Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • 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

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

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

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

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 / Hawkes Bay Today

Halberg awards night beckons for Leon Birnie and his team

NZ Herald
10 Jan, 2019 03:01 AM3 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

Leon Birnie, New Zealand Football women's under-20 coach.

Leon Birnie, New Zealand Football women's under-20 coach.

Hawke's Bay coach Leon Birnie and his girls will have their night of glory after being named as finalists for the 2019 Halberg Awards.

Birnie coached the team to New Zealand football history, all the way to third place at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Uruguay.

The Central Football administrator is up against the Kiwi-born Irish rugby coach Joe Schmidt for the coach of the year gong. Allan Bunting (rugby union), Clark Laidlaw (rugby union) and Gordon Walker (canoe racing) were also named as finalists on Thursday.

His team will be up against both NZ Sevens teams, the NZ Women's Kayaking Team (canoe racing) and the Black Sticks women (hockey) for team of the year.

Strangely, the men's Irish rugby team could win more at New Zealand's premier sporting awards than the All Blacks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Schmidt has been named as a finalist for coach of the year, while not a single link to the All Blacks' 15-player code could be seen across the six categories.

Schmidt masterminded his team's second victory over the All Blacks in November last year, in a slightly disappointing year for Steve Hansen's troops.

The All Blacks also lost to the Springboks in Wellington in September.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It's the first time since 2007 that neither an All Blacks player, coach, or the team as a whole has made the final shortlist.

New Zealand Rugby's hopes for taking home an award lay on the shoulders of the men's and women's sevens teams, who are both up for Team of the Year, as well as Allan Bunting and Clark Laidlaw, who are finalists alongside Schmidt for coach of the year.

The majority of the categories are dominated by wider codes, with the likes of Winter Olympics heroes Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous up for Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year respectively, and two of the four finalists in the Sportsman of the Year category being motorsport athletes.

The winners will be announced at an awards evening on February 21.

Discover more

Rugby league: Hawke's Bay's Harris eyes Kiwis recall

28 Dec 05:00 PM

Speedway: Bay driver's form hard to ignore

28 Dec 06:00 PM

Cook Islands community man gets QSM

30 Dec 04:00 PM
Sport

Annual children's HB cricket pilgrimage to yield $5.5m

02 Jan 07:00 PM

Full list of finalists:

Sportswoman of the Year

(Eligible for the supreme Halberg Award)

Joelle King (squash), Jonelle Price (equestrian), Lisa Carrington (canoe racing), Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (snowboarding).

Sportsman of the Year (Eligible for the supreme Halberg Award)

Nico Porteous (freeskiing), Scott Dixon (motorsport), Scott McLaughlin (motorsport), Tom Walsh (athletics)

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Para Athlete/Team of the Year (Eligible for the supreme Halberg Award)

Adam Hall (Para alpine skiing), Corey Peters (Para alpine skiing), Scott Martlew (Para canoe racing), Sophie Pascoe (Para swimming).

Team of the Year (Eligible for the supreme Halberg Award)

All Blacks Sevens (rugby union), Black Ferns Sevens (rugby union), NZ Football Under 17 Women (football), NZ Women's Kayaking Team (canoe racing), Black Sticks Women (hockey).

Coach of the Year

Allan Bunting (rugby union), Clark Laidlaw (rugby union), Gordon Walker (canoe racing), Joe Schmidt (rugby union), Leon Birnie (football).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Emerging Talent

Amelia Kerr (cricket), Anna Leat (football), Josh Armit (yachting), Lewis Clareburt (swimming), Maddison-Lee Wesche (athletics).

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

The two started their senior women's rugby for Hawke's Bay while still at school.

17 Jul 04:00 AM
Premium
Premium
Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

15 Jul 06:00 PM
Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad
Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad

15 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
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
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP