The Bitter Sweet of Northland Rugby

This country is full of talented Rugby players that get no real recognition which was a massive reason why I started High School Top 200, to give players from all over the country a platform to show what they can do on the field and hopefully get noticed. I have all the respect in the world for the Samoan, Tongan and Fijian parents that send there boys to NZ to find more opportunities to get a better education and have a shot at a dream to play Pro Rugby down the line. Now that has worked out great because we have seen guys like Suliasi Vunivalu, Samisoni Taukeiaho, Michael Vaeno and Daniel Tupou all make a career thus far and there are going to be more and more to come. Now what about for our country? Finding kids who are promising rugby players but are surrounded by circumstances out of their control and then slowly fall victim to it, then the statistic just gets bigger. Where are these kids and how can we get to them and get them out of there? Where is this place?  It happens to be at the top of the country and the boys from Northland are looking for that opportunity. They are looking for a way out of Northland to hopefully be given a better chance to just go to school and play good rugby and be discovered.

Northland has so much talent up there and we have seen boys move from the North to other schools because the opportunities. I personally feel that the rugby in Northland grows every year but then hits a “Wall”. When I say “Wall” I dont mean it in the way that the players dont get better or cant get better. The “Wall” also is not the fact that a lot of players from Northland get recruited to rugby programs in other Regions. The “Wall” Im referring to is drinking, drugs, gangs, smoking things like that that a lot of kids from the North struggle with, they struggle with it because it’s all around them and it’s a cycle that doesn’t seem to stop. Northland always seems to be a place that is always forgotten and the attitude from the rest of the country is to just leave them to it and they will sort it out some how, in their own way. In that time when Northland is being left alone the kids seem to also get left alone and forgotten at the same time. They are not supported in most cases and they then turn to whats ready and available to them with a send of a txt or go right next door. Now Im not speaking out of hypothetical stories of “this might be whats happening” this is what boys have told me and what they have seen their friends go through and still go through right now. These are the types of things these guys through today where their friends were smoking and drinking at 14, hit drugs at 15 and joined gangs at 16 and they were talented rugby players out of the bunch and not given a chance.

I know some of you guys who maybe reading this and thinking well “Where are the parents?” or “The kid is older enough to see what is right and wrong, they should make better choices”. If you are thinking that way that’s ok you just dont know about that life and that there are families like this out there. I understand choices are made only by what opportunities are available to them and for the kids in the North from certain areas and back grounds their choices are slim and not always positive. It’s like two kids sitting a Multiple Choice exam and one kid has 5 multiple choice answer and 4 of those answer are excepted answers. Then other guy has only 3 choices and only one is right and even that right answer can sometimes be considered wrong in some cases. Life for some people is thought of as just another day for nothing to go right for me so F it. Other times life’s realities for some are just cycles of negativity and abuse that has been handed down as generations go by. Gangs are also something that in some families are the normal, they are a future for some and not really a choice but a duty to get “Patched Up”. I have close friends in the Mongrel Mob that I still love to this day and for them from my view they really had no choice when their dad, uncles, brother, cousin and sister boyfriends were all “Patched Up” wearing Red.

One thing that kids find easiest to do is to just take themselves out of the equation which is 100% the wrong thing to do and if you feel like that tell someone you trust and that will do best by you, I will put help line numbers for you at the bottom of this article if you want to talk to someone. Suicide rates in NZ are way to high and becoming way to normal and it is the same in Northland, in NZ in 2016 we had one of the highest Teen Suicide rates in the developed world. Kids get lost, forgotten, made to feel alone and that no one cares and even in sports they are not given that attention and so they drift off on their own. Sports can really save kids. Sports to some maybe a pass time but to others its what is going to be their “Ticket” to life and Sports is the “Key” to opening other doors of opportunity because that is what they are best at in life, not school and not a trade its sports.

I deal in sports and so for me I think the best way to help is through sports and rugby, to others you may not think so but thats cool you help the way you want to help. I have always wondered about why a big school from Northland like Whangarei BHS didnt setup a rugby program and recruit all the best players in Northland and have them play all for thier school. Doing something like that would take care of a lot of worries with kids and the Rugby Union like for one

1. The talent stays in Northland
2. Boys dont have to move hours away and get home sick just for an opportunity.
3. Parents are able to attend more games and watch their sons play.
4. Scholarships
5. All the best players in the North are always around the other best players with the same goals and they will keep each other motivated.

Is this something that is do-able? Im sure it is and Im sure a lot of the boys would rather stay around home instead of travel 5-7 hours away to go to school and play rugby. Now I just say Whangarei BHS because they play in the North Harbor Comp which is a good start to getting the players better games and playing other school boy teams too. So im going to show you what kind of talent Northland has produced and if they were all in one team if they wouldnt be one of the best or the best in the country. Even over the last 5 years we have had guys like Sam Nock, Josh Goodhue and Scott Gregory all Northland boys all play NZSS and this they should have Rivez Reihana, Tamati Williams repeat NZSS selection with Simon Parker, Terrell Paitaia, Rob Rush and Corey Evans all being looked at for selection. If there was an academy for Rugby players to attend a school that would train the best in Northland I promise you they would be the team to beat every year in the Country, it doesn’t matter if it’s Whangarei BHS, Keri Keri HS, Kaitaia College of Rodney College, get them all together and they would be the best in the country.

“If Northland Had a Rugby Power House Team”

1. Craven Martin (MAGS)
2. Valance Yates (St Kentigern College)
3. Tamati Williams (St Kentigern College)
4. Tomislav Baker (MAGS)
5. Simon Parker (St Peters School)(VC)
6. Rob Rush (St Kentigern College)
7.  Oliver Hilton-Jones (Kaitaia College)
8. Terrell Paitaia  (MAGS)
9.  Memphis Ngaruhe (Kaitaia College)
10. Rivez Reihana (St Kentigern College)(C)
11.  Caleb Leef (Takapuna GS)
12. Chad Boyde (St Johns College Hamilton)
13. Kingi Hiriwini (Rodney College)
14. Javarne Porter (Rodney College)
15. Corey Evans (Auckland GS)

16. Esile  Fono (Whangarei Boys High School)
17. Patrick  Allebera Prop/No.8 (Rodney College)
18. Walton Edwards (Whangarei BHS)
19. Jaymie Hilton-Jones (Kaitaia College)
20. Keenan Rush (Wesley College)
21. Tepaea Cook Savage (St Paul’s Collegiate)
22. Ryan Nankivell (Bay of Islands College)
23. Eric Leef (Rangitoto College)

Now just think about this team and what they could accomplish over this season and how many games they would win and even go as far as a National Championship Title. Just think about it Northland have it all they just have to put it all together and show boys there is hope for them in life in and out of Rugby.

WHERE TO GET HELP

Lifeline (open 24/7) – 0800 543 354

Depression Helpline (open 24/7) – 0800 111 757

Healthline (open 24/7) – 0800 611 116

Samaritans (open 24/7) – 0800 726 666

Suicide Crisis Helpline (open 24/7) – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Youthline (open 24/7) – 0800 376 633. You can also text 234 for free between 8am and midnight, or email [email protected]

0800 WHATSUP children’s helpline – phone 0800 9428 787 between 1pm and 10pm on weekdays and from 3pm to 10pm on weekends. Online chat is available from 7pm to 10pm every day.

Kidsline (open 24/7) – 0800 543 754. This service is for children aged 5 to 18. Those who ring between 4pm and 9pm on weekdays will speak to a Kidsline buddy. These are specially trained teenage telephone counsellors.

Your local Rural Support Trust – 0800 787 254 (0800 RURAL HELP)

Alcohol Drug Helpline (open 24/7) – 0800 787 797. You can also text 8691 for free.

For further information, contact the Mental Health Foundation’s free Resource and Information Service (09 623 4812).