Steve Matai
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Steve Matai
Stephen Matai (born 5 August 1984) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the National Rugby League (NRL )from 2005 to 2016. A New Zealand national representative centre, he played for Australian club the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. Matai helped the Sea Eagles win the 2008 and 2011 Premierships. He was also part of the New Zealand national squad that won the nation's maiden title at the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Known particularly for his uncompromising defence, in 2020, Matai was voted the National Rugby League's hardest hitter over the past 30 years. Background Of Samoan descent, Matai was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 5 August 1984. He is the first cousin of former NRL player, Kiwi and Samoan international Junior Sa'u. Matai grew up with former Warriors and ex-Kiwi teammate Jerome Ropati. Matai played rugby league for Mount Albert Grammar in the first XIII alongside Sonny Bill Williams and Thomas Leuluai. Matai's junior clubs ...
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Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by population, fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of . While European New Zealanders, Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland's population, the city became multicultural and Cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asian New Zealanders, Asians accounting for 31% of the city's population in 2018. Auckland has the fourth largest Foreign born, foreign-born population in the world, with 39% of its residents born overseas. With its large population of Pasifika New Zealanders, the city is ...
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Ponsonby Ponies
The Ponsonby Ponies are a rugby league club based in Ponsonby, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1908 and was originally named Ponsonby United. The Ponies compete in the Auckland Rugby League competition and are the oldest rugby league club in NZ. History The 1912 Ponsonby squad included: Arthur Carlaw, Alf Chorley, Charlie Dunning, W Hooper, B Kean, Charles Webb, V Hunter, Tom Lynch, Scotch MacDonald, Harry Oakley, M Stanaway, Syd Riley, Billy Tyler and J Warner. The Ponsonby United side which won the 1929 Auckland Rugby League championship. The club was founded in August 1908 by two returning All Golds, Billy Tyler and Charlie Dunning.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996. In 1930 Ponsonby celebrated their 21st anniversary with a social on October 13 at the Druids Hall. In 1920 Ponsonby won the Thacker Shield.
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Brookvale Oval
Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team. Brookvale Oval has an approximate capacity of 20,000 people. By the end of the 2022 season, Brookvale had played host to 712 first grade premiership games. History In the late nineteenth century, the suburb of Brookvale was known as Greendale. The name Brookvale was later adopted as that was the name of the home built by the original grantee of the land, William Francis Parker. It was in this area that Dan Farrell built his stone house called "Inverness" which was later to become Manly Leagues Club. The area known as Lot 47 A (Land Titles Office Vol. 1524 Fol. 122) was sold to Jane Malcolm in April 1907. Land title records suggest that between 1907 and 1911, Malcolm carried out a subdivi ...
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Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). The club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League season and currently host the majority of their home games from Brookvale Oval in Brookvale, while training at the New South Wales Academy of Sport in Narrabeen. The club has competed in either the NSWRL, ARL, or NRL competitions in all respective seasons from 1947 until 1999. At the end of 1999 they entered into a joint venture with the North Sydney Bears to form the Northern Eagles, which Rugby League statisticians regard as a separate club. The Northern Eagles competed in the 2000 and 2001 NRL seasons, after which the joint venture collapsed. The Manly Warringah club (who held the NRL licence) competed in the NRL ...
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Wynnum Manly Seagulls
The Wynnum-Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Since 1996 they have competed in the Queensland Cup. Their jersey is red, green and white. From 1995 to 2005 they were known as the Wynnum Seagulls. History Wynnum-Manly first played in the Brisbane premiership in 1931, but withdrew from the competition after two seasons due to the Great Depression. After the war, the Seagulls re-entered the premiership in 1951 as the Wynnum-Manly District Rugby League Football Club. In the club's formative years from 1951 through to 1964 Jim Cloherty held the role of President. Before moving to their current home ground of BMD Kougari Oval in 1967, the club played at Kitchener Park. Kitchener Park remains the home of the Wynnum Manly Junior Rugby League Club. Wynnum-Manly won only nine matches and drew one i ...
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Trevor Gillmeister
Trevor Gillmeister (born 13 March 1964) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who is employed as a rugby league analyst at Channel 7 Brisbane. During his playing days, Gillmeister played for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Brisbane Broncos, Penrith Panthers and the South Queensland Crushers, as well as representing Queensland Maroons, Queensland and Australian Kangaroos, Australia. He played mostly in the Rugby league positions#Second-row forward, second row, though he also spent time at Rugby league positions#The front row, prop and Hooker (rugby league), hooker and was known as The Axe to fans of the game because of his punishing tackles. "The Axe" was also the name of the column he wrote for ''The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), The Sunday Mail'' in Brisbane. Today, Gillmeister works as the Asbestos Awareness Ambassador for the Queensland Government and works alongside Accent Benchtops. He has also been the Queensland Maroons' defensive coach since 2006. Backgr ...
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Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. The club has won six premierships, including two New South Wales Rugby League premierships, a Super League (Australia), Super League premiership and three NRL premierships. The Broncos have won two World Club Challenges. The Broncos have achieved four minor premierships during its 35 years in multiple competitions. Prior to 2015, Brisbane had never been defeated in a grand final, and since 1991, the club has failed to qualify for the finals five times. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the National Rugby League since it began in 1998, winning three premierships (second only to the Sydney Roosters' four). The club is one of the most successful clubs in the history of rugby ...
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Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New South Wales Rugby League premiership, New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and National Rugby League titles, and several other competitions. First founded as the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club (ESDRLFC), it is the only club to have played in each and every season at the elite level, and since the 1970s has often been dubbed the glamour club of the league. The Sydney Roosters have won 15 premierships, equal to the record of the St George Dragons. Only the South Sydney Rabbitohs have won more premierships. The club holds the record for having won more matches than any other in the league, the most Minor premiership, Minor Premierships and the most World Club Challenge trophies. The Sydney Roosters are one of ...
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Queensland Maroons
The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of Origin series. Coached by Billy Slater and captained by Daly Cherry-Evans, and is administered by the Queensland Rugby League. They play all of their home matches at Brisbane's Lang Park (now known as Suncorp Stadium). Since 1908, a rugby league team representing Queensland has been assembled from players based in the state to compete annually against New South Wales. The team used to play matches against other high-profile foreign and domestic touring teams, but has not played anyone other than New South Wales in several decades. From 1980 onwards, when Queensland was first allowed to select players of local origin even if they were currently at clubs outside its borders, the team's success rate against New South Wales improved dramaticall ...
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Ipswich Jets
The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Originally in the 1980s their colours were green and white, but in recent years gold has been added to the combination. History Ipswich were one of the earliest teams to join the Queensland Rugby League after it was founded as the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League in 1909. Ipswich even contested two of the QARFL's first three grand finals, winning the title in its first year in the competition in 1910. But a long absence from the competition started shortly thereafter, and Ipswich was not represented in Queensland's top league again until the mid-1980s. From 1982 to 1985, an Ipswich representative team competed in the statewide comps. The following year, an Ipswich team was introduced to the Brisbane Rugby League premiership. They were co ...
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Queensland Cup
The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fourteen teams, twelve of which are based in Queensland, with one based in New South Wales and one in Central Province, Papua New Guinea. The competition is the present-day embodiment of Queensland's top-level club competition. It replaced the Winfield State League in 1996 and accompanied the Brisbane Rugby League, before becoming the premier competition in 1998, following the disbanding of the Brisbane Rugby League. History Origin and establishment Since its inaugural season in 1922, the Brisbane Rugby League was the premier competition in the state of Queensland. Like its counterpart, the Sydney Rugby Football League, the Brisbane Rugby League was thriving, boasting big crowds and large, loyal supporter bases with their respective clubs ...
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Bartercard Cup
The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Zealand Rugby League. The tournament was discontinued by the NZRL in 2007 and was replaced by the Bartercard Premiership in 2008. Franchises The format of the competition changed several times over the life of the competition and in total 24 clubs or franchises competed. In the first season half of the clubs were from Auckland but as the competition went on more and more franchises represented the provinces. The Canterbury Bulls were the only franchise to compete in every season. Seasons See also * New Zealand Rugby League * Rugby league in New Zealand Rugby league in New Zealand dates to the beginning of the sport in England. New Zealand played an integral role in the history of rugby league football. Of all rugby league na ...
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