I just read an article stating that the once mighty rugby league province, West Coast, now only has two senior teams whilst Tasman only only has 3 teams. The Warriors may be on a roll but the game is suffering in the Provinces.
General West Coast
- Thread starter playdaball
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I just read an article stating that the once mighty rugby league province, West Coast, now only has two senior teams whilst Tasman only only has 3 teams. The Warriors may be on a roll but the game is suffering in the Provinces.
From what I was told by a staunch Runanga supporter is that most now play in the Christchurch comp. Not just for the better comp but most work there too. No jobs out West these days.
Wellington Rugby League is in dire straights as well sadly. Currently have no one running the joint except for a stand in Chairman while they look for a proper one...
Wellington Rugby League is in dire straights as well sadly. Currently have no one running the joint except for a stand in Chairman while they look for a proper one...
No premier comp on the west coast this year- they can only scrape 2 teams together.
This is really sad for nz rugby league- they used to be a strong hold and have produced so many great players.
They need to get them hooked up with Nelson and Tasman or even have a coast team in the Canterbury comp- the players would love it- I remember traveling to play west coast teams a couple of times- it was awesome.
Mind u I had a mate text me last week saying he had just been to watch his first premier game in chch for years and he couldn't believe how the standard has dropped- compared it to pressies.....
All reserve grade games were cancelled this week because they couldn't find any refs!
The South Island really need some help- there's a lot of good people there doing their best and doing it for love but they need people in full time roles- there's just no money.
Sadly the games all but dead down that way.
This is really sad for nz rugby league- they used to be a strong hold and have produced so many great players.
They need to get them hooked up with Nelson and Tasman or even have a coast team in the Canterbury comp- the players would love it- I remember traveling to play west coast teams a couple of times- it was awesome.
Mind u I had a mate text me last week saying he had just been to watch his first premier game in chch for years and he couldn't believe how the standard has dropped- compared it to pressies.....
All reserve grade games were cancelled this week because they couldn't find any refs!
The South Island really need some help- there's a lot of good people there doing their best and doing it for love but they need people in full time roles- there's just no money.
Sadly the games all but dead down that way.
Sadly can’t see the ARL owned Warriors giving too much shit about it for it to change either
Which is only fair. Lets not forget the A stands for Auckland. I would be pissed to see Auckland money being wasted elsewhere...
If the ARL get the club, Cameron McGregor knows more about the history of the game in NZ than anybody I know. He is the ultimate rugby league fan and was raised on the game with his extended family.
The coal miners founded the game, not just in England, Newcastle was an inaugural member of the NSWRL in 1910. So areas such as the West Coast and Huntly will be will in his thoughts. However coal mining is a dying industry in the west as long as the Chinese keep dragging it out of the ground the way they are, let alone the environmental concerns.
There is nothing anybody can do about that apart from maybe keeping in touch with Coasters finding jobs in the Australian mines.
Can I ask admin why threads like this don't show up on the main page?
The super rugby is there....
The super rugby is there....
Thinking like that would never have seen the Warriors in the A(Australian)RL...
Keep ignoring the game outside Auckland and league will disappear even more.
You forget the Warriors were entered by the Auckland Rugby League for the advancement of Auckland. The bid was done entirely by the Auckland RL for Auckland hence Auckland Warriors. Not sure what you are even talking about really...
I just don't know what the majority of mums and dads are doing? Buying some crap from Kmart or watching YouTube videos. I put my hand up to volunteer at my daughters school to coach netball this year, I've done it previous years and noticed people have less time. There's a lot of struggle to get volunteers for any sport because it is unpaid. Papakura are looking for coaches and managers for the kids that I know of. Pakuranga also could do with more support but theyll get there. Got some stubborn buggers out that way. I would say get in there and volunteer if you can. They're a tough bunch those from the west coast league will never die down there
As I recall from being around at the time the NZRL had taken over the club from the ARL so hence the name change, nothing more complicated than that. Seeing that the NZRL seems to be getting run from Christchurch for a while it might be good to change back to the Auckland Warriors and change back to the blue white and red, without the green from DB Green.
Also the debt owed by the Auckland Warriors can be got around by calling them the Auckland Warriors (2018) Ltd, happens all the time.
I can assure there are many in the game in Auckland gutted about the demise of the coal mining regions.
Was referring to people solely looking after their own backyard never advances anything. If the NSWRL(later ARL) had stuck to looking after their own backyard the NRL would be a Sydney comp only.
Yes the ARL is an Auckland comp but with similar thinking they have the potential to help the rest of NZ. History shows they will only really care about themselves and NZ league is poorer for it.
It’s hard to see for those who don’t live outside of Auckland but the Warriors mean something to all New Zealanders not just Auckland.
Point taken, but if the ARL spend the money they can call it what they like.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...coast-league-legend-peter-kerridge-bowing-out
Jack of all trades: West Coast league legend Peter Kerridge bowing out
The man who reckoned rugby league had put the West Coast on the map "as much as Monteith's beer and whitebait" is hanging up four hats.
West Coast Rugby League chairman Peter Kerridge - a former general manager of the West Coast's hospitals - retired at the April general meeting after 22 years as chairman.
The 77-year-old also served as president, secretary and treasurer, holding all four roles "after our treasurer died 18 months ago".
Steve Martin, the New Zealand Rugby League's southern zone general manager, said it is widely accepted that "West Coast rugby league has survived in such difficult times because of the extraordinary contribution by Peter".
Kerridge, a respected administrator at national level, has exuded passion for rugby league since he first laced on boots as a Kohinoor club midget in 1948.
He was disappointed when the West Coast's senior competition - a nursery for almost 50 Kiwis - went into recess last year, but he never threw in the towel.
Kerridge, who has also penned a number of West Coast rugby league jubilee histories, admitted he was "relieved" at giving up the reins after so long, but he is not going to be lost to the sport.
"I'm going to knuckle down and write the history of the West Coast Rugby League that I've been planning to do for years."
Rugby league devotion is in Kerridge's DNA.
His father, Eddie, from the Waiuta gold mining township, scored a try when Inangahua beat a visiting Canterbury team and served for 30 years on the West Coast Rugby League executive.
A 10-year-old Peter was the ball boy in the 1952 Kohinoor team, coached by his dad. Ron Messenger - later to become New Zealand Rugby Union president - was Kohinoor's vice-captain. A two-roomed dwelling at the bottom of the Kerridge's garden near Greymouth's Victoria Park served as the Kohinoor clubrooms.
Peter Kerridge recalled facing a sporting choice when he started at Marist Brothers' Catholic high school in Greymouth. "I got confused and put my name down for rugby union. We were having tea that night, and I told Dad I'd signed up for rugby union. He said, 'No, no, you've got it wrong, it's rugby league'. Young Peter bolted from the dining table, "ran across town to the brothers' house and banged on the door; they must have thought the place was on fire. I pleaded with the brother to take my name out of rugby union and put it into rugby league. I wonder what would have happened if I never did that!"
Kerridge captained the Marist club's under-18s and played Senior Bs and was a West Coast representative in both grades.
He hung up his boots to referee schoolboys games on Saturdays and adult matches on Sundays for 20 years.
He made his mark as an administrator, with the Marist club, the Referees Association and as secretary-publicity officer of the West Coast Rugby League Supporters Club.
Kerridge - a life member of the WCRL and the referees association - devoted his time to his beloved sport after taking early retirement when the hospital sector was re-structured in 1993.
"I took a part-time job in crime prevention, and put my energies full-time in to rugby league."
He kept getting re-elected unopposed every year, quipping: "I don't know if that was due to satisfaction or apathy."
Kerridge, a Justice of the Peace, became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2007 for services to rugby league and the community.
He said maintaining strong competitions on the West Coast had always been a battle. "At the start [in 1915] there were only three teams. . . There was a purple patch just after the Second World War were had seniors, reserves and third grade competitions, but that probably only lasted 15 years or so."
The West Coast still has 300 junior players, but has not had a senior competition for two years. The West Coast Chargers representative team trained through the 2018 winter, but did not play until the South Island representative tournament at the end of the season. This year, a Greymouth Greyhounds team has been formed to play in the Tasman competition against two Nelson teams.
Economic and social factors were behind the West Coast's rugby league decline. "The heartland has gone. The mining community [which once produced scores of West Coast representatives and Kiwis] has lost hundreds of well-paid jobs. That's affected the economy of the Coast, in general. Miners tended to be fit and tough, which made them ideally suited to rugby league."
Sporting choices have also increased. "Rugby league is a gladiatorial sport from the 1800s - it's not everyone's cup of tea to play in the 21st century. There are a lot of other options, including individual sports. Kids on the Coast playing sport today play pretty much everything."
Kerridge says the West Coast junior committee has been innovative in organising different competitions, including games featuring select teams named after former Kiwis such as Trevor Kilkelly and George Menzies.
Fighting rugby league's corner has been a point of principle for Kerridge. For the first 50 or 60 years, the sport was treated as the poor relation of rugby union, he said. "The attitude towards our code made us circle the wagons and say: 'We don't care ... we are going to get on with it.' It made you more determined to fly the flag and succeed."
While he has reservations about New Zealand rugby league's move to a regional federation administration system and the sport's growing dependence on gaming charity funders and government agencies, he says the "highs outweigh the lows".
Kerridge was proud to steer the WCRL through its centennial celebrations in 2015 and is delighted that two proud clubs, Brunner and Runanga have survived to celebrate their centenaries in 2019.
"The highs go back before my time [as chairman]. West Coast beat England 17-8 at Victoria Park in 1946. We had the test match in1954 when the Kiwis played Great Britain. Greymouth became the smallest place to ever host a rugby league test match. It was a tribute to our secretary at the time, Tom McKenzie, who was very influential."
Kerridge fondly recalls the days when West Coast players would "play for the Kiwis at Carlaw Park in front of thousands one week, then be back playing club footy at Wingham Park the next. Tony Coll [Kiwis captain in the 1970s] would fly back to Hokitika after a test and there'd be a cab waiting to take him to Wingham Park. He'd miss the start of the game, but he would be back running out for Marist, the day after playing for the Kiwis."
On Kerridge's watch, the West Coast hosted a game between Bluey McClennan's Kiwis and a New Zealand Residents XIII in 2006?. "That was a buzz for everybody."
"We also had a Russian team spend a week in Greymouth on a tour of the South Island. Their manager was a former Soviet naval commander. For someone who lived through the Cold War, to have a Russian team at Wingham Park, well you had to pinch yourself. They had a big squad, so three or four of the Russian players turned out for Westport against Hokitika in the curtainraiser. We didn't know whether to call them Westportski, or, if they'd played for Hokitika, Hokitikagrad."
Kerridge also organised a pre-season match in 2011 between the Warriors and the Newcastle Knights at Wingham Park to honour the 29 Pike River mine victims - including West Coast rugby league representative Blair Sims.
"We had to do everything ... my wife and I sat down at the kitchen table to design the tickets. The two teams were excellent with their PR - anyone who wanted to meet the players had a chance to. We got 5500 people to Wingham Park for the game, which was a record rugby league crowd for the West Coast."
Kerridge has also got a kick at seeing West Coast 17s and 19s teams upset their Canterbury counterparts in recent seasons.
Kerridge has handed over the president and secretary jobs to West Coast representative coach Brad Tacon, a former Suburbs club chairman. Rose Greer - sister of 1980s Kiwi Gordon Smith - has taken over as treasurer.
He's confident the game is in good hands and still has hope for the future.
"We are still producing some good youngsters, we've got some good talent who are 17 or 18 years old now and have had good coaching."
West Coast-raised Kiwis hooker Slade Griffin is set for a NRL return with the Newcastle Knights after a knee reconstruction. Griffin Neame, 18, is playing for the Cowboys' junior team in Townsville. Scrumhalf Brad Campbell is making his mark in Christchurch with Hornby and the Canterbury Bulls.
There could yet be another chapter in the West Coast's proud rugby league history for Peter Kerridge to chronicle.
Jack of all trades: West Coast league legend Peter Kerridge bowing out
The man who reckoned rugby league had put the West Coast on the map "as much as Monteith's beer and whitebait" is hanging up four hats.
West Coast Rugby League chairman Peter Kerridge - a former general manager of the West Coast's hospitals - retired at the April general meeting after 22 years as chairman.
The 77-year-old also served as president, secretary and treasurer, holding all four roles "after our treasurer died 18 months ago".
Steve Martin, the New Zealand Rugby League's southern zone general manager, said it is widely accepted that "West Coast rugby league has survived in such difficult times because of the extraordinary contribution by Peter".
Kerridge, a respected administrator at national level, has exuded passion for rugby league since he first laced on boots as a Kohinoor club midget in 1948.
He was disappointed when the West Coast's senior competition - a nursery for almost 50 Kiwis - went into recess last year, but he never threw in the towel.
Kerridge, who has also penned a number of West Coast rugby league jubilee histories, admitted he was "relieved" at giving up the reins after so long, but he is not going to be lost to the sport.
"I'm going to knuckle down and write the history of the West Coast Rugby League that I've been planning to do for years."
Rugby league devotion is in Kerridge's DNA.
His father, Eddie, from the Waiuta gold mining township, scored a try when Inangahua beat a visiting Canterbury team and served for 30 years on the West Coast Rugby League executive.
A 10-year-old Peter was the ball boy in the 1952 Kohinoor team, coached by his dad. Ron Messenger - later to become New Zealand Rugby Union president - was Kohinoor's vice-captain. A two-roomed dwelling at the bottom of the Kerridge's garden near Greymouth's Victoria Park served as the Kohinoor clubrooms.
Peter Kerridge recalled facing a sporting choice when he started at Marist Brothers' Catholic high school in Greymouth. "I got confused and put my name down for rugby union. We were having tea that night, and I told Dad I'd signed up for rugby union. He said, 'No, no, you've got it wrong, it's rugby league'. Young Peter bolted from the dining table, "ran across town to the brothers' house and banged on the door; they must have thought the place was on fire. I pleaded with the brother to take my name out of rugby union and put it into rugby league. I wonder what would have happened if I never did that!"
Kerridge captained the Marist club's under-18s and played Senior Bs and was a West Coast representative in both grades.
He hung up his boots to referee schoolboys games on Saturdays and adult matches on Sundays for 20 years.
He made his mark as an administrator, with the Marist club, the Referees Association and as secretary-publicity officer of the West Coast Rugby League Supporters Club.
Kerridge - a life member of the WCRL and the referees association - devoted his time to his beloved sport after taking early retirement when the hospital sector was re-structured in 1993.
"I took a part-time job in crime prevention, and put my energies full-time in to rugby league."
He kept getting re-elected unopposed every year, quipping: "I don't know if that was due to satisfaction or apathy."
Kerridge, a Justice of the Peace, became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2007 for services to rugby league and the community.
He said maintaining strong competitions on the West Coast had always been a battle. "At the start [in 1915] there were only three teams. . . There was a purple patch just after the Second World War were had seniors, reserves and third grade competitions, but that probably only lasted 15 years or so."
The West Coast still has 300 junior players, but has not had a senior competition for two years. The West Coast Chargers representative team trained through the 2018 winter, but did not play until the South Island representative tournament at the end of the season. This year, a Greymouth Greyhounds team has been formed to play in the Tasman competition against two Nelson teams.
Economic and social factors were behind the West Coast's rugby league decline. "The heartland has gone. The mining community [which once produced scores of West Coast representatives and Kiwis] has lost hundreds of well-paid jobs. That's affected the economy of the Coast, in general. Miners tended to be fit and tough, which made them ideally suited to rugby league."
Sporting choices have also increased. "Rugby league is a gladiatorial sport from the 1800s - it's not everyone's cup of tea to play in the 21st century. There are a lot of other options, including individual sports. Kids on the Coast playing sport today play pretty much everything."
Kerridge says the West Coast junior committee has been innovative in organising different competitions, including games featuring select teams named after former Kiwis such as Trevor Kilkelly and George Menzies.
Fighting rugby league's corner has been a point of principle for Kerridge. For the first 50 or 60 years, the sport was treated as the poor relation of rugby union, he said. "The attitude towards our code made us circle the wagons and say: 'We don't care ... we are going to get on with it.' It made you more determined to fly the flag and succeed."
While he has reservations about New Zealand rugby league's move to a regional federation administration system and the sport's growing dependence on gaming charity funders and government agencies, he says the "highs outweigh the lows".
Kerridge was proud to steer the WCRL through its centennial celebrations in 2015 and is delighted that two proud clubs, Brunner and Runanga have survived to celebrate their centenaries in 2019.
"The highs go back before my time [as chairman]. West Coast beat England 17-8 at Victoria Park in 1946. We had the test match in1954 when the Kiwis played Great Britain. Greymouth became the smallest place to ever host a rugby league test match. It was a tribute to our secretary at the time, Tom McKenzie, who was very influential."
Kerridge fondly recalls the days when West Coast players would "play for the Kiwis at Carlaw Park in front of thousands one week, then be back playing club footy at Wingham Park the next. Tony Coll [Kiwis captain in the 1970s] would fly back to Hokitika after a test and there'd be a cab waiting to take him to Wingham Park. He'd miss the start of the game, but he would be back running out for Marist, the day after playing for the Kiwis."
On Kerridge's watch, the West Coast hosted a game between Bluey McClennan's Kiwis and a New Zealand Residents XIII in 2006?. "That was a buzz for everybody."
"We also had a Russian team spend a week in Greymouth on a tour of the South Island. Their manager was a former Soviet naval commander. For someone who lived through the Cold War, to have a Russian team at Wingham Park, well you had to pinch yourself. They had a big squad, so three or four of the Russian players turned out for Westport against Hokitika in the curtainraiser. We didn't know whether to call them Westportski, or, if they'd played for Hokitika, Hokitikagrad."
Kerridge also organised a pre-season match in 2011 between the Warriors and the Newcastle Knights at Wingham Park to honour the 29 Pike River mine victims - including West Coast rugby league representative Blair Sims.
"We had to do everything ... my wife and I sat down at the kitchen table to design the tickets. The two teams were excellent with their PR - anyone who wanted to meet the players had a chance to. We got 5500 people to Wingham Park for the game, which was a record rugby league crowd for the West Coast."
Kerridge has also got a kick at seeing West Coast 17s and 19s teams upset their Canterbury counterparts in recent seasons.
Kerridge has handed over the president and secretary jobs to West Coast representative coach Brad Tacon, a former Suburbs club chairman. Rose Greer - sister of 1980s Kiwi Gordon Smith - has taken over as treasurer.
He's confident the game is in good hands and still has hope for the future.
"We are still producing some good youngsters, we've got some good talent who are 17 or 18 years old now and have had good coaching."
West Coast-raised Kiwis hooker Slade Griffin is set for a NRL return with the Newcastle Knights after a knee reconstruction. Griffin Neame, 18, is playing for the Cowboys' junior team in Townsville. Scrumhalf Brad Campbell is making his mark in Christchurch with Hornby and the Canterbury Bulls.
There could yet be another chapter in the West Coast's proud rugby league history for Peter Kerridge to chronicle.
This hits the nail on the head
It's jobs rugby finds work for it's boys .
There is always a Clubman in a firm that can get
The boys jobs .
Another case of league suffering it's socio economic problems
Such a pity that a staunch RL area is suffering. To be fair, I’ve been to a lot places around the world, but never been to Greymouth.
Nice place but the coal mining base is run down. League has always been a coal miners game.
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