Bernard Joseph Wood (9 December 1939 – 28 April 2013) was a
New Zealand rugby league administrator and sports historian.
Biography
Wood was born in
Greymouth in 1939 and was educated at Marist Brothers Boys' School there. He was a member of the New Zealand Schoolboys rugby league team in 1954.
After moving to
Wellington, Wood served for 24 years as secretary–treasurer or chairman of the
Wellington Rugby League He was deputy chairman of the
New Zealand Rugby League in 1992.
Wood was an historian of
rugby league and
harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...
in New Zealand, writing several books on the subjects.
He edited the ''New Zealand Rugby League Annual'' from 1977 to 2002.
In the
2000 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...
, Wood was appointed a
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sport. In 2008 he was made a life member of the New Zealand Rugby League.
Wood died of cancer at his home in the Porirua suburb of
Whitby in 2013,
and was buried at Whenua Tapu Cemetery,
Pukerua Bay
Pukerua Bay is a small seaside suburb at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. In local government terms it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua City, in the Wellington Region. It is 12 km north of the Porirua City Centre on ...
.
Books
Books written or co-written by Wood include:
* ''Flying sulkies: a history of the New Zealand Trotting Cup 1904–1980''. Moa, Auckland (1981).
* ''The Cup 1904–2003: 100 years of the New Zealand Trotting Cup''. Trio Books, Wellington (2003).
* ''The Kiwis: 100 years of international rugby league'' (with John Coffey). Hodder Moa, Auckland (2007).
* ''100 years: Māori rugby league, 1908–2008'' (with John Coffey). Huia, Wellington (2008).
* ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'' (with John Coffey). Huia, Wellington (2009).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Bernie
1939 births
2013 deaths
Sportspeople from Greymouth
Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand rugby league administrators
New Zealand sports historians
Burials at Whenua Tapu Cemetery