otamatea celebrates rugby heritage

Rugby stories – long and short – were retold with enthusiasm at the Eastern United Rugby Reunion held at the Kaiwaka Sports Association on May 23.

More than 160 people attended the reunion dinner which followed a full day of rugby on the grounds. Ian Phillips, notably one of our most successful players with 49 games for
North Auckland, attended as well as guests from throughout NZ and overseas. Eastern United formed in the 1950s with teams from Mangawhai, Kaiwaka and Oneroa and was the heart of the community until 1988 when teams from Kaiwaka amalgamated with Maungaturoto and became Otamatea.

Tom Myles, from Cooper in Scotland, was one of the overseas guests at the reunion. He played for Eastern United in 1971 when he was working on the Hargreaves dairy farm, in Oneriri Road.

Otamatea’s U18 team took a bit of a grubbing from Whangarei Boys High School.

Brothers Ian (left) and Peter Hargreaves have been involved in Otamatea rugby for most of their lives. They say that nationwide, the game is struggling to find players for its weekend competitions. “It was about the only game in town when we played.” They have been committee members for more than 35 years and Ian has been a Rodney sub-union delegate for 20 years.