Chris Tremain, the former Napier MP, son of late rugby legend Kel Tremain, and a former Hawke's Bay age group rugby representative, who will serve as Hawke's Bay Rugby Union president for the next three years. Photo / Doug Laing
Chris Tremain, the former Napier MP, son of late rugby legend Kel Tremain, and a former Hawke's Bay age group rugby representative, who will serve as Hawke's Bay Rugby Union president for the next three years. Photo / Doug Laing
Former Napier MP Chris Tremain has a legendary family name in Hawke’s Bay rugby and has two world cups to his name, yet he never played for the Magpies.
But it’s all part of the experience that made him a relatively natural pick for president of the Hawke’s Bay RugbyUnion, 34 years after the passing of famed All Blacks dad Kel Tremain.
The great “KR” did play for the Magpies, scoring 50 tries in 96 matches for the Magpies from 1962-1970, and he was chairman of the union’s management committee in 1985-1990.
One son, Simon, also played for the Magpies (and Otago and Wellington) and was a board member, and Chris Tremain’s son, Will, has also played for the Bay and continues in premier club rugby for Napier Old Boys Marist.
Chris Tremain was left to dream, after playing for Hawke’s Bay at Under-18 level, and at Primary Schools after being in Napier teams winning the Ross Shield twice in a row.
They all carried on the tradition of playing in jersey numbers associated with the loose forward positions played by Kel Tremain.
As for the World Cup, that’s a legacy of his nine years in Parliament (2005-2014) and playing for New Zealand in the parliamentary Rugby World Cup.
As for playing for the Magpies, he doesn’t think he was under any pressure to follow in the footsteps of his father, and candidly concedes: “I wasn’t good enough.”
As part of a two-man tag-team with Tukituki MP Craig Foss, he backed the Bay as it tried to get into first division NPC rugby in the early 2000s, and when the Magpies got there in a new format in 2006.
He has never lost the drive as a Magpies fan and goes to games whenever he can.
Chris Tremain (right) and Craig Foss in 2005, back in the days when sport did enter politics, as the pair aspired to be MPs at the ensuing General Election.
The new role, succeeding former board member and first female president Mavis Mullins when the appointment was approved at the annual meeting on March 4, doesn’t give him any particular clout.
He was the only nominee, after being approached by union leadership to make himself available.
It doesn’t involve decision-making, but, he agrees, it is what the holder wants to make of it, and he’s prepared to advise at whatever level in which he thinks he can help.
“I always like to put my heart and soul into anything I take on,” he says, and sees the role as being “there to add value”.
The appointment came at an AGM at which annual accounts revealed a surplus for the 26th consecutive year, in contrast to the ups and downs of many other unions.
It’s now a multi-decades rebound from the days which saw the Hawke’s Bay name disappear from the NPC for two years in a teams merger with Manawatū under the banner of the Central Vikings, in 1997-1998.
The union made a $57,877 surplus for the year to the end of November, which compared with $174,908 for the previous 12 months.
CEO Jay Campbell reported that while New Zealand Rugby funding and trust funding declined and commercial sponsorship was challenged, a home quarter-final – the first for Hawke’s Bay in four years - was enough to generate and secure a positive surplus for the year.
Game income increased from $638,736 in 2024 to $846,827 last year.
Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, with a career of more than 50 years covering news events and issues, mainly in Hawke’s Bay.
