Levin Wanderers Rugby League players Evan Lealiifano, Ethan Keith and TK Kepa sporting the new jerseys sponsored by UK company Warners Fish Merchants Ltd.
Levin Wanderers Rugby League players Evan Lealiifano, Ethan Keith and TK Kepa sporting the new jerseys sponsored by UK company Warners Fish Merchants Ltd.
The Levin Wanderers rugby league team has secured an international sponsorship deal for new playing jerseys next season after borrowing jerseys this year.
With the sponsorship dollars thin on the ground, team chairman Sonny Whakarau decided to call on an old contact from his playing days in the UK back in the 1990s.
Whakarau had a stint playing for Doncaster in the UK league before returning home to Horowhenua when his playing days were over.
At the time his Doncaster club had Warners Fish Merchants Limited as a sponsor and Whakarau had a good relationship with the company principal Bryan Warner.
Whakarau said Warners Fish Merchants were philanthropic in promoting social interaction and sporting communities, sponsoring a league team in Boston, a football team in Iceland and a special needs football team in Doncaster.
Sonny Whakarau, TK Kepa, Ethan Keith, Evan Lealiifano and Steve Hirini, sporting the new Levin Wanderers rugby league jerseys.
He said Warner had no qualms about extending that support to a rugby league team based in Levin, New Zealand, and in return their name and logo were on the front of the jerseys.
"I rang him and said no pressure, no stress, we have a new rugby league team brewing and we haven't got a kit," he said.
"I gave it a crack. I don't like to let things go by the wayside. I'm a bit of a doer."
In recent times Whakarau had contacted the Mad Butcher in Auckland and got a signed pair of boxing gloves from Joseph Parker to raffle off with proceeds going towards the coffers of the fledging team.
Levin Wanderers had entered a team into the Manawatū Rugby League Premier competition this season but were borrowing the jerseys worn by their rugby counterparts.
They would wear the new playing strip next season.
They were hoping to secure home matches on Levin Domain and where they could use the Levin Wanderers bar and cooking facilities to host visiting teams.
Whakarau said they were conscious of not clashing with rugby and would stage the rugby league competition at the end of the club rugby season to give all players the opportunity to play both codes.
Te Kaha Kepa scores for Levin Wanderers rugby league team at Playford Park in August.
There would be a two to three week gap between the two codes to give players the opportunity to transition from one code to the other.
Levin Wanderers president Steve Hirini, a former New Zealand Māori representative, said while the club's roots were in rugby, they were happy to support all sports.
"We are a multisport club," he said.
He was impressed with the amount of player transfers that had come through Manawatū Rugby League from players from all clubs.
