Chairman's Monday Musings
From the pen of Marist St Pats' Chairman, Lourdaiz Ah Chong...
It is with some enthusiasm and confidence in the future that I write this musing. Perhaps this is a little surprising, given the highs and the lows of this season, but, clearly, the foundation for our revival is there.
The 2024 season showed another step forward toward our goal of positioning ourselves to become the ‘club of choice’ for any international player moving to the Capital. We ended last year on the most positive note, with the arrival, during the off-season, of a number of great young men and rugby players from overseas. All shared a connection with former Marist St Pats rugby players. Riccardo Crepaldi (Italy) with Luke Mahoney, Jack Marshall (Canada) and Liam Bolton (Canada) with Alistair McBride, Sam Connor (England) with Sean Bridge, Seb Thompson (England) and Joe Aston (England) with Zak Feaunati.
Our Club farewelled Joe and Seb over the weekend who joined MSP from Solihull, a leading independent co-educational day school in the Midlands. Rugby is the greatest of all the brotherhoods. And, in reality, we don’t really lose them. Once you become ‘a Marist man’, you are always ‘a Marist man’.
When I walked into our MSP clubrooms on Saturday, the place was packed from wall to wall for our Junior Club Night and the 2024 WRFU President’s Day. It doesn’t get much better than this. Yes, it does! Add the number of former MSP players who are making a meaningful impact through coaching our junior teams: Bevan Brocklehurst, Victor Vito, JP Tocker, Kerrin Simpson, Tony Natoli, Will McGee, Ben Nansett, Pete Twidle and David Isaia. It made us all feel very warm and fuzzy about our great Club.
Continuing his many, many years of fantastic service to the President’s Grade, Henry Fidow led the successful bid by Marist St Pats to host the 2024 President’s Day and was ably supported by our Club Captain, Fred Lefaoseu. Nine teams from around the Wellington region came together for the love of the game and the sense of community that it fosters. Local rugby clubs like MSP have an important role to play in bringing communities together and making a positive difference. The notion of ‘Fun, Friendship and Fraternity’ was central to the whole concept. This grade is important as it offers rugby to players that still want to engage in the game and have a go, even though some of the 'speed' and 'skills' of years gone by may have deserted some of the them!
We congratulate our Reserve Grade ‘Internationals’ who have reached the final of the Alan Seerup Cup after an incredibly successful season thus far. We promise them all the support down at Evans Bay Park that we can muster. Everyone plays to win their respective championship and that is what some determine as the success of a season or not. But I think it is about more than that. Our whole goal at the Club is to create a good environment for rugby players to achieve their goals. I know we’re not there yet, but we continue to make progress in the right direction and we will get there.
Thank you to our $100 raffle organising committee of Raphael ‘Ruffy’ Mollo, Peter Woods, MaryAnn Spillane and others who assisted. These individuals continue to make major contributions off the field that are absolutely vital to our future. They are talented and committed, MSP people to their core.
Marist St Pats was proud to sponsor 100 new drink bottles for the St Patrick’s College rugby programme, donate equipment to enable them to livestream their games, host an aftermatch function for the 1st XV as well as the Town and Stream Old Boys following their annual traditional fixture. We value our special connection and the strong bond with St Pat’s Town.
Well done to all of you involved in 2024. I’ll say it again, on and off the field for a season full of promise. We have the spirit, the self-belief and the enterprise that are all fundamental to long term success. On the subject of promise, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” And that’s a promise!
I look forward to seeing you at Senior Prizegiving on Friday 23 August from 6:00pm at our MSP clubrooms.
*Please note the MSP clubrooms are closed this Saturday 10 August.
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