Pikiao Rugby League Club president and founding member Selwyn Rikiti is pleased to see the club reach 40 years. Photo / Stephen Parker
Pikiao Rugby League Club president and founding member Selwyn Rikiti is pleased to see the club reach 40 years. Photo / Stephen Parker
Forty years ago Selwyn Rikiti asked Ngati Pikiao elders what Pikiao meant and they said "reach for the sky". So that is what he did.
With the blessing of his kaumatua and with the help of a small committee he set about establishing the Pikiao Rugby League Club. This weekend the club celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Rikiti grew up in Mourea and attended Rotorua Boys' High School where he played rugby union for the first XV, but rugby league was his true passion. He played the game in Auckland for three years and in Christchurch for two years before returning home.
"I played with Ngongotaha for a year, they were very strong back then. But, when I moved back to Okere Falls and Mourea I sort of had a look around and we had nothing for the youth and we had nothing for us in our early 20s or 30s. Everyone who was playing rugby union, rugby league or netball were playing in Rotorua and travelling in.
"I'm looking at the land we have out there and thinking 'What a great place'. It overlooks the water, it belongs to Ngati Pikiao people. While I was playing for Ngongotaha we'd play against sides and a lot of the players were from out near Okere Falls, a lot of the top players were playing for other clubs.
"I thought, 'If all these clubs are getting their best players from Ngati Pikiao, why don't we start something?'"
The club's first committee was formed in 1977 and in 1978 a Pikiao rugby league team played in the Bay of Plenty premier competition for the first time.
The first ever Pikiao Rugby League Club team, who won the Bay of Plenty Championship in 1978. Photo / Supplied
"In that first year we had to get to know each other on the paddock, like any new team, but the biggest advantage we had was we all knew each other personally because we were so closely related. We had four sets of brothers in the side.
"We actually lost our first three games that year. Everybody was up in arms, we were all bitterly disappointed.
"I used to take the team for a run out to the main road and then either left or right along the highway. During training after that third loss we got to the main road and they were all waiting to see which way we'd go, but I took them back to the clubhouse and we got drunk.
"We came up with a team song, we poured our souls out to each other and worked out where we were going wrong on the field."
After that night of team bonding the side went the rest of the season unbeaten and won the championship, in their first year of existence, scoring a total of 830 points and conceding just 260.
In the following years Rikiti ensured the team constantly chased improvement and it was a method which worked as they won the competition in their second and third seasons as well.
Fittingly, in the club's 40th year, the premier rugby league side continued the winning ways of their predecessors, taking out the Bay of Plenty/Coastline Premier Rugby League Championship earlier this year.
The anniversary celebrations kick-off at 5.30pm today with a mix and mingle at the Pikiao clubrooms. Tomorrow there will be a series of rugby league matches from 1pm, including a past versus present game at 2.30pm, and a dinner in the evening. The weekend will conclude with a breakfast and guitar session at 10.30am on Sunday.
"This 40th anniversary is about celebrating and thanking everybody who helped set up the club and have made it what it is today. The former committee members, presidents, players - the people who built the club. They were all, and still are, volunteers who have done amazing things."
