Te Atatu Roosters

The Te Atatu Roosters is an Auckland rugby league club which plays at the council owned Jack Colvin Park located in Te Atatu Peninsula (North), next to the North Western Motorway. In 2007 they competed in the Fox Memorial, the premier division in Auckland Rugby League. In the past they acted as a supporting club to the Waitakere Rangers in the Bartercard Cup, a national rugby league competition, by providing players, but as the Bartercard Cup ceased at the end of the 2007 season this is no longer the case. In recent years Te Atatu have struggled to enjoy much success for a variety of reasons mainly connected to losing players to the Lion Red Cup (1994-1996) to the defunct Waitakere City Raiders, then to the Glenora Bears and Waitakere Rangers in the Bartercard Cup, along of course with the Auckland Warriors who have had a team in the NRL since 1995.

History

The club was founded in 1955 and in 2005 celebrated its 50th Jubilee. Its first New Zealand representative was Dennis Williams who aged only 18 famously scored a brilliant individual try with his first touch of the ball in his debut test versus Great Britain.

Titles

Te Atatu first won the coveted Fox Memorial Shield title, awarded to the Auckland club champions in 1988 with a 22-16 win over local rivals the Glenora Bears. They also went on to win the National Club Final against Glenora at Eden Park in the same year. The match was televised live as it was the curtainraiser to the New Zealand - Australia Rugby League World Cup final which Australia went on to win 25-12 in front of 45,363 spectators. Te Atatu made the Fox Memorial grand final for the first time in 1986 where they went down heavily to the Mt Albert Lions by 31-4. A few weeks later they had revenge when they beat the Lions by 36-10 to claim their first National Club title at Carlaw Park. In 1990 they again made the Fox Memorial final but went down to a Tawera Nikau inspired Otahuhu Leopards.

In 2007 Te Atatu won the Roope Rooster which became a title which winning teams defended on their home ground, similar to the Ranfurly Shield in New Zealand domestic rugby, although the Roope Rooster is played for within the Auckland competition only. Te Atatu defeated Mt Albert and defended it for 3 matches before losing it to the Richmond Bulldogs in the same season.

The Sharman Cup is the division 2 title. The Gillette Cup was a plate trophy for the first round losers in the Roope Rooster. The National Club Championship is played for by the top two teams in the premier grade in a knockout format involving the best club teams from around New Zealand. The Fox Memorial is awarded to the premier grade grand final winners in Auckland. The Rukutai Shield is awarded to the round robin winners in the Premier grade. The Kiwi Shield is awarded to the premier one club with the most points scored from the premiers and reserves (premiers points x 3, plus reserves points x 1).

Notable Past Players

Kiwis
Peter Brown
Mark Elia
Shontayne Hape
Mark Horo
Shane Horo
Ron O'Regan
Sam Panapa
Robbie Paul
Henry Paul
Peter Ropati
John Smith
Dennis Williams
Lester Mills*did not represent the Kiwis whilst at Te Atatu

New Zealand Maori
Terry O'Shea
Dennis Williams

Junior Kiwis
Taime Tagaloa

New Zealand Under 19s
Terry O'Shea
Mark Elia

New Zealand Under 16s
Dean Orr
Ben Vai

Auckland (excluding New Zealand representatives)
David Bailey, Allen Cunningham, Michael Kini, Carl Magatogia, Neville Ramsey, Phil Robards, Iva Ropati, Dean Orr, Wayne Robertson, Mike Smith, John Wilson

Vodafone Warriors
David Bailey
Patrick Ah Van
Shontayne Hape

1988 Fox Memorial Winning Team1.Carl Magatogia, 2.Iva Ropati, 3.Sam Panapa, 4.Grant Raynor, 5.Mark Elia, 6.Ron O'Regan(player coach), 7.Carl Taylor, 8.Peter Brown, 9.Peter Ropati, 10.Craig Coyle, 11.Tony Botica, 12.Mark Horo, 13.Terry O'Shea, 14.Mau Tofa, 15.Graham Huggins, 16.Raymond Hall, 17.Duane Gwadenski

External links

* [http://www.roosters.co.nz/ Official website]
* [http://www.aucklandleague.co.nz/ Official ARL Site]