THE REUNION CELEBRATION EVENING

In 2014 the club held it’s Golden Jubilee celebrating the formation of United Pirates in 1964. United Pirates was formed when two competitor clubs, United Old Boys and Pirates RFC joined together. This union proved to be a remarkable success with both entities putting aside their respective loyalties to develop a strong, sustainable and successful club.

The Jubilee event was organised for the Easter weekend however, a study of the club’s history identified an outstanding fact: our club’s history stretched back to 1910 when the United club of Te Puke was formed. The predicament therefore, as at 2014 was whether to celebrated 50 years of existence or 104 years of history! The solution was simple. Both milestones were celebrated by way of the largest reunion in the club’s history. Two days of celebration plus a a fine win over Tauranga Sports resulted in a weekend to remember.   

Friday evening was a light-hearted social occasion featuring Bruce Gordon as Master of Ceremony. His topic was ’Memory-Lane’ during which hilarious events from yester-year were recalled. Twenty-two centenary playing jerseys designed specifically for the occasion by Kim Hinaki were auctioned. On Saturday afternoon the Premiers played Tauranga Sports in a Baywide competition match, wearing the club’s centenary jersey.  The result was a win for Te Puke which set the scene for Saturday evening. The evening was a formal occasion with seating arranged by ‘club of origin’. Speeches were delivered by President Ash Peat and Patron Brian Stapleton, read our patron’s speach here. A highlight was the presentation of Alastair Simpson’s Posthumous Life Membership to his family. The presentation of a portrait of Phil Basham, the first recipient of Life Membership in the club’s history, heralded yet another club discovery.  Phil had been awarded Life Membership in 1963 however the club had inadvertently not recognised this – and amends were made in the appropriate manner.  Following an entertaining session of ‘the roving-microphone’ conducted by Peter MacLoughlin and Bruce Gordon, the evening proceeded with Betty Freeman – (nee Collins) given the honour of cutting the cake to formally mark the Golden Jubilee. The presentation of the club’s first history book “A 100 Year History – The making of a rugby club“ brought the highly memorable evening to a conclusion.