LIFE MEMBERS ANNOUNCED, ALL BLACKS V SPRINGBOKS TEST AT QBE, AND OUTSTANDING 2016 RESULTS AT AGM

On Wednesday 29th March the NHRU held the 32nd Annual General Meeting in front of 50+ stakeholders.
Chairman Shaun Nixon addressed the audience and covered what was an outstanding year for the Mitre 10 side winning the Mitre 10 Championship.

He also referenced the strong financial performance with a profit of $86,000, 4% growth in players with now 10,000+ registered in the union, strong progress in the Women's game highlighted by the first time we've had a team in the Farrah Palmer Cup, acknowledged the performance of Massey in winning the 2016 premiership, and Kaipara College for winning the women's competition.

CEO Brett Hollister then spoke about the year going forward and confirmed we're in the final stages of agreeing a new lease and license arrangement with Regional Facilities Auckland. He updated events on the High Performance Facility Development, which is a planned facility onsite in the precinct and a combined initiative between NHRFU, NZ Football, Northern Football, Massey University and New Zealand Rugby. He also said the planning and contracting of players for the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup programme is well underway, and especially excited about the homecoming of Harbour men Chris Eves and Shaun Stevenson. He spoke about the exciting opportunity around the All Blacks v South Africa test match being held, and the significant undertaking for the organisation as its the first ever Category A Test for the All Blacks at QBE Stadium. He then gave a commercial update in the strong position around the union in terms of a gaming sponsorship agreement with QBE, and the extension to the partnership to the end of 2017. He also talked about the increased resources to Community Rugby, and also Mitre 10 Cup, and that we are well on the way to building on the strong platform and carrying the momentum from 2016 into 2017.

Patron Peter Dolan, President Richard Kidd, and Vice President John McKittrick were re-elected to their positions as Officers of the Union, and the Board remained unchanged after the reappointment of all members.

The highlight of the evening was the announcement of our newest Life Members John Morgan and Jerry Hirst. John has been the longest serving Chairman in the unions history having held the position for 7 years between 2008 and 2014, and Jerry has been on the board as a Director for over 14 years, which included raising over $1m in sponsorship during a particularly tough time in the Unions history. They become the 10th and 11th Life Members, and join Pat Delich, Chris Kennings, Ray Diver, Clive Kelly, Peter Dolan, Peter Thorburn, Miles Marcroft, Wayne Shelford, and John Mayhew with their names on the wall.

According to fellow life member Miles, "it was fully bloody deserved mate.'

Hard to disagree.