Awen Guttenbeil (born 14 March 1976) is a former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. Since retiring after a playing career spanning fifteen years, he went on to work as a broadcaster for

Sky Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel prov ...

and as a presenter on Maori TV sports show, ''Hyundai Code''. In 2010 he coached his schoolboy club

Point Chevalier Pirates The Point Chevalier Pirates are an Auckland rugby league club based in Point Chevalier. The Pirates currently compete in the Fox Memorial (First Division) competition run by the Auckland Rugby League. History The club was founded in 1919."Yo ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

's Phelan Shield alongside former team mate and childhood friend

Stacey Jones Stacey William Jones (born 7 May 1976) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He played as a , but he has also briefly played at during his disting ...

. He represented both the Tongan and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

national sides in his long career and played in two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. His position of preference was in the Second-Row. He was an integral part of the 2002 New Zealand Warriors squad, noted for being the first team in the club's history to make the

NRL Grand Final The NRL Grand Final determines the champions of the National Rugby League club competition. It is a major sport event in Australia. Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Austral ...

. He now owns and operates several construction businesses in New Zealand includin
Passive Fire NZ

Background

Guttenbeil was born in Whangarei, New Zealand on 14 March 1976. He started playing

football for the Portland Panthers at age 3 in Northland before moving to

Auckland 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 po ...

and playing for the

alongside future Warriors teammate,

. Guttenbeil was chased by several professional clubs after an Auckland Development Tour of Australia in 1993 and ended up moving to Sydney at the age of 17 to sign for the

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 rugb ...

under the then Australian coach, Bob Fulton. In 1995, Guttenbeil made his international debut, playing for

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

in the 1995 World Cup.

Playing career

Warriors

Guttenbeil was set to star for Manly but his decision to sign with the yet to be formed Super League competition saw him out of favour with the club and so he returned to New Zealand to play for the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in 1996. Guttenbeil made his first grade début in round four of the 1996 ARL season. He also switched his international allegiance to

and was in line to play for the Kiwis in 1996 but injury ruled him out of his Kiwis début that year. In his early years he was plagued by injury. It was not until 2002 that Guttenbeil finally played in his first Test match for New Zealand. Guttenbeil played at second-row forward in the Warriors' 2002 NRL Grand Final loss to the

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 ...

. He went on to become one of the longest serving

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

, playing eleven seasons with the club and became the second player to ever receive a testimonial from the club, the first being

. Guttenbeil was also the only player in the club's history to have a playing jersey designed for him. He went on to play in ten Test matches for the Kiwis, playing his last in 2005. Awen Guttenbeil

Castleford

Guttenbeil signed with the Castleford Tigers ( Heritage № 866) for the 2006 season, expecting to play in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. However Castleford Tigers were relegated, leaving doubts about Guttenbeils future. He decided to uphold his contract and help the Tigers seek promotion. He moved to England to join the club as a player and assistant coach to

Terry Matterson Terry Matterson (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian rugby league coach and former player. Matterson played in Australia's premiership for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos, and was also selected to play in the State of Orig ...

Guttenbeil played in the National League One Grand Final in 2007 and scored 2 tries to help promote Castleford back to the Super League. In 2008 he was named one of the clubs co-captains, alongside

Brent Sherwin Brent Sherwin (born 20 March 1978) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Sherwin plays in the Illawarra Carlton League which is an indirect feeder league to the St George Illawarra Dragons. He plays as a half-back. Sherw ...

. Guttenbeil decided to retire after the 2008 season. In 2008 Guttenbeil again played for Tonga, competing in the 2008 World Cup where he captained the squad in the game against New Zealand. Jonesandguttenbeil

Post playing

Guttenbeil worked as a broadcaster for

SKY Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel prov ...

from 2009 to 2014 and for Maori Television's sports show, Code from 2009 to 2013. He hosts live links at NRL games, and various in studio pieces including hosting the NRL commentary show 'The After Match'. In 2014 Guttenbeil moved out of broadcasting to focus on running several construction companies in New Zealand, focusing on construction and passive fire work in the Auckland area. In 2010 he coached the

alongside

Charity Work

Guttenbeil has been an ambassador for White Ribbon New Zealand since 2010. White Ribbon is campaign led by men who condemn violence against women and take action.

Identity Theft

In 2010 a prankster posing as Wairangi Koopu led to news articles claiming that Guttenbeil was joining the

AMNRL The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

Fight For Life 2011

Guttenbeil was named in the line up for the 2011 Charity Boxing match Fight for Life which pits retired and current rugby league players against players from the rugby union code. The match will be held in Auckland on 3 December at The Trusts Stadium with proceeds going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

References

External links

Awen Guttenbeil bio at rugbyleague.co.nzProfile at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk

Awen's Blog at Yahoo! Xtra NZ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guttenbeil, Awen 1976 births Living people Castleford Tigers players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of German descent New Zealand people of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league commentators New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand television presenters New Zealand Warriors captains New Zealand Warriors players Point Chevalier Pirates coaches Point Chevalier Pirates players Rugby league players from Northland Region Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Tonga national rugby league team players