About RUGBE

Why we started

Some years ago I coached a kids rugby team in Auckland. One of my players was a Roller Mills under 12 representative, and his older brother was an under 16 Auckland representative. Between the two of them they had one pair of boots.

That worked well enough, until the day the draw changed. We played at 11am instead of our usual 9am, and his brother happened to play at 11am too, instead of 1pm. You can guess how that went. The boots went with his brother.

I only found out when I picked him up for the game. He made such a difference to that team that I made sure he got to every match. So I offered to stop on the way and buy him a pair of Luke McAlister boots from The Warehouse, as it was back then. He refused, with real pride. "I'm not your pity party," he told me. He was an old soul for a 13 year old. Talking with him was like talking with an adult.

So I backtracked, politely. "You won't get to play if you don't have boots. The ref won't let you on."

"Nah," he said. "We won't have a ref. It'll be fine."

We had a ref that day. I gave him my own boots so he could get on the field.

Without going into any more of his story, I could see that rugby was his outlet, and his escape. I wanted him to have every chance of staying on the right side of the tracks, and rugby was how he was going to do it. That is where the idea for RUGBE was born.

So we are working out a way to get boots and mouthguards to any kid who needs them, done fairly and with respect. Two things matter to us. What we provide cannot be sold on Trade Me for cash, and we are not here to replace the responsibility of parents and caregivers. We are building a process that respects both, with one outcome in mind: kids playing rugby, getting amongst it with their mates, and being part of the wider rugby club community.

It takes a village to raise a child

That old proverb is the heart of RUGBE. A kid who turns up to rugby practice on a cold Tuesday night isn't just learning to pass and tackle. They're being raised, a little bit, by everyone on that field. The coach who stays late. The manager who remembers every player's name. The parent on the sideline who cheers for the whole team, not just their own. The grandparent who never misses a game.

RUGBE exists to make that village stronger and closer. We connect players with their teams, and teams with the families around them: grandparents, parents, aunties, uncles, cousins and mates, so that every try, every tackle and every small victory is seen and celebrated by the people who matter most.

Alternative role models

Not every kid has heroes at home, and even those who do can use more of them. Rugby coaches and volunteers are some of Aotearoa's great unsung role models: ordinary people who give up their evenings and weekends to show young people what commitment, fairness and respect look like in practice. For plenty of New Zealanders, a club coach was the steady adult voice that made the difference.

We built RUGBE to honour and support that work, to give coaches and volunteers better tools, to help families see the difference they make, and to keep kids connected to the game and the people around it.

Supporting grassroots rugby

RUGBE is a community project built to support grassroots rugby whānau across Aotearoa. If RUGBE adds something to your rugby community, we warmly welcome donations to help keep it running.