1999 Rugby Super 12.
Each season, five New Zealand teams – the Auckland Blues, the Hamilton Chiefs, the Wellington Hurricanes, the Canterbury Crusaders and the Otago Highlanders thrill huge live crowds and television audiences alike as they jostle for points and placings against each other and teams from Australia and South Africa in the world’s first totally professional, inter-provincial rugby championship.
To mark the 1999 Super 12 Rugby season New Zealand issued this interesting set of postage stamps. The stamps were issued in five team stamp self-adhesive booklets each containing 10 stamps of two different designs and in a sheetlet of ten (gummed) stamps showing all ten designs from the booklets.
Note that much of the text for this post was written in 2013 and added to our Rugby on New Zealand Stamps collection. Since then, more items have been found so we decided to give this issue its own page.
See our Rugby on New Zealand Stamps collection.
The Auckland Blues.
The Blues - Kick. The Blues - Tackle Stamp Booklet.
The Blues (formerly the Auckland Blues) are a professional rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby sides, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby history, the Blues won the competition in each of its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and again in 2003. Additionally, the team were finalists in 1998 and semi-finalists in 2007 and 2011. The team is captained by Ali Williams and coached by Sir John Kirwan.
Booklet Stamps - The Blues First Day Cover - 7 April 1999.
The Hamilton Chiefs.
Stamp Booklet. The Chiefs - Tackle. The Chiefs - Jump.
The Chiefs (formerly known as the Waikato Chiefs) are a professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand, and are the current Super Rugby champions (2012 season). Their home ground is Waikato Stadium. The Chiefs play in black, red and yellow coloured jerseys. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition, known as the Super 12 from 1996 to 2005, Super 14 from 2006–2010 and Super Rugby from 2011 onwards. The Chiefs are one of the competition's five New Zealand sides.
Update - 3rd August 2013: - The Chiefs are Super Rugby Champions for 2013.
Booklet Stamps - The Chiefs First Day Cover - 7 April 1999.
The Wellington Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes - Run. The Hurricanes - Pass. Stamp Booklet.
The Hurricanes (formerly known as the Wellington Hurricanes) are a New Zealand professional Rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in the Super Rugby competition. The team represents the East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Horowhenua Kapiti, Manawatu, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui and Wellington unions, and currently plays at Westpac Stadium, having previously played at the now-defunct Athletic Park.
Self Adhesive Booklet of ten 40 cent stamps - Wellington Hurricanes.
Booklet Stamps - The Hurricanes First Day Cover - 7 April 1999.
The Canterbury Crusaders.
Stamp Booklet. The Crusaders - Catch. The Crusaders - Kick.
The Crusaders (formerly the Canterbury Crusaders) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008). The franchise represents the Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman and West Coast Provincial Rugby Unions. Their main home ground is AMI Stadium, formerly known as Jade Stadium and before that, Lancaster Park.
Self Adhesive Booklet of ten 40 cent stamps - Canterbury Crusaders.
Booklet Stamps - The Crusaders First Day Cover - 7 April 1999.
The Otago Highlanders.
The Highlanders - Try. The Highlanders - Run. Stamp Booklet.
The Highlanders (formerly known as Otago Highlanders) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that competes in Super Rugby. The team represents the North Otago, Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that helped found the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s. Their main ground through the 2011 Super Rugby season was Carisbrook in Dunedin, with home games occasionally being played in Invercargill and Queenstown. The Highlanders moved into Carisbrook's replacement, Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, for the 2012 season; the stadium opened in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup but after the Super Rugby season.
Booklet Stamps - The Highlanders First Day Cover - 7 April 1999.
Sheetlet of ten 40 cent stamps.
A small collection of special covers plus the miniature sheet.
Technical information.
Date of issue: 7 April 1999.
Stamp illustrator: Paul Martinson, Masterton, New Zealand.
Stamp designer: Stamps: Dianne Prosser, Wellington, New Zealand; Sheetlet: BNA Design Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand.
Printer: Southern Colour Print, New Zealand.
Stamp size: Self-adhesive stamps: 26mm x 37.5mm; Sheetlet stamps: 26mm x 37.1mm.
Sheet size: 10 stamps per Sheetlet and Booklet; Sheetlet Size: 100mm x 225mm.
Process: Lithography.
Perforation gauge: 14.5 and Die cut perforations.
Paper type: Self-adhesive stamps: JAC B100 stamp paper - phosphor tagged; Sheetlet stamps: 103 gsm red phosphor coated.
Period of sale: These stamps remained on sale until 6 April 2000.
Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/
Information & images for this post came from.
Wow! What a great collection this page is. Its almost like five separate stamp issues complete with their own FDCs. I like how you even have the full booklets too.
ReplyDeleteRajah