Rotorua Gold player Hunter Merito during a Tai Mitchell 2023 match. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua Gold player Hunter Merito during a Tai Mitchell 2023 match. Photo / Supplied
It’s a rugby tournament for the generations.
Ray Atkin’s father-in-law played in the Tai Mitchell tournament 40 or 50 years ago.
His son played in the tournament in 2021 and 2022. Today, Ray Atkin’s co-coached Tauranga East Boys team will feature when the “unique” Tai Mitchell rugby tournament returns to Blake Park for the first time in a decade.
“Mention Tai Mitchell and you will get smiles from granddads, from uncles and fathers, all of whom would have played the tournament,” Atkins, who is also on the hosting committee for this year’s tournament, said.
Many of them will be back on the touchlines for this year’s five-day tournament starting today and finishing on Sunday with the finals.
There will also be smiles from the latest crop of Tai Mitchell tournament players — 19 teams, 540 players from Te Puke, Rotorua, Whakatāne, Galatea, Rangitāiki and Ōpōtiki, and three Tauranga-based teams, all celebrating Bay of Plenty rugby supremacy at intermediate school age level.
More than 7500 people are expected to experience Tai Mitchell as players, coaches, managers, officials or spectators.
While the All Blacks gather in Dunedin for Scott Robertson’s first outing as coach, another generation of potential All Blacks gather in Tauranga. A former All Blacks captain, Sam Cane, cut his representative rugby teeth at Tai Mitchell.
“It not only serves as a platform for showcasing young talent of mainly Year 7 and 8 rangatahi, it also fosters a culture of excellence, sportsmanship and inclusivity,” Atkins said.
He carried out a wide range of social and economic activities as chairman of the Arawa Trust Board.
He was also an influential sports administrator in the early 20th century and was secretary of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Football Union.
His legacy remains strong.
The Rotorua Gold team celebrate after winning the first Bay of Plenty Tai Mitchell Girls Tournament. Photo / Supplied
“I love the opportunity Tai Mitchell provides young rugby talent that often gets overlooked at that age grade,” Atkins said.
He said the tournament’s uniqueness was that it had survived because it was run by the NZ Principals Association and not NZ Rugby.
This will be Atkin’s second and last year as co-coach, a role he has enjoyed sharing with Arataki’s Mickel Rawiri.
There’s a bell shrine at Ōhinemutu dedicated to the memory of Tai Mitchell. The inscription reads “ahakoa kua mate ia e kōrero ana anō” — although dead he still speaks.
Eighty-six years later, perhaps the bell should toll for the beginning of the tournament and in honour of one man’s lingering contribution.
