Puhipi James Rukutai (1877 – 11 January 1940) was a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and 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 11 ...

footballer who played representative rugby league (RL) and coached

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 ...

. The Auckland Rugby League's minor premiership, the Rukutai Shield, is named after him.

Early years

Rukutai was born at Kāwhia and affiliated to Ngāti Hikairo. He was educated at St Stephen's School. He started his career playing

and was part of George A. Gillett's Goldfields team that defeated

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in 1906. Rukutai was working as a miner at the time.

Playing career

Rukutai played for the

City Rovers The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers pa ...

in the 1910 and 1911 Auckland Rugby League competition and also toured Australia with the New Zealand Māori team.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'', 2009. . He first made the New Zealand side in 1911, alongside former Union teammate George Gillett. He only played a handful of matches in his first two season with

because he was away on tours for Auckland, and New Zealand several times. Rukutai was the first captain of the

Manukau Magpies The Manukau Magpies are a rugby league football club based in Mangere, a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand, who compete in the Auckland Rugby League. The club was established in March 1912 after a meeting in Onehunga (where they were originally ...

when they entered the Auckland Rugby League competition in 1912. The Manukau senior team disbanded during the 1913 season and he moved back to the

club were he played until 1919. During the 1913 season he was thought to have contracted Smallpox and at the time he was the only known patient. He was living in Onehunga and was placed in the hospital at Point Chevalier in the isolation ward. His house in Onehunge was "thoroughly disinfected". It then turned out that he had actually been suffering from a severe case of chicken pox and he recovered well. This was not the end of his health issues in 1913. He fell from a horse on 16 November 1913 and broke his leg just above the right ankle in Mangere. The horse stumbled and fell on to him. He toured Australia with New Zealand in

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

and 1912 and his career continued after the War when he again toured Australia in 1919. However, Rukutai played in no Test matches as during this time New Zealand played matches against

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 ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. In 1923 Rukutai requested to resume his playing career in the Mangere first junior team as a means to "coaching in a practical manner" however in the Auckland Rugby League Management Committee meeting on 13 June his request was denied. However the following year he was part of the Mangere United team which was a team made from the Manukau and Mangere teams which had been competing in the 2nd grade.

Coaching career

New Zealand Māori squad to play Australia in 1937

Rukutai coached

during their 1921 tour of Australia. He remains New Zealand's youngest ever national coach.''Superleague'', Volume 6, Issue 4, Edition 28 2011. He also coached New Zealand Māori between 1922 and 1937. On August 11, 1937, he coached the New Zealand Māori to an upset 16–5 win over Australia at

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 1 ...

Later years and death

In 1932 Rukutai served on the Auckland Rugby League board as the Clubs' delegate. He then served as the first chairman of the New Zealand Māori Rugby League Board when it was formed in 1934. Rukutai died at his daughter's residence in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga in 1940, aged 62 years.

Legacy

Shortly after his death in 1940, the Auckland Rugby League named their minor premiership the Rukutai Shield. Rukutai was named one of the

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 '' ...

's Legends of League in 2008.Legends of League
''nzrl.co.nz''

References

1870s births 1940 deaths Auckland rugby league team players City Rovers players Manukau Magpies players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team coaches New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand miners New Zealand national rugby league team coaches New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Ngāti Maniapoto people Rugby union players from Waikato Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Waikato {{NewZealand-rugbyleague-bio-stub