Veteran stars and former NZ reps keep rugby values alive in Hawke's Bay & More News Here

A band of brothers dubbed ‘The Movement’ has shaken up Hawke’s Bay membership rugby, displaying age isn’t any barrier to success. Neil Reid meets Clive Rugby & Sports Club’s star-studded third-grade crew, who’re about rather more than what occurs on the sphere

By day, Robert Whaitiri is a sharp-looking 60-year-old holding down a high job for the Ministry of Māori Development, Te Puni Kōkiri.

But each Thursday evening on the Clive Rugby & Sports Club’s flood-lit house floor alongside busy SH51, south of Napier – or at different Hawke’s Bay grassroots venues on a Saturday, the formalities of his enterprise persona as a group funder are dropped.

When he dons his taking part in gear, Whaitiri – whose sister is Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri – turns into “The Rocket”, the oldest member of Clive’s third-grade crew.

The crew – which incorporates gamers who’ve represented New Zealand Māori, New Zealand Sevens, New Zealand Divisional XV, Tonga, Samoa, the Blues, the Chiefs, the Hurricanes, East Coast, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu – final 12 months shocked their much-younger rivals by successful the division title in the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union’s membership competitors.

And their successful begin to this 12 months’s marketing campaign has seen them put up greater than 50 factors in back-to-back video games.

“I do this for the camaraderie and for whatever [time] I have got left on this earth to impart and inspire these guys that life doesn’t end at 60,” Whaitiri informed the Herald on Sunday.

“I said last year when I turned 60 that I would be hanging my boots up. But I just enjoy it so much. Playing keeps me healthy, it’s a stress release and I think I have something to offer the team . . . it’s a privilege.”

As nicely as being the oldest participant in the squad – which has a median age of 41 – he’s additionally the aspect’s kaumatua.

The Movement’s co-founder, and now coach, Mano Flutey, describes his oldest participant as “an absolutely awesome member of our squad”.

“He is a huge gift to us and sets the pathway for us and our younger fellas,” Flutey says. “He also does a karakia for most of the activities and events we do.”

Whaitiri, humbly, charges himself as a “last resort” for choice. But final 12 months he nonetheless lined up for eight matches in the aggressive membership competitors.

“It took me a few days to be able to walk around and get the body back in synch,” he laughs.

“I have a grease up and oil change with my doctor every three months, I check my cholesterol level, I go to the gym twice a week. My passion [to keep fit] is so I can see my grandkids. I have eight grandkids and I like being around for them.”

He jokes that if he retains taking part in for an extra 5 seasons, he would possibly have the ability to play alongside one in all his grandsons.

A crew of champions

Whaitiri’s identify is well-known in Hawke’s Bay rugby circles. At the Clive Rugby & Sports Club – which he joined in 1985 after leaving his boarding college Te Aute College – he’s a bona fide legend.

And loads of The Movement’s members are family rugby names round New Zealand – and past. The rugby CV of prop Orcades Crawford, 55, consists of taking part in for New Zealand Māori, the New Zealand Colts, the New Zealand Divisional XV, the Blues, Hurricanes, East Coast, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Central Vikings.

Flutey, 48, beforehand starred for the New Zealand Secondary Schools, New Zealand Divisional XV, East Coast and Hawke’s Bay.

In 2000, he gained the Third Division participant of the 12 months award after inspiring East Coast to the NPC title. One of his provincial teammates from that 12 months, Simon Christie, is a key member of the membership aspect.

The Clive Thirds additionally embody 40-year-old former New Zealand Sevens star Tafai Ioasa, who gained a gold medal on the 2006 Commonwealth Games, 37-year-old former Hurricanes, Junior All Black and Hawke’s Bay flanker Karl Lowe and 39-year-old ex-Tongan worldwide, Hawke’s Bay and Chiefs star Sona Taumalolo.

Winning is nice, they are saying, however simply having the chance to nonetheless play the sport they love is their important motivation.

“We play rugby for the fun and enjoyment, just like when we first put our boots on as a 5- or 6-year-old. That fun still runs through our veins,” Flutey says.

“There is a huge culture in this team and it is about fun and enjoyment. Everything is for the love of it.”

The robust tradition means all of the members of The Movement- which incorporates truck drivers, builders, digger operators, well being clinicians, enterprise house owners and board members – are equally revered, be they be former high gamers, those that did not go as far in their youthful taking part in days, or new recruits.

“Everyone has a place and a purpose in this team,” Flutey says. “And with the new guys coming here we welcome them so much, their seed is planted here. It is up to us senior guys to water that seed and watch them grow.

“Those new gamers carry pleasure and power and they add worth to the foundations which were created.”

The team was founded in 2020 after brainstorming between Flutey, Christie and Lowe to offer some of Clive’s older players, who Flutey says “most likely had one other 5 or 6 years rugby left in them”, an outlet to keep playing.

The Movement is now about 90-strong. As well as rugby, members also have a cricket team in the summer, take part in golf and tennis championships, have a diving and fishing crew, and host a range of fundraising initiatives.

They are seen as an inspiration by members of the wider Clive community.

“Mano was the catalyst,” Whaitiri says. “He had this dream: ‘Hey I do know you guys have a little bit of petrol left in your tank’.

“It is not about reliving the old days. Most importantly, it is about including our families and making sure they are part of this.”

A Band of Brothers – on and off the sphere

The Movement prides itself on supporting its members in all walks of life. That shone by way of for Flutey earlier this 12 months after they rallied round him and his household when the former star first-five nearly died after struggling a cardiac arrest.

His mates “got right behind” the Flutey household financially and spiritually as he first battled for his life in hospital, then began the restoration course of from coronary heart surgical procedure.

“They supported me right from day one,” Flutey says. “It [his heart issue] was something that I never thought would happen to myself, but it did. I was flown to Wellington and had three stents put into my heart . . . it was quite serious.”

Family is on the forefront of the ethos behind the aspect. Players’ wives, companions, mother and father, kids and even grandchildren make up a vocal supporters’ membership every Saturday.

An honour guard made up of youngsters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren welcomed them on to Napier’s McLean Park earlier than final 12 months’s third grade last towards Taradale.

“Before, when we were at our peak, you just focused on yourself as a player,” Whaitiri says. “This time, it is an extension of ‘how do we include the rest of our family to be part of the wider movement?’.”

Adds Flutey: “We are a whānau-based team. We have the support of all our wives and partners, our kids, our mokopuna. There is a family behind every man and we welcome the man here, and their families as well.”

And there was no scarcity of whānau supporting them as they kicked off their 2022 marketing campaign with successive hammerings dished out to Maraenui (52-15) and Napier Old Boys Marist (65-7).

The robust household hyperlinks throughout the crew have seen a number of father-and-son taking part in combos over the previous three seasons, one thing Flutey says brings immense satisfaction to the group.

“To play with your father or your son is an absolute highlight of a man’s career.”

How to beat the children

CLIVE’S clubrooms are a shrine to its halcyon days of success in the Hawke’s Bay membership competitors. Walls are lined with images of championship-winning groups, in addition to jerseys gifted by gamers who went on to make the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand Māori, New Zealand Divisional XV and different consultant sides.

And the constructing – which Whaitiri says is a “marae” for its proud gamers – was packed final July when The Movement returned with the Big Barrel Ron Parker Memorial Cup after their grand last conquer Taradale.

“You couldn’t move in the clubrooms afterwards,” Whaitiri proudly recollects.

“Even though I sometimes think I go through a bit of Alzheimer’s or a few senior moments, the memory is vivid in my mind,” he laughs. “The memories come flooding back.”

So how does a crew stacked with gamers who’re both middle-aged, or near it, beat groups half their age?

Aside from sheer dedication, it harks again to the previous sporting mantra that class is everlasting.

“We are not as fit as we used to be,” Flutey says. “We are not as fast . . as you get older your legs slow down a little bit. But the hands are still quick and the mind is eager and ready to go.”

Though he was a basis member of the taking part in roster, Flutey knew when it was time for him to hold up his taking part in boots and think about teaching.

“The body just wasn’t keeping up. The mind was saying ‘Go’, but the body was saying ‘No’.”

It is not simply conventional taking part in values that The Movement are holding alive.

Other parts embody post-match internet hosting of opponents whatever the end result.

“We really try to keep some of the old school values going,” Whaitiri says. “You go into the opposition’s dressing room and drop off a crate of beer after a game, and invite them to an after-match function. And hopefully the younger generations will keep that going.”

Flutey’s rugby profession took him around the globe; sporting nationwide colors and involving a profitable stint in South Africa.

But he has no hesitation in nominating The Movement as being a “huge highlight” of his footy profession.

“I have been through many different teams . . . but this is special,” he says. “It’s a home club for us, somewhere where we feel welcome. And as I say with these new players coming in, I am here to water their seed and watch them grow.”

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