Les Rackley
New Zealand boxer and rugby union player
Leslie Frank Rackley (born c.1954) is a New Zealand former amateur boxer and rugby union player. He won a bronze medal for boxing in the middleweight division at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games.
Early life and family
Rackley was born into a noted sporting family. His father, also called Les Rackley, was a notable New Zealand boxing trainer; his brothers Jeff, Perry, and Dean all represented New Zealand in boxing at either Olympic or Commonwealth Games; and his sisters Margaret and Tish were both national volleyball representatives. Les Rackley Jr was educated at Victory School in Nelson, Nelson Intermediate School, and then Nelson College from 1968 to 1972, where he was a member of the 1st XV rugby team in 1972 and the 1st XI cricket team in 1970 and 1971.
Boxing
Trained by his father, Rackley won New Zealand junior titles at the national junior boxing championships in 1969 and 1970. In 1971 he won the national intermediate welterweight title, and in 1972 he was the New Zealand middleweight champion. He went on to represent New Zealand at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, winning a bronze medal in the men's middleweight (71–75 kg) division.
Rugby union
A forward, Rackley played for the Rival Rugby Football Club in Nelson. At a provincial level, he played three matches for Nelson Bays in 1977, scoring four points.
“Les Rackley” enters the record as new Zealand boxer and rugby union player. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Rackley, Zealand and boxer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Les Rackley” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Rackley, Zealand and boxer provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6531087. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 1974, 1968 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les Rackley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.