Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Tommy Wilson: Remember the good sorts in life

Bay of Plenty Times
14 May, 2018 04:10 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Whakarewarewa's Matthew Garland at the Baywide rugby game between Te Puna and Whakarewarewa at Matakana Island. Photo/file

Whakarewarewa's Matthew Garland at the Baywide rugby game between Te Puna and Whakarewarewa at Matakana Island. Photo/file

If you had the opportunity to meet anyone alive on the planet today, who would that be?

I asked my mates at work this question and I got an interesting eclectic bunch of nominees from Nick Cave, Lydia Ko, Aunty Rose, who none of us knew, President Putin, the Dalai Lama, Jacinda Ardern and David Attenborough.

As the discussion deepened, many were keen to meet Andrew Judd to talk about the Māori wards debate, and this will happen when he comes up in the near future to talk to Tauranga Moana about why he walked away from politics.

Read more: Tommy Wilson: Who will win the Tauranga City Council byelection?
Tommy Wilson: A Maori seat at the decision-making table only fair
Tommy Wilson: Banning the beggars from Greerton

Winston also got voted in as a must meet politician, as did the three local Western Bay councillors who voted against Māori wards, I guess because no one in this office had ever met them, and that says a lot when it comes to knowing the most-needy Māori in your community.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Not so their mayor Garry Webber, who none of us needed to meet as he drops in almost weekly to show what colours his community caring bread is buttered on.

For me, my "must meet" changes like a Donald Trump truth tweet. Last month during Anzac remembrances, it would have been Dame Vera Lynn, the singer known as the forces' sweetheart for entertaining troops during World War II to boost morale.

Dame Vera sang to my dad when he was a young scared 17-year-old boy on the other side of the world fighting a war he didn't want to be a part of.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When I think of my father, I think of him in his melancholic moods, usually with a couple of stiff gins on board, drifting back to those dark days and promising his brothers in arms they will meet again as Vera promised in her classic wartime hit We'll Meet Again.

To be able to meet this amazing 101-year-old who is releasing a new album on the back of a lifetime achievement award would be way cool and an opportunity to say thank you from all the kids who lost a dad to war, with wounds on the inside that never healed.

Last Saturday, I would have liked to meet one of the Maniapoto brothers who locked the scrum for Whakawerawera and the Bay, back in the day when I was a kid watching these gentle giants thunder around the footy paddock like characters cast for a Weta Workshop animated movie.

To have Jim there on the sideline at Matakana Island with his red and black whānau to witness history being created by holding a Baywide premier club rugby match for the first time ever would have been magic, like Disney itself.

Discover more

Bay of Plenty rugby turns pink

15 May 10:40 PM

Te Puna sides claim first-round titles

27 May 02:31 AM

Tommy Wilson: Storytelling at its finest

05 Jun 04:25 AM

Tommy Wilson: Words can cause real harm

19 Jun 05:51 AM

There is something about club rugby that transcends every handbrake of hatred, racism and patch-protecting greed, especially between two Māori teams sprinkled with Caucasian cuzzies.

Club rugby is a sporting phenomenon that breaks every barrier and an event that councillors who want to vote against Māori wards should show up to see for themselves, especially when it is happening in their own backyard.

There is no hidden agenda, nor a political potae or a deal been done. Just raw rugby.

In fact, that Saturday, the only currency of success besides the owner of the barge was whanaungatanga shown by the people of Matakana, who live a peaceful easy lifestyle many of us can only dream about, like my dad did when he wanted to come home from war.

It's just mate against mate who become better mates after the final whistle is blown.

The first of the three games between Te Puna and hosts Matakana Island was the real kicker.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With an average age of a 101, the same as Vera Lynn, and 100kg, the same as the side of pork that went into the hangi to feed the masses, this was a gladiatorial sporting spectacle to be talked about for generations to come.

Sure, the flash Harrys in the main game were hotter than the hangi stones that cooked the massive kai, but when it comes to grassroots rugby, the big kahunas who battled it out like a couple of Bismarcks playing force back on a Matakana Island paddock were the winners on the day for me.

And big Jim Maniapoto would have loved watching 52-year-old Borrowdale, who must be cut from the same cloth as Dame Vera Lynn, score the winning try under the posts for the island.

The thunderous applause would have woken even the heaviest of sleepers at the nearby urupa.

We can't always meet those we want to in this life, nor can we all score the winning try to take the trophy for another year.

However, we can all make the effort to show up on the sideline of life and cheer on our local team, support those who support those in need, and remember the good buggers who went out of their way to make a magical day on Matakana Island happen.

We'll meet again.

broblack@xtra.co.nz Tommy Wilson is a local writer and best selling author.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins
live

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP