4 July, 2025

Hairy goats on the loose as club song comes alive

Animal lovers… North Shore’s Buck the hairy goat on the sideline at Vauxhall Rd

North Shore Rugby Club has developed a couple of secret weapons to psych out its opponents and instil pride in its teams – two hairy goats roaming the sidelines.
The hairy goats concept comes from the Shore club song Pride of the Union, which is sung by senior and junior teams alike.
The idea of a mascot was developed by the club’s junior committee to bring to life the hairy goats mentioned in the lyric as a bit of fun for the juniors.
Around $7000 was raised at a quiz night and the club’s junior chair, Matt Hunt, commissioned a “professional” version of the hairy goat, hand-made by a specialist company.
Meanwhile, the club’s senior players had latched onto the idea as well. Premiers coach James Hinchco talked to club member Jeff Vivian, who paid for a version found online.
The end result: the club now has two hairy goats. The seniors call theirs “the people’s goat”, while the junior version has been dubbed “Buck, Hairy Goat”, complete with a number 8 on its back in recognition of Buck Shelford, the former All Black and Shore captain.
“We had to get signoff from all the club stalwarts and Buck himself,” said Hunt. Everyone loves the end result, he says.
Buck the goat has been at junior matches as well as premiers games and North Harbour club days and is being used in all junior branding, such as on player of the day certificates and the like.
Both goat suits are life-size and are worn by players or keen mums and dads.
Sideline banter has emerged relating to the two hairy goats as well. “There’s bound to be a race between the two goats at some stage during the play-off matches,” Hunt said.
The Pride of the Union song had grown in prominence over recent years as a “kind of Devonport haka”, he said. Kids in its most junior teams knew the words and had taken to singing the song after games.
Selected teams are allowed into the premiers’ changing rooms after matches, to hear the elite players sing The Pride of the Union, often accompanied by Buck himself – and of course now the Hairy Goats.

• According to C’Mon Shore 150 years of the North Shore Rugby Football Club, written by Jim Eagles and Max Webb, Shore song The Pride of the Union was introduced to the club in 1982 by then club captain Paul Purvan, who by one account borrowed it from another rugby club and “tweaked the words”. Former president Pip Eagles was said to love singing it because, “it really got up the noses of the other North Harbour clubs”.

The Pride of the Union

For the Shore is the pride of the Union,
For the Shore is the pride of the them all,
For they all stick and strive together
And play the good old game of clean football…clean football.
The forwards stick together on the leather.
And the backs run around like hairy goats… hairy goats.
For the Shore is the pride of the Union.
Three cheers for the old green and whites… green and whites.