Getting a close-up look of the Watters Cup are Jonathan Watters (left) and Colin Morgan in Ashburton on Sunday. Photo Adam BurnsChasing family history.

The name Watters is held in high esteem in the rugby-mad Mid Canterbury.

It is of course the name of Mid Canterbury rugby’s showpiece trophy and remains the symbol of regional club supremacy.

Methven are the current holders of the cup after beating Rakaia in the senior club final three weeks ago.

However it has offered further reverence for a Waikane man who has been on a recent fact-finding excursion of his family history which led him to Ashburton at the weekend.

Jonathan Watters stopped off in the town as part of his family history travels, where he got up close and personal with the Watters Cup at Mid Canterbury Rugby headquarters.

The trophy is named after his grandfather, William Fitzgerald Watters.

“I had known about it, and I had believed that my grandfather was related to it,” he said.

However it was only in the past few weeks as he examined documents and made inquiries with the Mid Canterbury Rugby Union (MCRU) that his family connection to the trophy was verified for him.

“I didn’t know that my grandfather was so into sport,” he said.

“He was president here from 1922 to 1929 and saw that he donated the Watters Cup.

“There are family members who are desperate to catch up with all this information.”

The late Watters, who died in 1952 was a school teacher, who worked for some years as headmaster at the former Ashburton High School.

“It’s been bloody good,” he said. “I’ve been talking to people who know people who know people and so on. I’ve found out stuff that I never knew because I never met him.”

Jonathan’s grandfather passed away in 1952, a year before Jonathan was born.

Jonathan’s father William was also a house surgeon in Ashburton after he finished his studies at Otago.

As part of his research, Watters said he was attempting to track down a portrait of his grandfather painted by artist John Oakley.

It is understood that Ashburton College was conducting a search for the historical painting.

Watters said it was a massive source of pride that his family name was held in such high esteem in Mid Canterbury.

“You can’t take that history away.

“That cup has been around the traps.”

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 22 August 2020