This year has once again been eventful and busy, starting with our memorable luncheon to celebrate the knighthood of our patron Sir Bryan Williams in May and then once again culminating in our involvement with the Top 4 tournament, NZ Barbarians Schools team and NZ Area Schools teams playing in early October.
Sadly, it was also a year tinged with the sad passing of our vice president Dylan Mika in April, something we will touch on later in this report.
The main features of the 2018 year are summarised below.
Sir Bryan Williams Celebration Luncheon
Our luncheon held on Thursday May 10 was a very special afternoon and a wonderful tribute to our patron Sir Bryan ‘Beegee’ Williams to acknowledge his knighthood and the many years of support from Lady Lesley and the Williams family.
Phil Gifford was an excellent MC and auctioneer and speakers Phil Kingsley Jones, Greg McGee, Stu Wilson and Eric Rush all contributed so well to the day, each recollecting his time and experiences alongside Beegee. Nearly 500 people attended, and a large proportion of funds raised (approximately $20,000) at the lunch went to the NZ Rugby Foundation VIP Programme, a cause dear to all our hearts.
Our club manager Trina Seits, with assistant manager Mereana Wynyard, did an outstanding job organising the day supported by a committee that included life members John Cresswell, John Mills and Dean Paddy as well as club members, among others, Phil Gifford, Joe Stanley, and Gavin Williams.
Also, we owe much gratitude to Julie Townsend for all her work on the day and the support of Eden Park Trust, Eden Park Catering, Michael Speight & Pernod Ricard, Heineken, Auckland Rugby, the Blues and Ric Salizzo for helping us to make the day such a success.
Primary school rugby: the Fun Day
We had our 29th annual primary schools Fun Day on Sunday May 27, this year for the first time held at Bruce Pulman Park, Papakura. It was a very good day for the club at a great all-weather venue.
We had over 36 primary schools, 700 primary school children attended, along with their families and friends, on a wild, wet Sunday.
Karl Pokino from Auckland Rugby did an outstanding job spearheading the organisation of the day alongside our committee members Craig Glendinning and Roger Moore, along with members Terry O’Meara and Michael Speight.
We are grateful to Pulman Park and Ardmore Marist RFC for the use of their grounds and facilities, Richard Fry and the Blues for attending the day, principal sponsor and club member Peter Thompson and Barfoot & Thompson, Colin Davis and Onsite Caterers for providing the BBQ supplies and equipment, Nestle/Milo for providing the free Milo drinks, and the Counties Manukau Rugby Referees’ Association for providing the referees. Without the support of these people and organisations the day would not be the success that it was.
On a personal note, it’s always great to see Peter and Fiona Thompson turn up to support these days rain, hail or shine they do all they can to attend and have not missed once in the last 10 years!
Secondary school rugby:
NZ Barbarians Area Schools
The New Zealand Barbarians Area Schools team held a training and development camp at the Sport & Rugby Institute at Massey University, Palmerston North from September 11-15,
culminating in a game against Manawatu Under 16 on Saturday September 15.
The young men selected in this team come from the far corners of the country, remote rural areas where the schools either don’t have a First XV or the First XV doesn’t play in a recognised competition. Many of the boys already play senior or senior reserve rugby for their local rugby clubs and they are aged between 14 and 17 years.
This year the team was made up of boys from 14 different area schools from Panguru Area
School in the Far North to Tolaga Bay Area School on the East Cape and Maniototo and
Roxburgh Area School in the deep south of the South Island.
This was the first year the team has gathered at Massey’s SRI and it was highly successful, exposing the team and management to a high-performance environment second to none in this country, a place they could live, breathe, train and play rugby with total focus, looked after and watched over by the good people at SRI and Manawatu Rugby.
This group really grew and learnt as the week went on and, whilst losing the game against Manawatu U16, they showed in the second half, as the game progressed, how much they had benefitted from the camp. Many of the team had parents, family and supporters at the game from all around the country and all of them expressed their gratitude to our club for providing this opportunity to their sons and family members
Special thanks must be made to Ben Koch from Manawatu Rugby for organising the week, Ron Werner from SRI for looking after arrangements at SRI, Kiwi teamwear for providing the playing kit and gear, as well as sponsors NZ Community Trust, Gold Ridge Marine Farms plus club member Dean Finlay (and his wife Lisa) for their generous donation to the team
Finally, we need to once again mention club member Mike Smith and Marie Relph from Mercury Bay Area School these two people really are the driving force behind the NZ Area Schools programme and we are extremely grateful for their dedication and commitment to the programme and the team.
Top 4 tournament
The national secondary schools Top 4 tournament was once again held in Palmerston North on September 8-10 at the Institute of Sport at Massey University.
This year, for the first time, we also sponsored the girls’ schools First XV Top 4 finals as well as the boys and co-ed schools.
We also sponsored the Top 4 tournament MVP male and female awards, which were presented to Niko Jones from St Peter’s and Kiriana Nolan of Hamilton GHS two names to look out for in the future.
The tournament was attended by committee members Craig Glendinning, Monalisa Urquhart and Roger Moore.
Results were as follows:
2018 New Zealand Barbarian National First XV Championship for the Barbarian Cup:
Friday September 7
National First XV championship semifinals:
Blues v Chiefs: St Peter’s College 8 Hamilton Boys’ High School 7
Hurricanes v South Island: Napier Boys’ High School 31 Christchurch Boys’ High School 12
Sunday September 9
Finals:
Playoff 3 v 4: Hamilton BHS 43 Christchurch BHS 25
Final: St Peter’s 31 Napier BHS 28
2018 New Zealand Barbarian Co-Educational Schools’ First XV Championship for the Barbarian Trophy:
Friday September 7
Co-Educational Schools’ First XV championship semifinals:
Blues v Chiefs: Mt Albert Grammar 18 St Peter’s (Cambridge) 55
Hurricanes v South Island: Feilding High School 12 Rangiora High School 15
Sunday September 9
Finals:
Playoffs 3 v 4: MAGS 16Feilding HS 10
Final: St Peter’s Cambridge 33 Rangiora HS 29 (26-7 St Peter’s at halftime)
2018 New Zealand Barbarian Girls’ National First XV Championship for the Hine Pounamu Trophy:
Friday September 7
Girls’ First XV championship semifinals:
Blues v Chiefs: Aorere College 5 Hamilton Girls’ High School 62
Hurricanes v South Island: Manukura 41 Southland Girls’ High School 29
Sunday September 9
Finals:
Playoffs 3 v 4: Aorere 39 played Southland GHS 29
Final: Hamilton GHS 42 Manukura 7
Our sponsorship agreement with the NZ Secondary Schools Rugby Union Council for the Top 4 tournament and the NZ Barbarians Schools team comes to an end in late 2019, so we are already in discussions with club member and chairman of the NZSS Council, Gary Chronican, about our ongoing involvement with these initiatives beyond 2019.
NZ Barbarians Schools team
Following the Top 4 tournament, 50 players where selected to participate in a coaching anddevelopment camp, staying at the SRI in Massey University. At the end of the week-long camp, the NZ Schools and NZ Barbarian Schools teams were announced, and the Barbarians team moved down to Wellington for their two games against NZ Maori U18 and Fiji Schools.
Vice-President Alan Whetton and committee member Roger Moore made the jersey presentations prior to the game against the NZ Maori U18 and watched the match, which was a hard-fought encounter, eventually won by NZ Maori U18 21-20.
The next game against a well-drilled Fiji Schools team was equally as tough. Club captain Kevin Senio and committee member Rick Johnston attended this game in Wellington and Fiji ran out 15-10 winners.
Our Barbarians team played well and maybe tried a bit too hard at times. We certainly had chances to win the game. Fiji was great, running the ball in close and tough to stop. They never gave up and played their hearts out.
Following the game, Kevin and Rick spoke to the team and thanked them for the way they had played and once again the players and their parents all expressed their gratitude for the support of the NZ Barbarians Rugby Club.
It was another fine bunch of young men and a very good coaching/management group under head coach Cory Brown (Highlanders assistant coach) and manager Cam Kilgour.
The NZ Barbarians Schools programme format against NZ Maori U18 and the likes of Fiji, Tonga or Samoan Schools, is a great initiative for both NZ Rugby and Pacific Island rugby.It promotes another group of young players into the highperformance environment, and resonates well with our club, our history and our connections to Maori and Pacific rugby.
New members
In late July, we welcomed in another group of new members to the club, each with their own story to tell and path to this club. It was another special night and heartening to see how much it meant to them to be part of our membership. Welcome to Regina Sheck, Dean Cummins, Ross Gard, Shane King, Michael Casey, Huriana Manuel, Apollo Perelini, George Duncan, Chris Boyd, Jim Lonergan and Ric Salizzo.
Bowls
The Barbarians were out in force at the annual Mt Maunganui bowls event in early February in support of the NZ Rugby Foundation and Maori rugby.
Beegee Williams, Peter Tubberty, Keith Nelson, Bernie Allen and Roger Whatman (and wife Sherralyn) headed down from Auckland and joined with Ray Reardon and Alex ‘Grizz’ Wyllie for the festivities. The Barbarians had their best results ever with multiple wins!
Following this we held our bowls day in March combining the Pat Walsh Memorial and Barbarians Bowls Day. Held at the Bridge Park Bowling Club, it was a great day and we had over 30 members attend. We thank club members Peter Tubberty and Mark Walsh for organising the day, co-ordinating the teams and making sure everyone was well fed and watered.
Golf Day
Our patron Sir Bryan Williams, assisted by Marcus Wheelhouse, organised another very successful NZ Barbarians Golf Day in support of the NZ Rugby Foundation.
Held at Akarana GC, it was a very enjoyable day with 19 teams taking part and over $20,000 raised for the NZ Rugby Foundation. Thanks to all those members that took part and to those that took hole sponsorships, with special thanks to our principal sponsor for the day, Barfoot & Thompson.
Clubrooms and boxes
The clubrooms and boxes have once again been well utilised for many events over and above our match-day functions, including the T20 cricket matches as well as hosting events for other worthy organisations our members are involved with such as the Decision Outreach Trust, New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association, NZ Cricket and Auckland Rugby.
Dylan Mika did another very good job managing the boxes and arrangements for the T20 cricket.
Protected Capital Fund
Thanks once again to the five custodians of the ‘Protected Capital Fund’ Ken Eglington (Chairman), John Mills, Phil Lindesay, Neil Cullimore and Grant McCurrach.
NZ First Capital has done a very good job of managing this fund on our behalf and the value of the fund has increased significantly over the past 12 months.
Sponsorship
Club member Peter Thompson (Barfoot & Thompson) continues to support our programmes in particular this year the Primary Schools Fun Day and our NZ Barbarians Golf day.
Also, we are extremely grateful for the support of the North South Trust, Four Winds Trust, NZ Community Trust and Infinity Foundation for their support of our initiatives.
Club member Simon Johnston has again been instrumental in helping to manage and initiate our funding arrangements with the various trusts in 2018, raising approximately $50,000 to assist with our secondary schools programmes and we sincerely thank him for the time and effort he has put in over this past year.
Patron
Our patron Bryan Williams was made a Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit to now become Sir Bryan Williams (and Lady Lesley Williams).
This knighthood was an acknowledgment of a lifetime of service to rugby and rugby people in New Zealand, Samoa, the Pacific Islands and indeed worldwide by Bryan as well as being an acknowledgment of the support and love of Lesley and the Williams family.
We thank Lesley, Marie, Gavin, Paul and Gina and their families for sharing their wonderful husband, father, and grandfather with all of us in the rugby world over such a long time!
For the record, we thought we’d take the time in this report to give a summary of Bryan’s rugby involvement to give you some idea of the breadth and depth of his service to our community over many years. It’s awe-inspiring, to say the least:
� 113 games for the All Blacks from 1970-78, scoring 65 tries/397 points
� 131 games for Auckland from 1969-82
� NZ Juniors 1969
� Ponsonby Seniors from 1967-82
� World XV in 1971 and ‘76
� Played 269 first-class games
� Won Ranfurly Shield as a player four times
� 28 years coaching at senior level, 10 at international level
� Five Gallaher Shields with Ponsonby as player, coach and assistant coach)
� Won NPC titles as assistant coach of Auckland B
� Assistant coach Auckland A from 1987-91 for 90 games
� 4 NPC titles with A team
� Defended Ranfurly Shield 38 times as assistant coach
� 3 national sevenstitles as assistant coach
� Quarter-finals of Rugby World Cup twice with Manu Samoa (assistant coach 1991- 95; head coach 1996-99)
� Two years as assistant coach of Hurricanes 2000-01
� Assistant coach at Mt Albert Grammar First XV 2000-01
� Coach of Mt Albert Grammar First XV 2002
� Assistant coach Auckland Development team 2001-03
� Director of Rugby at Mt Albert Grammar 2000-12
� Director of Rugby at Ponsonby RFC 2001-15, winning Gallaher Shield unprecedented 11 times during that time
� Inductee and Governor of NZ Sports Hall of Fame
� Served as President of Ponsonby RFC and as a committee member from 1979-2015
� Served as Vice-President and President of NZ Barbarians Rugby Club
� Served as Vice-President and President of NZ Rugby Union
� Served as Director of Auckland Rugby Union
� Current Patron of NZ Barbarians Rugby Club (since 2016)
� Trustee of NZ Rugby Foundation since 2013
� Life member of Ponsonby RFC since 1983
� Past Chairman of Pacific Island Youth Leadership Trust
� Awarded an MBE for services to sport in 1983
� Awarded Western Samoa Order of Merit in 1994 for services to sport
� Awarded Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 2013
� And now in 2018 made a Knight Companion of the NZ Order of Merit
We really could not think of a worthier person to be awarded a knighthood than Bryan and it is an honour and privilege for our club to have him as our patron.
Custodians
Under the guidance of John Mills, the group of members who have done custodial duties on match days and at the various functions have once again done us proud and we thank them for their efforts, particularly Craig Glendinning, Roger Moore, Alex Bing and Terry O’Meara.
Dylan Mika
The loss of Dylan Mika in April was felt by all of us.
Our vice president and committee member for the last five years, he was a real shining star in our club. Hard-working, enthusiastic, conscientious and always willing to roll his sleeves up,
Dylan was a person who you could always trust to get things done and done well. He had a knack of pulling people together and making things work. This club and its objectives were dear to Dylan’s heart and Dylan had a special affinity for our secondary school programme, where he had become our main point person for the Top 4/Barbariansnational secondary schools championships, and the NZ Barbarians Schools teams with all the planning and organisation that these events and teams entailed. He was always looking for improvement and better outcomes and was the main driver for inclusion of the girls’ national First XV championship to sit alongside the boys’ and co-ed national championships in our overall sponsorship programme for 2018.
The impact he had on the people associated with these events and teams really hit home to us with the texts and emails we had from members of the NZ Secondary School Council, coaches and managers of the NZ Barbarian teams he has been associated with and staff from NZ Rugby’s high performance, sponsorship, strategy and planning units all expressing their sorrow and thoughts for Dylan and his family.
He has left his mark on many of the things we are involved with always so positive and such a hard-working, quiet achiever and a great friend. He will be sorely missed.
Committee
I would like to thank our committee for their hard work and support throughout the year.
As you are aware, this has been a challenging year for me recovering from the cycling accident I had in October 2017. Past President Ron Williams and Vice-President Alan Whetton carried a huge load in managing the club through the year and we have got through pretty well!
Once again, we are particularly grateful for the guidance and wisdom of our Patron Sir Bryan Williams.
Captain Kevin Senio has been busy supporting our schools programme, taking over from Dylan as our NZR liaison person, and organising matches against the Vikings Development team and the Pakuranga school leavers team (with club member Pita Alatini).
Treasurer Grant McCurrach has been a great contributor and we need to make special mention, once again, of Jordan Tuala of Crowe Horwath who has continued to provide outstanding financial management and reporting for us throughout the year.
Craig Glendinning, whilst new to the committee, has been involved in almost every area of the club, particularly with the Fun Day organisation, attendance at the Top 4 tournament and ever-present with game day custodian duties, welcoming members and guests to the club. He is a hard worker and real asset to our club.
LikewiseMonalisa Urquhart, who has put her hand up to assist in all areas of our activities with special focus on our secondary schools programme. Monalisa attended the Top 4 tournament in Palmerston North and spoke so very well on behalf of the club at the dinner for all the teams on the Friday night of the tournament.
Roger Moore, as always, has worked tirelessly in the background ensuring arrangements for many of our initiatives such as the Fun Day and NZ Barbarians Schools team have been in place as well as attending the Top 4 tournament and NZ Area Schools game in Palmerston North and arranging gear for our games against the Vikings Development team and the Pakuranga school leavers games.
Our secretary Ken Baguley has once again done a very good job in another busy year for him and the club and, along with Trina, has implemented much-needed system upgrades for the bar.
Thanks also to Michael Speight as our house committee member, supporting Trina in her role as club manager.
Richard Turner has stood down from the committee and we thank him for his input over the past two years.
House
We have been very fortunate to have had such a dedicated team looking after us under the leadership of our club manager Trina Seits.
Trina has once again done a great job managing the club. As well as overseeing the bar, she has looked after clothing sales, function arrangements and the general day to day running of the club. We owe her and her team of Mereana, Ali and Dennis a debt of gratitude for their service to the club, our members and our visitors.
In closing, we thank you all for your support throughout what has been a busy and challenging year
Go well, look forward to 2019 and best wishes for Xmas and the New Year to you and your families.
Neil Cullimore
President
New Zealand Barbarian Rugby Club
