Chairmans's Monday Musings
With our President on R&R following some planned surgery, this Monday's musings are from the pen of Club Chairman, Lourdaiz Ah Chong...
Our Marist St Pats Shamrock Club in its 33rd year hosted a fantastic launch event at Sky Stadium on Friday for the Hurricanes match against Moana Pasifika. It was a special evening with lots of familiar faces returning and some fresh faces too where we welcomed 14 new members for the 2024 season.
The biggest challenge for many clubs in today’s environment is funding so I want to thank these companies and individuals for their support of Marist St Pats rugby. This is a great opportunity for sponsors to get on board and enjoy the ride for the year and get behind the Red Machine in all grades.
It was announced that evening that Wallabies legend David Campese AM would be the guest speaker at this year’s Test Dinner taking place before the Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington. The unpredictable, mercurial genius of the goose-step is one of the finest wingers to ever lace up a pair of boots who mesmerised rugby fans the world over. During his distinguished career, he was capped 101 times by Australia and won the Rugby World Cup in 1991. After the final, he was also named as Player of the Tournament. During the tournament, he scored six tries. When he retired from international rugby in 1996, he was the leading test try scorer of all time with 64 tries. However, this record has since been overtaken…
The Premier Men, Premier Reserves, Colts and Reserve Grade ‘Internationals’ all travelled out to Maidstone Park on Saturday. The Colts held out a strong Upper Hutt side to take a confidence boosting 29-19 win to move to second on the table. This game was called off early due to an injury to one of our players however I am pleased to report that the individual concerned is okay and the seriousness of the injury is not as bad as first thought. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Like a good fairy tale ending in a Walt Disney movie, the Internationals came away with a dramatic 20-14 victory to remain unbeaten and taking out the first round with one week to go. In other results, Marist St Pats took home victories in the Presidents Grade (50-22) and Netball (Team 1: 27-15 and Team 2: 27-22). It was a special morning at the Ākau Tangi Sports Centre for our Club Captain Fred Lefaoseu as his three daughters played on the same team together.
Tony Duffin deserves a special mention this week for preparing a BBQ for our Pressies team and the visiting Upper Hutt side. They were treated to some exceptional Marist St Pats hospitality at our clubrooms.
Thank you finally to the Red Machine faithful who travelled to Upper Hutt to watch these gruelling clashes. Next week the club is back at home to host Paremata-Plimmerton at our fortress Evans Bay Stadium. I do know first-hand the level of commitment that the players and coaches make as they prepare themselves to play each week.
I want all the community to appreciate the great entertainment all our teams put on and to have great experiences and memories and friendships from being a member and coming down to Evans Bay Park and the various events at the clubrooms this year - just like the players get from playing rugby at MSP.
See you on the sidelines!
Previous editions of the Monday Musings
This weekend's action - 25 May 2024
| Grade | Opposition | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Premier Men
|
Paremata-Plimmerton
|
Evans Bay Park at 2.45pm
|
| Premier 2 Men
|
Paremata-Plimmerton
|
Kilbirnie Park 2 at 1pm
|
| Colts
|
Paremata-Plimmerton
|
Evans Bay Park at 1pm
|
| Reserve 'Internationals'
|
OBU 'Teddy Bears'
|
MacAlister Park at 2.45pm
|
| Under 85kg Red
|
Paremata-Plimmerton
|
Kilbirnie Park 3 at 2.45pm
|
| Presidents 'MH Law Classics'
|
Paremata-Plimmerton
|
Ngati Toa Domain at 2.45pm
|
| Netball 1
|
NCOG 2
|
Akau Tangi Sports Centre at 1.25pm
|
| Netball 2
|
Ories 3
|
Akau Tangi Sports Centre at 12.20pm
|
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