It is the 65-year-old mystery to which Jim Butler has not given much thought.
The 78-year-old rugby enthusiast got to live out a schoolboy dream when he was selected as a ballboy for the 1956 test between the All Blacks and South Africa at Carisbrook.
He was named alongside his mates Russell Smith, Denis Breese and Murray Deaker — yes, the retired broadcaster.
Deaker got into trouble with "the white coats", but more on that later.
Butler had a much more uplifting experience, literally. All Blacks lock Tiny White, who scored a try in the 10-6 victory, carried the young lad off the field.
"The game had finished and I still had the ball," Butler began.
"I went up to Tiny White and asked him, ‘would you like the ball, Mr White?’ I think I called him Mr White.
"He said, ‘Great’, took the ball, picked me up, tucked me under his arm and carried me off Carisbrook.
"He took me to the dressing rooms under the old stand — gosh, they were pretty primitive — and gave me half a block of Cadbury’s fruit and nut chocolate and some little silver ferns."
Butler supposedly shared the silver ferns but kept the chocolate for himself.
"I can remember the silver wrapping around it and it half-eaten.
"Tiny would deny it but I think he ate it himself. I demolished the rest and I’m sure I didn’t share it with anybody."
A couple of other memories stick out from the day. Deaker’s scrape with the officials is still a source of great mirth.
"Murray went outside to see one of his mates and was not allowed back in. Hence his long-running battle with authority and the white coats.
"And one of my very strong memories of the game is, before kick-off, Ron Jarden told us he didn’t want to be bothered looking for the ball before he threw it in, so he would put his hands to the side and we would place the ball in his hands so he didn’t have worry about it.
"He was a perfectionist and, of course, he scored an intercept try in that game. And as I recall kicked the conversion without actually taking a step back and just plopped it over."
Butler has remained a firm fan of rugby. He played second grade rugby for Zingari-Richmond, where he "roved around" in the backline, and is a keen follower of the All Blacks.
He was not particularly inspired by last week’s match between the All Blacks and South Africa in Townsville.
It was the 100th game between the great rivals and a bit of a fizzer. There was a lot of kicking.
"The staggering part was towards the end, when South Africa was inside our 22 they kicked again. That defensive thinking will come back to bite them, I think."
