League greats turn out for hospice
KIWI SMILES: Former Kiwis assembled for a picture during the Mad Butcher and Suburban Newspapers Community Trust lunch.
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Former Kiwis, including legends of the game like Bob Bailey, Tom Hadfield, Kevin Tamati, David Kidwell, Stacey Jones and Ruben Wiki, packed the Ellerslie Events Centre to help out hospice this week.
The rugby league greats took part in what is believed to be one of the biggest reunions of recent times, and heard Leeds Rhinos and former Kiwis coach Brian "Bluey" McClennan deliver the keynote speech at the Mad Butcher and Suburban Newspapers Community Trust organised event.
McClennan’s Leeds has just become the first side in English Super League history to win three titles in a row.
His Kiwis also won the Tri-nations and he has a raft of domestic honours, one of which he called his greatest success in the game.
Despite playing on a world stage and leading Leeds to World Club Championship glory, the one-time Mt Albert stalwart rated lifting the Hibiscus Coast Raiders from the lowest division of the Auckland Rugby League competition, turning them into national club champions as a highlight of his career.
"I have taken a great deal of what I learned in the club environment and used it at an international and professional level," he told the crowd of around 500.
"But I always come back to the same thing – you have to love winning more than you hate losing.
"That sounds a bit odd but one is about the desire to win and the other is just the fear of losing.
"Desire is always a more positive motivating force than fear."
Former Kiwis greats Richie Barnett and Stacey Jones shared the stage with Barnett, now a Sky TV league pundit, interviewing the man who called time on his professional career this year.
Jones told the crowd he was about to find out what coaching was all about because he and his good friend Awen Guttenbeil are to take on the Pt Chevalier seniors next year.
"They finished bottom in the lowest division so the only way to go is pretty much up," he says.
But the "Little General" said if things didn’t go too well he was only the assistant coach to Guttenbeil, who would be to blame, while if they went well, the roles would be reversed.
Sky TV presenter Stephen McIvor interviewed Kidwell, who is set to become the coach of the under-20 South Sydney side, while the most difficult job of the day was assembling the more than 50 former players for a team photo.
Proceeds from the event will be added to those from the trust’s Christmas event on December 12 featuring Olympic gold medallist Valerie Vili, and to the profits from the Kiwis Four Nations book now on sale at all Mad Butcher stores, and passed on to hospice.
Anyone interested in booking early for the Christmas function at Ellerslie can contact Shandall on 268-2912.
