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 TWO historic New Zealand rugby items, a whistle and a coin, will be used at the start of this year's Rugby World Cup in France and maintain a 20-year tradition.
When England's Tony Spreadbury signals time on in the opening encounter between France and Argentina at Saint-Denis on September 8, he will be the sixth referee to use the whistle and coin to begin international rugby's showpiece tournament.
Both items have been lent by the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North and their use continues a tradition started at the first World Cup in New Zealand in 1987 by Australian referee Bob Fordham. It has since been carried on by Jim Fleming (Scotland, 1991), Derek Bevan (Wales, 1995), Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand, 1999) and Paul Honiss (New Zealand, 2003).
Museum curator Bob Luxford was pleased the tradition was being maintained as the whistle and coin would almost certainly be used for the first game at the 2011 tournament in New Zealand.
"It's gratifying to hear the responses from the referees who have been involved and how appreciative they were in being able to use the whistle and coin," Mr Luxford said.
"Each of them have supplied glowing accounts of the occasion."
 The whistle was originally used by Welsh referee Gil Evans in games involving the All Blacks (1905), the Springboks (1906) and the Wallabies (1908) when those teams made their first tours of Great Britain. Inscriptions on the whistle record all three events.
He was in charge of the New Zealand-England test in 1905, as well as in their matches against Midland Counties, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.
Evans later presented it to another Welsh referee, Albert Freethy, who blew it in the rugby final at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, and to send All Black forward Cyril Brownlie from the field in the test against England at Twickenham on the 1924-25 tour.
The coin was also linked to that game when a New Zealand supporter Hector Gray lent Freethy a florin for the toss, as neither captain had a coin.
Excited by the role his coin played, Mr Gray later had it embossed with a rose on one side and a fern on the other.
Mr Luxford said the whistle was on permanent display at the museum - apart from a two-month period every four years - and visitors frequently asked if it was going to be used at the next World Cup tournament.
"The significance of the whistle is that it relates to the most modern of rugby events as well as linking back into the long history of the game," Mr Luxford said.
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