The Bay of Plenty rugby league team (also known as the Bay of Plenty Lakers) are a

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 ...

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 11 ...

team who represents the

Bay of Plenty Rugby League Bay of Plenty Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. Following the restructuring of the New Zealand Rugby League they are part of the Upper Central Zone ...

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

competitions. Between 1994 and 1996 they competed in the

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

competition, while in 2008 and 2009 they competed in the

Bartercard Premiership The NZRL Bartercard Premiership was a six-team rugby league competition that ran in 2008 and 2009. It replaced the now-defunct Bartercard Cup competition as the highest level of rugby league in New Zealand. Matches have been broadcast on SKY Networ ...

History

Early Efforts

In 1921 former New Zealand international George Iles moved from Auckland to live in Tauranga. In 1922 he was part of an effort to establish rugby league in the

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

area. The Tauranga Rugby League was started in March, 1922 and they looked to play rugby league teams from other areas. They made efforts to organise a game with the newly formed Rotorua league team. On the 16th of September history was made in Tauranga with the first ever game of rugby league played there. Tauranga took on the Rotorua team on the Tauranga Domain. Rotorua won a high scoring match 29–28. After this match the first ever Bay of Plenty rugby league team was selected to play against the touring

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

side. The Bay of Plenty team featured George Iles, along with future Kiwis George Gardiner and Hec McDonald while the visiting NSW team featured the likes of

Frank Burge Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was one of the greatest Rugby league positions#Forwards, forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game’s finest coaches. His club career was with Glebe (ru ...

and

Reg Latta Reginald Augustine 'Whip' Latta (1897–1970) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s who also became a coach. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative forward, he playe ...

. New South Wales won the match 29 points to 5 with David Borell scoring a try and Joseph Rogers kicking a goal for the local team. Efforts were then made to arrange a match with an Auckland team and this eventuated with Auckland sending a very strong team down to play the Bay of Plenty side in Tauranga on October 7. George Iles captained the Bay of Plenty side who went down 27–33 to an Auckland team which featured a large number of New Zealand international players such as Clarrie Polson,

Wally Somers Walter Thomas "Wally" Somers was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand. Early life Walter Thomas Somers was born on June 14, 1899. He was the son of Amy Maria (Lawrence) and Daniel Somers. He had two sisters, Eileen Eliz ...

, and future Kiwi's

Lou Brown Lou Brown (born 1978) is an English singer-songwriter who received the 2003 Southwest's Young Achiever of the Year Award and took part in the Prince's Trust's "Soundlive" programme, where she was offered the opportunity to learn skills from prof ...

, Neville St George, and Jim O'Brien.

Lion Red Cup

The

team was coached by Neil Joyce and Lawrence Brydon and collected two

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

's, in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. However, in 1996 they finished fifth, losing the elimination playoff. Notable players included Alex Chan.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

, 1994. p.136 The Stags drew players from both the

and the

Coastlines Rugby League The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

competitions.

Season results

Bartercard Cup

Between 2004 and 2008 they were represented by the Waicoa Bay Stallions in the Bartercard Cup. The Stallions represented the Waikato Rugby League and

as well as the

Bartercard Premiership

In 2008 and 2009 the Bay of Plenty provincial side competed in the National Provincial Competition. Former Kiwis coach

Graham Lowe Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the Bradford Bulls together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former rugby league football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the ...

was the coach of the side for 2008.Graham Lowe back coaching
''Sunday News'', 8 June 2008 In 2009 they did not win a game and finished sixth.

Season results

References

New Zealand rugby league teams Rugby league in the Bay of Plenty {{Rugbyleague-team-stub