George Gardiner

George Gardiner was a New Zealand rugby league representative player. He played for New Zealand in 1926 becoming the 185th New Zealand representative. He was also a Bay of Plenty rugby representative as well as playing for the first ever Bay of Plenty rugby league team. After he finished his rugby league career he became a professional wrestler fighting mainly in Australia. He fought in World War 1 for New Zealand and fought and died serving in the Australian forces in World War 2. Early life It is difficult to know George Gardiner's precise date of birth as it was given as 1 February 1894 on his enlistment papers for World War 1. However, this was a fake date which enabled him to be accepted into the forces. Later when he enlisted in the Australian forces for World War 2 he gave his date of birth as 3 August 1903. In an article from the Bay of Plenty Times on 16 April 1917 about his special medal during World War 1 he was said to be 19 years old. His obituary also stated that he was playing rugby for Matakana seniors in 1914 aged 16. Both of these articles suggest his birth year would have been around 1898. Gardiner was born at Rangiwaea, Tauranga. His father was Karehana Gardener, and his mother was Rewa Gardiner. He belonged to the Ngāi Te Rangi iwi and was a member of the Catholic faith. He was a member of the Tauranga cadets until he left the Matakana Native School and became a mechanical engineer, and worked for Herbert Clark of Tauranga before the outbreak of World War 1. Playing career