Philip Recordon, pictured in 2003: ‘I was never a believer in bridge building through rugby.’ Photo / NZME
During Phil Recordon’s 20 years as a District Court judge in Auckland from 2003, many of the people he dealt with may not have been aware that the self-effacing man on the bench, who died last week aged 75, had been a central figure in the most controversial case involving sport ever heard in New Zealand.
In 1985, Recordon – then a 27-year-old lawyer – and his fellow lawyer, Paddy Finnigan, took the then New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) to court, saying that a proposed All Blacks tour to apartheid South Africa that year should be stopped.
The chaos of the ′81 Springbok tour of New Zealand, and a direct order from Prime Minister David Lange to cancel the ′85 tour, hadn’t swayed the NZRU, who ploughed ahead regardless.
But with the aid of a brilliant legal team, led by Queen’s Counsel Ted Thomas, the two young, rugby-loving lawyers succeeded.