"We had a discussion last year about starting a junior club. I thought it was a great idea and I was straight on board with the idea. I know a lot of people who were travelling out of town to other clubs, including myself. We put our feelers out to see if there was interest and we had a lot of positive feedback about starting the club."
Nathan says the committee of six then had a meeting to discuss what was needed to start the new club.
"Uniforms was one of the most important things we needed. We have had a huge amount of local businesses jump on board to help and we still have businesses offering to help us."
Nathan says the committee is thankful to the sponsors for getting on board.
"We've had support from Stratford ITM, Game Changer, Tall Poppy Stratford, Stratford Subway, Paint it all Painters, TS Building, Clean Homes Taranaki, and Robinson Electrical. We are so thankful for their support, without it this wouldn't be possible."
The Stratford Toa Rugby League Club is the only rugby league club in Stratford.
"As we are a new club we're very impressed by our numbers. We have good numbers for all of our teams and all of the players have been performing very well."
He says the teams are made up of players from all over the Stratford district.
"They travel from Kaponga, Normanby, Toko, Midhirst and further. It's great that the wider community is involved. "
He says the biggest focus of the committee is bringing everyone together and making sure the players have fun.
"It's all about giving the kids the experience of the rugby league culture."
He says the club has been well supported by the community.
"We've had a few fundraisers which the community has gotten behind. Earlier this year we had a hāngi and sold 200 tickets in three days. Our recent fundraiser was a Mother's Day raffle and all the tickets sold within three hours. We're so thankful for the support from the community and to Stratford Primary School for letting us use their grounds for our home games and practices."
He says the Stratford Eltham Rugby Club has also supported the team.
"As we were a new club it took us a while to get the right number of jerseys. The Stratford Eltham Club let us use some of theirs until we had enough. We as a committee are so thankful to everyone who has helped us."
Nathan says the club's next home game is May 23.
"We're hoping people will come out and show their support of the new club."
