Jordan, Ivan

Ivan Francis Jordan, son of Alfred and Ruth (nee Reeve) was born in Inglewood on 29 March 1919.

He attended the Albert Road school, did well in school plays and athletic events, and gained his Proficiency Certificate. Leaving school, he worked on the family farm on the corner of Maude and Hill Roads.

A significant part of Ivan’s life was the Albert Road cricket club. He had started playing for the club in the mid-1930s. The club’s ground was on a farm on Albert Road, and most members looked after the pitch and the grounds, usually driving off the cattle or sheep prior to laying down mats on the pitch before commencement of play. In 1938, aged nineteen, he was elected club secretary, a role he continued with until the start of the war.

At least five club members went on to play for Taranaki. One of them, Ivan’s son Alistar, later played for New Zealand and another, David Kinsella, became an international cricket umpire.

In the mid-1930s, Ivan joined the Territorials, then known as the Inglewood Platoon. Later it would become part of the Taranaki Regiment. His service included three annual camps in Waiōuru.

On his 21st birthday he enlisted for army training, “to do his part” in World War Two. Leaving New Zealand, he arrived in Egypt on 16 March 1941 and joined the 19th Battalion. He saw service in the Middle East, Tobruk, Syria and the mountains of Lebanon, then back again to the deserts of Egypt. In July 1942 he was reported missing and the following October it was confirmed that he was a prisoner of war, initially held in Italy, then Poland and towards the end of the war, in Germany. 

After more than three years of confinement, he was released and made his way to England, finally arriving back in New Zealand on Sunday 5 August 1945.

On 5 September 1945 Ivan married Joyce (nee Herbert). She lived on Korito Road, and the couple had met before the war. Ivan and Joyce made their home on the family farm and had four sons. Three of them played cricket for Taranaki. Alistar, who had been selected for Taranaki while still at school, played for New Zealand in January 1973.

In the mid-1960s Ivan suffered two minor strokes. Alistar left his job at the local concrete works and assumed responsibility for the family farm. Ivan and Joyce moved to New Plymouth, where Ivan was employed as groundsman for the City Council at Pukekura Park.  Within a few years his work gained a high profile.

When the Taranaki cricket team won the Hawke Cup in 1970, all Ivan’s experience was put to good use. Preparing a pitch at Pukekura Park was a far cry from the clay and matting wicket at Albert Road, yet he produced consistent pitches, good enough for the Taranaki team to defend the Cup twelve times over three seasons. At the time it was the fourth longest defence of the Hawke Cup in the competition’s history. Many years later, the Taranaki players still spoke fondly of the pitches he produced.

When Alistar was selected in the New Zealand team, Ivan was the subject of several newspaper articles. One letter writer to the newspaper described him as “one of nature’s gentlemen.”

In his retirement, Ivan looked after the pitch at Western Park for the New Plymouth Old Boy’s cricket club. He derived a lot of enjoyment from the role. At the end of his first season, he wrote to the club: “I would like to thank [the] club for my appointment. I have enjoyed doing my task and trust that what I have done has added to the enjoyment of all, including a large number of school children”.

Ivan died on 23 January 2001, aged 81. The Old Boys’ cricket club requested its members attend his funeral and acknowledged him in the newspaper: “We are sorry to hear of the loss of our friend Ivan Jordan, who worked tirelessly on the Western Park pitch and was a dedicated member of our club”. Joyce died in September 2014.

A few years after Ivan’s death, Alistar Jordan donated a trophy in his name to the Old Boys cricket club. It is awarded annually to the Club Person of the Year.

Books

Taranaki's Greatest Sporting Team: The Hawke Cup Years (Vol.2), Brian Beer. Pages 118 & 145-147 et al.

The Honours Board, Brian Beer. Page 504 et al.