David Kirk

As of July 25, 1987

David Edward Kirk ( born October 5, 1961 in Wellington ) is a former New Zealand rugby union player at the position of scrum Halbs. He was the captain of the New Zealand national team that won the title at the inaugural World Cup.

Kirk grew up in Palmerston North on the North Island of New Zealand. He went to the Wanganui Collegiate School, later he earned his doctorate as a physician at the University of Otago.

Kirk began playing in the 1980s for the Provincial Association of Otago rugby. At his first appearance for the national All Blacks he came on October 26, 1983 game against Edinburgh, which is not counted as an official international match. The first game against a national selection he played in 1985 against England. At that time he was already playing for the province of Auckland.

Kirk became internationally known by the non-participation in a tour of New Zealand to South Africa. At this time any sporting contact was forbidden by the apartheid regime. Numerous players who called themselves The Cavaliers (the " Cavaliers " ), however, did not keep it and played against the South African Springboks. Kirk was one of two national team players who are not joined this group. The other players were suspended for two games so that a completely new squad had to be formed, which became known as the "Baby Blacks " in the story.

After the actual national team captain Andy Dalton was injured against Italy before the opening match of the World Cup in 1987, Kirk was appointed captain of New Zealand and remained so until the end of the tournament. The team won all the games confidently with at least 20 points difference. After the final victory against France, it was Kirk who could take the Webb Ellis Cup in receiving the first player in history.

Kirk's rugby career ended abruptly after the World Cup tournament. He played one more game to the Bledisloe Cup against Australia, before he put an end to his career, as he had received a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford. He returned in the 1990s back to New Zealand, where he remained until 1994, the regional selection of Wellington coached from 1993 and later worked as an expert for print and TV media. He also was a member of the bar of Jim Bolger, the former New Zealand Prime Minister.

1999 Kirk moved with his wife Brigit and his three sons Hugo, Barnaby and Harry to Australia to start a business there. He first worked for the Australian office of the paper manufacturer Norske Skog, before he took over the leadership of the competitors PMP 2003. In November 2005 he was posted to the CEO of Fairfax, a media company, the newspapers, magazines and websites in Australia and New Zealand. So part including The Sydney Morning Herald Deal of the company.

Kirk is in demand because of its medial influence and his position as captain of the only New Zealand national team that won a World Cup tournament in rugby union, as an expert and opinion giver. After Viertelfinalaus against France at the World Cup 2007, he commented on the resignation of re- favorite New Zealander as follows:

On National Day of Australia, the Australia Day, David Kirk in 2009 for Australian citizen. The reason for this step, he expressed that he now lived for 10 years in Australia and his children have spent much of her childhood in that country, and he considered it for the right time. In March it was announced that he was appointed independent board member of the financial services firm Forsyth Barr.