Bill Osborne

For the Australian rules footballer, see Bill Osborne (Australian footballer). For the American football player, see Bill Osborn.

Bill Osborne

Birth name	William Michael Osborne
Date of birth	(1955-04-24) 24 April 1955 (age 69)
Place of birth	Whanganui, New Zealand
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
School	Wanganui High School
Notable relative(s)	Glen Osborne (nephew)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Second five-eighth, centre Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1973–84 Wanganui 72 (59) 1985-86 Waikato 10 (0) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1974 NZ Colts 4 (0) 1975–82 New Zealand 16 (0) 1975-85 New Zealand Māori 8 (4)

William Michael Osborne (born 24 April 1955) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth and centre, Osborne represented Wanganui and Waikato at a provincial level. Started his club career with the local Kaierau Rugby Union Club in Wanganui. He was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, between 1975 and 1982, playing 48 matches including 16 internationals.^[1]

Post rugby playing career

After retiring from playing rugby Osborne has had a successful business career, including:^[2]

• group manager of New Zealand Post
• CEO of Quotable Value
• inaugural chair of 2degrees mobile
• chair of CoreLogic New Zealand
• director of Transpower New Zealand
• director of Rangitira Services Ltd
• director of Ports of Auckland Ltd
• serving on the Maori Economic Development Commission
• establishing Te Huarahi Tika Trust, a trust handling Maori interests in the radio spectrum
• chair of Hautaki Limited, the commercial arm of the Te Huarahi Tika Trust.

He also served on the New Zealand Maori Rugby board. In 2017 he was elected vice-president of New Zealand Rugby Union, later ascending to the president's position.^[3] In 2022 he was appointed Chair of the Chiefs Rugby board.^[4]

Osborne Taonga

In 2021 a new challenge trophy named after Osborne was announced for the Heartland Championship teams, to follow similar rules to the Ranfurly Shield.^[5]

References

1. Luxford, Bob. "Bill Osborne". New Zealand Rugby Union. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
2. "From All Black to business supremo". 3 September 2023.
3. "The winning strategies of New Zealand's rugby All Blacks | McKinsey".
4. "Media Release | Bill Osborne Appointed Chair of Chiefs Rugby Board".
5. "Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship introduces the Bill Osborne Taonga and Ian Kirkpatrick Medal - RUGBY HEARTLAND". 11 November 2021.

Awards
Preceded by Kent Lambert	Tom French Memorial Māori rugby union player of the year 1977	Succeeded by Eddie Dunn