 CHAMPION COMBINATION...the Te Puna senior rugby team of
1963, left to right, back row: George Bidois, Peter Bidois, Mick Bidois,
Rex Smith, Ron Goodall, Mick Borell, Dave Murray, Louis Borell; middle
row: Charles Kuka manager, Jeff Kakau, Tom Murray, Roddy Ririnui, Tiko
Ngatai, Keith Ngatai, Bill Borell, Ike Tangitu president Tauranga
sub-union; front row: Nap Bidois patron, Barry Borell, Danny Ormsby, Fred
Bidois, Tarzan Bidois capt, Carlo Smith, Mark Bidois, Henry Heke, Ces
Byford selector-coach.
The Clubhouse at Maramatanga Park was opened in 1976
and Te Puna celebrated it's 75th Jubilee of the Te Puna Rugby Football
Club in 1994. The game has been played in the district since the early
1890's and it was school teacher Evan Yorke who instigated the formation
of the Te Puna Rugby Club.
That first Te Puna Senior team to take to the field in 1911 has the
surnames of personnel still actively involved today - Ormsby, Tarua,
Borell, Tuhakaraina, Tangitu, Bidois, Faulkner, Heke and Kuka. and it was
said with pride, no Te Puna senior team has been without a Barell, Bidois,
Tangitu or Tuhakaraina in the line-up.
There were 6 of the Bidois clan in the champonship winning side in 1963
and coach of that era remembers fielding 13 Bidois in one match. Five
Borells played in the 1967 team, six Kukas in 1978 - it is this family
base of the blue and blacks which remains it's strength over decades and
has spread to the game of netball launched in 1938 in the community
oriented Maramatanga sporting complex.
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