Historical Players
John Rewi Ferguson (Ray) Braithwaite
Member of Mornington Football Club 1924-1928.
Ray was born in Dunedin in 1897. He was the second youngest of supposedly 25 children. His father, Joseph Braithwate arrived in Dunedin from Britain in 1860 and owned Braithwaite's Book Arcade, the largest bookshop in Australasia at the time. He was also mayor of Dunedin between 1905-06.
Ray served in France in WW1, between 1917 -18, as part of the Otago Expeditionary Force.
Ray played football for Ponsonby, represented Auckland and made his All Whites debut during New Zealand's inaugral international fixture beating Australia 3-1 on 17 June 1922. Ray played in the two test series againast Australia, which were both won by New Zealand. Ray ended his international career with 6 international caps. To his credit, the final cap was a 4-1 win over Australia on 30 June 1923.
Ray then went to play for Mornington AFC for the next four seasons.
Ray eventually married his wife, Dorothy, in Wellington, on 15 December 1928 and went into partnership with his eldest brother Percy in bookshops. The business was ruined by the great depression.
When the Government opened old gold diggings at Wangapeka, Ray moved there with Dorothy, seeking work. At the time, before being permitted to mine the gold diggings, gold workers were required to spend a month carving out Wangapeka track (now a relatively well known tramping track). Ray built his hut there, but didn't have enough funds to build a proper roof. So he sewed a reputed 200 sacks together. The camp life was hard, with frequent fighting and always on edge for gold thieves. Ray's son Jack was born in the hut at Wangapeka on 01 December 1933.
When the first Labour government was elected in 1935, Ray moved back to Dunedin where he obtained a job with the Tramways, becoming an inspector and President of the Tramways Union where he fought for workers rights.
During this time, he joined the Labour party, becoming a life member. He would frequently enter debates, including in National Party meetings.
Ray became a member of the Otago Football Association and elected into the St Kilda Council where he continued to fight for workers rights.
Ray eventually retired from Tramways and moved to Hastings to be with family. He worked for the Herald Tribune and eventually retired at the age of 75. After he had a bad fall, breaking his hip, Ray passed away in 1987 at 90 years old.
Ray had a sports motto, which was "nobody beats me" and he aimed to be the fittest player on the field doing extra training after others had gone home.