Rugby league: Tamati eyes Warriors game for McLean Park

Kevin Tamati is back in charge of Rugby League Hawke's Bay. Photo/Paul Taylor

Kiwis rugby league legend Kevin Tamati is eager to help organise a Warriors NRL game in Hawke's Bay.

"With the contacts I've got in the game that has to be a priority for me. Hopefully the new owners of the Warriors will see the value of taking some of their matches around New Zealand. It's a responsibility of theirs to promote the game around the country and they need to see it as a good thing," Tamati, who was last week elected as Rugby League Hawke's Bay chairman, said.

Bridge Pa-born Tamati, 64, who played 22 tests for the Kiwis from 1979-85, had previously been chairman during the 2015 and 2016 seasons before leaving the Bay to take up a property investment business opportunity in Australia in 2016. The RLHB life member returned to the Bay late last year.

Tamati, was RLHB chairman when Napier's McLean Park hosted an NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Dragons in 2015. Hawke's Bay's most famous league export, Tohu Harris, was a starting centre for the Storm and Tamati agreed with Harris now on the Warriors roster it was timely to invite the Auckland-based team to play in Napier in the near future.

An NZRL Legends of League inductee in 1995, Tamati, is at an age where most sports fans start easing up rather than taking on tough assignments like his chairman's role. But that's not Tamati's style.

"No other person in our code in the Bay, other than Tohu Harris, has the profile to do this job. I see it as part of my responsibility to help take the game forward in the Bay and I look forward to it," Tamati said.

Junior development will be another priority for Tamati.

"It's no secret the grassroots of the game is struggling here in the Bay. We need to put more than a shoulder to the wheel for it. Growth of the game is crucial for our tamariki and rangatahi and I'll be giving it a big push. I'll be inviting the likes of the Warriors, New Zealand Rugby League and New Zealand Maori Rugby League to come here and support the development we are trying to put in place."

Securing more games for the Unicorns, just one was played last year, and the Bay's women's team will be another big focus for Tamati.

A former New Zealand Maori player and coach who had coaching stints with the Salford, Chorley Borough and Whitehaven clubs in the United Kingdom, Tamati is keen for another coaching stint.

He has applied for the head coach role with the New Zealand Maori women's team.

"I watched them lose 18-0 to the Aussie Indigenous team in Sydney last month. I thought to myself if that is the best we can come up with we are in trouble so I thought I would jump in boots and all. If I get the job I will have Chanel Huddleston as my assistant coach," Tamati said referring to the Bay's retired Kiwi Fern and New Zealand Maori player who played in the fixture.

"Hopefully we can help change a bit of history."

On the work front Tamati is assisting Te Reo Irirangi o Ngati Kahungunu sports show host Kotuku Tomoana with his hour-long rugby league segment each Saturday from 10am to 11am. They plan to provide live broadcasts of games involving Ngati Kahungunu teams from the national Maori tournament at Labour Weekend.

"I want to be better than JD," Tamati quipped referring to New Zealand Maori Rugby League chairman John Devonshire, who is involved with a similar show on Te Reo Irirangi o Tainui.

When it was put it to Tamati he had a lot on his plate there was a predictable reply:

"It's not about the size of the dog. It's about the size of the fight in the dog."

Tamati has used that quote on numerous occasions over the years to inspire himself and those around him.

Mid Central Zone general manager Lisa Reweti and coaching development manager Alan Jackson attended the meeting. Reweti spoke about club infrastructures while Jackson outlined the pathways available to coaches keen to upgrade their qualifications and the representative programmes for provincial sides and the Vipers men and women.

Delegates also learnt there will be a big push to get competitions up and running in the Mid Central region for under-17 female players.

Officers elected to the Rugby League Hawke's Bay board were:

Chairman, Kevin Tamati; treasurer, Lee Grace; secretary, Tracey Liddington; referees delegate, Shane Foster; women's team delegate, Te Aroha Hunt; Sport Hawke's Bay representative, Junior Armstrong; Mid Central board representative, Neil Cleaver, Bridge Pa club delegate, Ihaka Waerea.