![\"Donegal-born](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/000b53c4-614.jpg\"\/)
\nDonegal-born Dave Gallaher was the first-ever captain of the New Zealand All Blacks<\/p>\n
Ramelton, a town of 1,288 people on the western shore of Lough Swilly in Donegal lays claim to many notable figures including a Nobel Prize winner in medicine, a second-generation US President and the first captain of ‘the original’ New Zealand All Blacks.<\/p>\n
This afternoon, people gathered near the banks of the River Lennon in Ramelton to commemorate Dave Gallaher – an iconic figure in New Zealand rugby history.<\/p>\n
As soil is considered sacred in M\u00e1ori culture, small parcels of soil from New Zealand, Dave Gallaher’s grave in Belgium, and Ramelton were exchanged.<\/p>\n
Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick took the small box of soil from Ramelton and it will be placed in Eden Park – New Zealand\u2019s national rugby stadium.<\/p>\n
Mr Fitzpatrick told RT\u00c9 News that Dave Gallaher set the standard in terms of what was needed to lead an All Blacks team.<\/p>\n
“Personally, being a past All Black captain and to be staying in the original home is really special \u2026 every All Black who comes to Europe goes and visit\u2019s Dave\u2019s grave [in Flanders].”<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland Trevor Mallard said that Mr Gallaher “is one of New Zealand\u2019s real heroes amongst heroes”.<\/p>\n
\nDonegal-born Dave Gallaher was the first-ever captain of the New Zealand All Blacks<\/p>\n
President of the Dave Gallaher Society Kevin Shields told RT\u00c9 News that the event would be a “symbolic homecoming” in honour of a man known among the greats of world rugby.<\/p>\n
Gallaher who is buried in the fields of Flanders, having lost his life in service during WW1, captained the 1905-06 New Zealand rugby team, known as \u2018The Originals\u2019 during their first official tour of Britain, Ireland, France and the USA.<\/p>\n
The tour saw the first use of the All-Blacks name: they had 34 victories and one loss, scoring 976 points and conceding 59 points – helping to establish the All-Blacks global reputation.<\/p>\n
“We can\u2019t know for sure, but had he lived, he may have returned to visit his birthplace here in Ramelton.<\/p>\n
“That wasn\u2019t possible, so today we honour his Donegal roots by placing soil from his grave here at the park named in his honour – a symbolic homecoming,” Mr Shields said.<\/p>\n
Gallaher was born in Ramelton in 1873 to shopkeeper James Henry Gallagher and teacher Maria Gallagher (n\u00e9e McCloskey).<\/p>\n
The family emigrated to New Zealand as part of a settlement scheme established by George Vesey Stewart in 1878, sailing from Belfast on the Lady Jocelyn to start a new life in the Katikati settlement in the Bay of Plenty.<\/p>\n
At the age of 17, Gallaher and most of his family moved to Auckland to find work and he soon became involved in rugby with Ponsonby, where he came to prominence.<\/p>\n
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\nThe plaque and stone which was officially dedicated the Dave Gallaher Memorial Park by All Black Jerry Collins is seen on 9 November 2005, at the Letterkenny Rugby Football Club<\/p>\n
Historian Denis McLean said Gallaher’s captaincy of the 1905\u20136 New Zealand team sealed his place in New Zealand rugby history.<\/p>\n
He wrote: “Gallaher’s role as wing-forward raised British hackles. After the first game a sports commentator wrote, ‘The great innovation of their game is the winging forward. As a matter of fact, he is not a forward and is a wolf in sheep’s clothing'”.<\/p>\n
Following the tour, Gallagher retired and began coaching, holding roles as a selector and coach of Auckland (1906-1914) and a selector with New Zealand (1907-1914).<\/p>\n
He co-wrote \u2018The Complete Rugby Footballer on the New Zealand System\u2019 with JW Stead – a book considered iconic in rugby literature.<\/p>\n
He was posthumously induced into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2010 and subsequently inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2011.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, a bronze statue of Gallaher stands outside Eden Park in Auckland.<\/p>\n
He is also commemorated by the Dave Gallaher Trophy, contested by the All Blacks and France and the Gallaher Shield, the primary club competition in Auckland.<\/p>\n
Ahead of New Zealand’s match against Ireland in Dublin to celebrate 100 years since the Originals Tour in 2005, the All Blacks team visited Gallaher\u2019s birthplace in Market Cross, Ramelton.<\/p>\n
They opened the new Rugby Pitch at Letterkenny Rugby Football Club known as Dave Gallaher Park.<\/p>\n
Gallaher is also renowned in New Zealand for his military exploits. He enlisted with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles at the turn of the 20th century.<\/p>\n
He served as a Regimental Sergeant Major in the Second Boer War and was awarded an Imperial South African War Medal.<\/p>\n
During the First World War, he served as sergeant, commanding a platoon in the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment.<\/p>\n
Gallaher was killed in Flanders during the Battle of Passchendaele on 4 October 1917, aged 43 years.<\/p>\n
He is buried in Nine Elms Cemetery in Poperinge, Belgium – one of 13 former All Blacks who died in WW1.<\/p>\n