{{Short description|New Zealand rugby player (1866–1954)}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Dick Taiaroa | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=100%}} | image = Dick Taiaroa.jpg | birth_name = Riki Te Mairiki Taiaroa | birth_date = {{circa}}1866 | birth_place = Otakou, New Zealand | death_date = {{death date|1954|4|9|df=yes}}{{efn|Sources differ on Tairoa's date of death. Some say 1 July,<ref name=ESPN>{{cite web| url = http://www.espnscrum.com/timeline/rugby/player/897.html | title = Dick Taiaroa | publisher = ESPN | work = espnscrum.com | accessdate = 25 August 2015}}</ref> others 9 April.<ref name=Potiki>{{cite journal | last = Potiki | first = Paul | year = 1954 | title = Maori Personalities in Sport | url = http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao09TeA/c22.html | journal = Te Ao Hou: The New World Spring | publisher = The Maori Affairs Department | page = 44 | number = 9 | accessdate = 25 August 2015 | archive-date = 2 February 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160202044039/http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao09TeA/c22.html | url-status = live }}</ref>}} | death_place = Taumutu, New Zealand | occupation = Surveyor, farmer, soldier{{sfn|Ryan|1993|p=137}} | relatives = Hōri Kerei Taiaroa (father)<br />Tini Kerei Taiaroa (mother)<br />Te Matenga Taiaroa (grandfather)<br />John Taiaroa (brother)<br />Thomas Ellison (cousin) | school = Christchurch Boys' High School | height = | weight = | position = Forward | amatyears1 = | amatteam1 = Wellington FC | amatteam2 = Athletic (Wellington) | province1 = Wellington | province2 = Hawke's Bay | provinceyears1 = 1886–87 | provinceyears2 = 1889 | provinceapps1 = 2 | provinceapps2 = 1 | provincepoints1 = | repyears1 = 1888–89 | repteam1 = New Zealand Native team{{sfn|Ryan|1993|p=145}} | repcaps1 = 85 | reppoints1 = 10 }}
'''Riki Te Mairiki''' "'''Dick'''" '''Taiaroa''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=85%}} ({{circa}}1866 – 9 April 1954) was a New Zealand rugby union footballer who was a member of the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team that toured New Zealand, the British Isles, and Australia. The tour was the longest in rugby history—the team played 107 matches on tour—and Taiaroa played at least 59 matches in the British Isles and 85 in total.{{efn|The exact team lineups for every match is unknown, so this is a minimum number.{{sfn|Ryan|1993|p=145}}}} This was second in number only to William Elliot who played 86 matches total.{{sfn|Ryan|1993|p=145}} Taiaroa also played provincial rugby for Wellington in 1886 and 1887, and Hawke's Bay in 1889.{{sfn|Ryan|1993|p=137}} Outside of rugby, he was a surveyor and then farmer. He also served with the New Zealand Contingent of Mounted Rifles during the Anglo-Boer War. Taiaroa was from a prominent Māori family, and was a representative at the coronation of Edward VII and George V. In the 1949 King's Birthday Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Māori people.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38629 |date=9 June 1949 |page=2830 |supp=y }}</ref>
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Works cited == * {{cite book |last=Ryan | first=Greg | year = 1993 | title = Forerunners of the All Blacks | publisher=Canterbury University Press |location=Christchurch, New Zealand|isbn=0-908812-30-2}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taiaroa, Richard}} Category:1860s births Category:1954 deaths Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:People from Otago Peninsula Category:Wellington rugby union players Category:Hawke's Bay rugby union players Category:New Zealand military personnel of the Second Boer War Category:New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Ngāi Tahu people Category:Ellison family Category:Māori All Blacks players Category:Rugby union players from Otago Category:Rugby union forwards Category:People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School