{"id":144497,"date":"2021-10-15T04:36:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T04:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=144497"},"modified":"2021-10-15T08:58:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T08:58:34","slug":"new-zealand-rugby-league-legend-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=144497","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand rugby league legend dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was first published on<\/strong><\/em> Stuff.co.nz<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and has been republished with their permission.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ray Cranch, who was the oldest living Kiwi international, has passed away at the age of 98.<\/p>\n

The former Auckland prop and second-rower went on the Kiwis' 1951-52 tour and will be remembered as one of league's legendary figures, not just for his playing of the game, but the time he devoted to it afterward.<\/p>\n

Cranch started playing league for the Parnell-based Akarana club in 1936 as a 13-year-old, before moving to Mt Albert.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

He fought for New Zealand in World War II and was involved in the battles in Monte Cassino in Italy.<\/p>\n

He continued his love of league when he returned home after the war and helped Mt Albert to win the Fox Memorial in 1947 and then went on to score a try against NSWRL champions Balmain in a game between the two trophy-winning clubs.<\/p>\n

After starring for Auckland and eventually captaining them, Cranch was selected in the Kiwis' squad for their 1951-51 tour of Great Britain and France.<\/p>\n

Cranch didn't play a Test on the tour due to the depth in a Kiwis pack comprising of some of the New Zealand game's greats, including Charlie McBride, Cliff Johnson, Frank Mulcare, Bill McLennan and Alister Atkinson.<\/p>\n

Forced to retire with injury in 1954, Cranch turned to administration with his beloved Mt Albert club and the Auckland Rugby League.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

He was a New Zealand Colts team manager and selector on a 1973 tour to Australia and served for more than 20 years as secretary-manager of the Auckland Leagues Club.<\/p>\n

Cranch was made a NZRL life member in 2003 and became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006.<\/p>\n

Later in life, Cranch moved to the Sir Edmund Hillary Retirement Village in Remuera and proudly hung a Warriors<\/a> flag on his door.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, NZRL<\/a> chief executive Greg Peters paid tribute to Cranch on Twitter.<\/p>\n

"Last night we lost our oldest living Kiwi \u2013 Ray Cranch No.341 \u2013 a legend and a real gentleman who I had the privilege of meeting on a number of occasions," Peters wrote.<\/p>\n

"Thoughts and prayers with the Cranch family at this sad time."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story was first published on Stuff.co.nz and has been republished with their permission. Ray Cranch, who was the oldest living Kiwi international, has passed […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144499,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144497\/revisions\/144499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}