Points were awarded (and deducted if required) for sportsmanship and fairplay in respect of fellow players and the officials.
The team who scored the most tries did not necessarily win the match.
Mangapapa 2 won the boys’ division of the six-school tournament with a total of 23 out of a maximum 30.
The girls’ division was jointly won by Mangapapa 1 and Muriwai on 18 points apiece.
Hape was impressed by the kids and how the community related to the event.
“It’s totally different,” he said.“In areas like Gizzy and where I’m from — up north — you’re isolated a little bit. But that is also the beauty.
“You can see the kids are loving it and they don’t have a worry in the world.”
Hape, who was rookie of the year for the Warriors in 2000, said he spotted some kids with a lot of promise and events such as the 9s gave them the chance to hone their skills.
“You can see the talent. For some of the kids, it comes naturally — that natural step, the Benji Marshall, Shaun Johnson hop and step — whereas others are still learning the game which is a cool thing because it’s a good balance of rugby league fans and kids new to the sport.”
NZRL Coach-Force development officer for the Upper Central North Island Tony Lajpold was also there to support the tournament and officials.
“It’s an opportunity for kids to experience another sport,” Lajpold said. “The more variety in their life in relation to trying new things, the better it is for them and they will learn to grow with it.
“They can either like it or not. If rugby league puts on a great event and the kids are enjoying themselves then they will come back next year, which is what any sport wants.”
Event organiser and Waikirikiri School sports coordinator Albie Nepia said this was his first year running the event after picking up the rugby league portfolio during a primary schools sports board meeting.
“They were removing (rugby) league from the calendar,” Nepia said.“I usually run badminton but with league being my game, I couldn’t let that happen.”
Student referees from Gisborne Girls’ High and Gisborne Boys’ High were an important part of how the event was run.
Nepia talked with the students about their experiences and how these could be related to the implementation of a points system based on fairplay.
“Things that they have witnessed as players that they don’t want to happen to these kids,” Nepia said.
“So with this point system, we ran more of a festival-type tournament rather than a competitive tournament.”
This ranged from treating teammates well and creating a positive team culture to positive sideline behaviour and respecting the referee who had an already tough job without having to deal with abuse on top of it.
Nepia said he would not have been able to run such a successful event without the support of Waikirikiri School and its principal Kōkā Yolanda Julies, Gisborne Tairāwhiti Rugby League coordinator Ally Tamihere and Gisborne Boys’ High and Gisborne Girls’ High for releasing their students to take part.
Shontayne Hape, a centre or midfield back, played 28 games for the Warriors between 1999 and 2002 before shifting to England and appearing 136 times for Bradford Bulls. He played 14 tests for New Zealand during this time before jumping codes and playing rugby for Bath, London Irish and Montpellier. He was selected for England in 2010 and made 13 appearances including one test at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
