Jaradites Rugby Sports Club

Waikato Times 16th June 2005
Club of the week

Jaradites aim to keep the game in perspective

The Jaradites Rugby Sports Club is based at Church College of New Zealand at Templeview,with all home games played at that venue.Most of the clubs players, but not all are from the surrounding Latter Day Saints community.

The club was formed in 1989 as the Jaradites rugby league club and over the ensuing decade became the largest league club in the Waikato.

However political differences within that code - in particular a perceived bias against the Jaradites refusal to play on Sundays - saw the club opt out of league and into rugby in 1998.

Current club president Charles Sunnex was one of the original founders and also drove the switching of codes in 1998.

He emphasises that while the club has empathy with the local Temple View community, it is not affiliated to the LDS church.

We are open to all players, irrespective of religion.
Our senior club has 46 registered players, and about 10 per cent are non-Mormon.

“ We also have two junior boys teams and about 95 per cent of those kids and their families are non-Mormon.
“ I suppose they all just like what we stand for and how we operate.”

Sunnex claims the club is one of three worldwide with a Mormon connection, the others being George Nepia’s former club MAC in Hawkes Bay, and at Brigham Young University in the US at Utah.

The club has one senior team vying for championship honours with Mangakino in Division 1B, under the guidance of coach TeRa Arthur.But in recent seasons Jaradites has had several teams including a women’s side.

Sunnex hopes the significant increase in registered players this year should lead to a Presidents grade team next season.

He points out with pride that 33 of our 46 registered players served their two-year missions for the church when they were 19-20 years old.
“ You have to keep rugby in perspective these days.”
“ There are more important things in life.”
Not a bad attitude to have in today’s professional rugby environment.

John Holt

Mafi in rugby heaven
By Jon Geddes
February 22, 2005

A FORMER Mormon missionary plucked out of Sydney University second grade and who has attended only one previous Super 12 match is the bolter in the NSW Waratah squad to play the Chiefs on Friday night.

"I can't believe this time I am playing," a stunned 24-year-old Winston Mafi said yesterday.

In a surprise selection, he has beaten Wallaby squad member Cameron Shepherd for one of the NSW reserve back spots in the tournament opener at Aussie Stadium.

Mafi's meteoric rise began after he was spotted by Waratah coach Ewen McKenzie running around in the lower grades with Sydney University last season and was given a chance on the Waratahs' tour of Argentina.

"I didn't play any first grade games for Uni and, to be honest, I didn't expect to be signed, so I am pretty happy to be here," the winger-outside centre said.

McKenzie said what he liked about Mafi when he first saw him play was that he was not half-hearted and did everything 100 per cent.

"We could tell he had the raw ability but every time he carried the ball he beat a tackle or carried guys four or five metres," McKenzie said.

"He not afraid of anything. I think this game is going to be a physical encounter and will suit his style."

Mafi prepared for his professional rugby career by working for two years as a missionary with the Mormom Church in Melbourne -- a calling he paid for out of his own pocket.

"I came back a bit stronger from all the biking on the hills in Melbourne," he said.

"I'm more physical now than ever in my rugby, so it was pretty good."

During that time Mafi would knock on doors and talk to other people on the street, returning home last April as a more confident person.

"I learnt a lot about myself that I didn't know before -- I learnt to talk to people and understand where people were coming from," he said.

Mafi's beliefs also place restrictions on his life away from the rugby field.

"There is no drinking, no smoking and I don't go out," Mafi said. "When I finish training I just go home."

McKenzie joked that he was one player who was pretty easy to find on a Saturday night.

But Mafi doesn't find that any sort of a burden, even in the professional sporting environment in which he now finds himself.

"Growing up as member of the church I was very disciplined from an early age, he said. "It was just natural, I know what to do."

And the strongly religious Mafi said he has been well accepted by the other Waratah players.

"They are awesome, everyone here is a Christian in some sort of way," he said.

Mafi, who has signed a two-year contract with NSW, will have his own personal fan club at Friday night's game.

He is one of 10 children, the youngest of whom is six.

One of his brothers and a sister have followed in Mafi's footsteps and are currently away from home working as missionaries.

The one problem he has to deal with in the lead-up to Friday's game is how to allocate the four tickets he has been given.

The Daily Telegraph