KEY POINTS:
An Auckland rugby league club will stop accepting money from pokie trusts because of the damage the gambling machines are doing to its players' families.
Mt Wellington Rugby League president Dean Kini said the club made the decision when it found young players were
missing games because their parents had lost the petrol money on the pokies.
"The schools would tell you the same," he said.
"A lot of the parents can't buy boots for their kids. They are saying they haven't got the money, and that they can't get them to the games because they can't get money for petrol.
"All those problems are associated with gambling and drinking. I didn't want to be a part of the problem."
Mt Wellington is believed to be the first sports club in New Zealand to reject money from the pokie trusts, which gave $134 million to sports in 2005 _ the most recent year for which detailed figures are available.
NZ Rugby League general manager Peter Cordtz said: "That would be the first club I'm aware of that has taken that stance, and not just in rugby league. I don't think you would find any club in any sport that would say no to a gambling grant."
Mr Kini, a former butcher who is studying to be a Maori youth worker, is following in the footsteps of the South Sydney Rabbitohs league club's new owners, actor Russell Crowe and millionaire Peter Holmes a Court, who plan to rip out the club's 60 pokies to make it "family-friendly".
New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd backed them, saying, "I hate poker machines and I know something of their impact on families."
The Mt Wellington club has never had pokies in its clubrooms, but it received $10,000 for club jerseys last year from a leading pokie trust, the Lion Foundation.
Its other main revenue sources were its bar, also $10,000, and membership fees of $6000 to $7000.
The 60-year-old club has produced some of the great names of New Zealand league, including brothers Dane and Kurt Sorensen in the 1970s and 80s and Kevin and Tony Iro a decade later. Current Warriors player Logan Swann grew up in the club.
But it has lost members to rival clubs in recent years and has withdrawn from the senior league this season because senior players did not pay their fees.
It has applied to the Lion Foundation again for money to renovate its clubrooms, but Mr Kini is looking for other sources of cash to replace the trust as soon as possible.
"My goal is to be self-sufficient without having to rely on any of the gambling funds and with support from other organisations that are prepared to help our youth," he said.
Lion Foundation chief executive Phil Holden said the club was entitled to make whatever decision it wanted.
"We are not short of good causes and charitable organisations to fund."
The foundation, which is now separate from Lion Nathan breweries, makes its money from 2700 pokie machines from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It gave out $54 million last year, 40 per cent of it to sports.
The Mt Wellington club is having a "community fun day" at Thompson Park, off Banks St, Mt Wellington, from 10am to 2pm today.
