The Petone Rugby Football Club was founded in 1885 and have been the Wellington Premier Champions 38 times between 1895 and 2005. In addition to this, the club has won the Club Championship on no fewer than 42 occasions between 1922 and 2005. Petone is a constituent club of the Wellington Rugby Football Union. The Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU) is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. ...

Location

The Petone Club is situated at the lower end of the Hutt Valley on a site in Udy Street. The Clubrooms stand immediately adjacent to North Park, which is used as the practice venue.

Other Club facilities include:

• Outdoor training - floodlit fields at North Park and on Petone Recreation ground on the other side of Udy Street.

• A large indoor Tiger Turf Stadium capable of use by a full forward pack and backline in training.

• Two large and well equipped changing and showering rooms.

• A modern and very well equipped weights room.

• A large modern lounge with full bar and kitchen facilities.

• Extensive collection of memorabilia from around the World.

Club Membership

Club membership in 2006 totalled more than 640 made up of Life Members, Vice Presidents, Honorary Members, Open and Age Grade players and 346 young players in the Junior Section ranging from 4 and 5 year olds in the nursery grade to 12 year olds. The Club fielded 8 teams in the Wellington Union's 2007 competition grades from Premier to Under 19 including the re-emergence of a Presidents Grade side.

The Club funds a full-time Coaching Coordinator, Tim Mannix, brother of the All Black Simon Mannix. Tim was a Wellington and Hurricanes representative with coaching experience in Ireland. Tim also has a key involvement in the activities of the Ken Gray Academy.

Reputation

The Club has produced 29 All Blacks and 15 NZ Maori representatives. One of the club's newest Maori Representatives is Ross Filipo who is currently playing Super 14 for the Crusaders, whilst the club's most recent All Black Neemia Tialata, Ben Herring and recently retired All Black Captain Tana Umaga play for the Hurricanes. All four players turn out for Petone when representative duties permit. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Crusaders (formerly the Canterbury Crusaders) are a New Zealand Rugby Union team based in Christchurch, New Zealand that competes in the Super 14 (formerly the Super 12). ... Date of Birth: 15 July 1982 Place of Birth: Lower Hutt, New Zealand Height: 1. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ionatana Falefasa Tana Umaga, ONZM, (IPA: , born May 27, 1973) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. ...

Tana became an All Black in 1997 and has played continuously since then for his country, becoming Captain in 2004. Andy Leslie - the current NZ Rugby Union Vice President - was the Club's first appointed All Black touring captain to Britain (1974) and South Africa (1976).

History

Petone had a four-year reign as Premier Champions between 1904 and 1907 and the Club set a memorable record in the 1907 season when it won all championship grades in the Wellington competition. In the 1971 season the Premier team won the Premier competition and the Jubilee Cup for the fifth consecutive season and became the first club in the history of Wellington rugby to achieve this feat since the club competition was commenced in 1868. It is noteworthy that the first three wins in this sequence were achieved under the leadership of arguably one of the greatest All Black prop forwards in the history of the game - Ken Gray. The Ken Gray Academy was established in 1995 in Ken's name to assist in the development of the best young players wishing to find their way through the Club to the highest representative honours. Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. ...

The centennial history records that Te Puni arrived in the Hutt Valley in 1817 and died here in 1870. In the first official match ever played by the Petone Club three descendants of Te Puni were included in the fifteen. Today Petone Rugby is a multi cultural mix in a very family orientated environment. Visitors are always welcome to come in and share our Hospitality. The Club stands always proud of this heritage.

In November 2006, the club is co-hosting The World Golden Oldies Festival and in 2010 the Club will celebrate its 125th Anniversary.

Monogram

The Club adopted its familiar monogram on the recommendation of its illustrious Life Member and Maori All Black, Matt Love, as part of its 50th Jubilee celebrations in 1935. The monogram is embellished by the words in Maori "kia kaha kia maia" broadly translated as - "give of your best - be confident in your own ability". This reflects the strength of the partnership with Maori in the Club.