Reunion to recall highlights of Rodney rugby

Ex-rugby players from Puhoi to Maungaturoto will return to their old clubrooms next February to swap memories about the days of the Rodney sub-union.

It’s more than 20 years since the Warkworth, Omaha and Kaipara Flats clubs joined forces as Mahurangi and peeled off from the Northland Rugby Union to tie laces with North Harbour.

But the old camaraderie hasn’t disappeared, and reunion committee chairman Jim Malcolm says the local old boys have been talking about a get-together for some time.

The Rodney union included Warkworth, Kaipara Flats, Omaha, Wellsford, Port Albert, Tomarata, Eastern and Maungaturoto. Jim says it is difficult to pinpoint a precise ‘birth’ date for the union because the boundaries changed as clubs amalgamated or disbanded over the years.

It seems rugby was being played in Puhoi, Tauhoa and Glorit in the 1880s, and those areas eventually became part of the Kaipara Flats club, which was subsequently incorporated into Mahurangi.

“Prior to 1924 Wellsford players played for Port Albert in an Otamatea competition,” Jim says. “The Wellsford club used to be the Whangaripo club, which played on Bonnington’s place, on what used to be called Vipond’s Paddock.

“They had a Wellsford West rep team in the 1930s. Then east and west joined about 1934 and became Rodney.”

There were two teams in Kaiwaka – Eastern Blue, which covered the Mangawhai area, and Eastern Red, whose players lived at Oneriri on the west side of town. Red and Blue combined to form the Eastern club and when Mahurangi went south, Eastern and Maungaturoto joined and became Otamatea.

Teams in the Rodney sub-union used to play for the Govan Wilson Trophy, the oldest in Northland. Since the end of the inter-club competition in Rodney the trophy is no longer contested and Jim does not know where it is now.

The Rodney Rugby Reunion will take place on Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27, next year. If there is enough demand, the individual clubs will host gatherings in their clubrooms on the Friday night, and the next day all the clubs will come together at the Wellsford Rugby Club.

Northland’s promotional club, the Vikings, will play a Rodney team selected from Mahurangi, Wellsford and Otamatea and some junior rugby is also planned. A reunion dinner will be held in the A&P Society building on Saturday night and several former players will share their reminiscences of rugby in the Rodney sub-union.

To register for the reunion or for more information, contact committee secretary Carol Wetherill on 09 423-8645.

PHOTO: Rodney Rugby 1978
Rodney was joint winner of the Harding Shield in 1978. The team, back row from left: Stephen Postlewaight, Greg Pert, Ian Ward, Des Chitty, Ian Bradnam; centre: John Wynyard, E. Thomas, Ralph Olesen, C. Dowson, Chris Farr, D. Hatfull, D. Gubb; front: D. Leslie, J. Inger, Larry Renner, C. D’Arcy, Bernie Kose, Rod Jones.