.  In the summer he has also played cricket with the Celtic Club in Gore and he has presented Eastern Southland at this sport also.
Archer comes from one of Southland's best sporting families.  His father, Bill Archer, was an outstanding forward and his uncle Jim Archer played for the All Blacks in 1925 as well as being a Dominion class runner.  On his mother's side there are also outstanding sporting affiliations.  His mother formerly Miss A. Roberts played basketball for Southland,  while his uncle "Stud" Roberts was a Southland representative footballer.
Robin Archer's sister, Linley was amember of the New Zealand basketball team which toured Fiji last year and has also been one of Southland's outstanding amateur athletes.  His brother Watson is an Eastern Southland representative footballer.

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