A rugby academy is being set at up at Apifo’ou College in Ma’ufanga, Nuku’alofa, by a former principal at the school, Father Selwyn Akauola. Wame Naivalu, from Fiji, an International Rugby Board-accredited coach, trainer and strength and conditioning coach, has been recruited to assist in the setting up of the academy. According to the Tonga Read more
A New Zealand Herald investigation into First XV rugby in Auckland shows that five schools are estimated to be spending more than $400,000 collectively on their respective First XVs while the other seven teams in the 1A competition are spending collectively about $50,000. Auckland’s Sacred Heart estimates total annual expenditure on its First XV to be Read more
Marist St Pats Life Member and club legend Kevin Horan was made a Life Member of the St Patrick’s College Rugby Club on 27 June 2013. Kevin started his rugby career when he started school at Marist Brothers. He played for the SPC 1XV in 1964 and 1965 and after leaving College joined Marist St. Read more
The first XVs from Newlands and Bishop Viard colleges have been suspended from playing rugby this weekend after two vicious brawls that resulted in the referee calling off their game last Saturday. Six players – two from Newlands College and four from Bishop Viard College – have also been separately charged with offences contrary to Read more
Hurricanes and premier prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen has topped off a stellar season by being named the New Zealand Marist Player of the Year for 2012. Newly-wed Jeff, who featured in a recent DomPost profile, was nominated by MSP for the award which was announced at the NZ Marist AGM on 23 February. His nomination stated: ‘In his first season Read more
The ethics of sports will be the focus of a new initiative launched June 14 by two Vatican departments. “Where is the world of sport moving? Where does the phenomenon of violence between soccer fans come from? What about match fixing? Doping?” asked Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, the Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Read more
Sport is integral to the development of the person, Pope Benedict said on Friday. Sports teams can help develop participants and spectators in important values, including ‘brotherhood’ generosity, honesty, self-sacrifice and respect for one’s adversaries, the pontiff told players and fans of the European Soccer Championship. Benedict XVI said that if sport is understood in this way, it Read more
We New Zealanders are rightly proud of our local and international sporting achievements. This is so even if (rarely) our All Blacks lose. We believe that competitive, professional sport contributes to our good health and helps to build our national cultural identity. Despite these constructive qualities of sport, we need to ponder three not so Read more
Rugby is experiencing an American boom, and nowhere more so than at the 80-plus Jesuit high schools and colleges coast to coast. It’s probably not too surprising that a Catholic order conceived in the aftermath of battle, one which has always seasoned its intellectual and spiritual fervour with a healthy respect for physical strength, has Read more