KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
You are here: Home » To 1995 Tongan rugby International and now TV commentator Willie Los'e
This Ten Questions idea is to ask a leading rugby personality; either a player, or from the the media or an administrator some questions which may prompt a response from them which we have not heard of before;
Here is an example of what one can achieve in one's 'post-rugby' life through perseverance and concentration. I first got to know Willie when his international rugby days from Auckland and North Harbour in New Zealand were over and he was nearing the end of eight years of playing in Japan. He had played for his native Tonga at the 1995 Rugby World Cup and had had a 'good life' from the game. From my early conversations with him I learned that he was heading towards a crossroads in his life. What to do next?
Apparently the idea of broadcasting came into his horizon. He had a stint at the microphone with us in the very early years of the IRB Sevens World Series in Japan (in 2000 I think) and maybe that was the taster. Soon Willie was back in New Zealand and committed to attending a Broadcasting School in Wellington. From there his pass marks took him into stints, firstly on radio in Auckland on NewsTalk ZB and more latterly as a full-time commentator on Super 15, ITM Cup and more IRB Sevens events on Sky TV in New Zealand and in many parts of the world. This genial character, sometimes the life and soul of the party, is also in demand as an after-dinner speaker and gym instructor.
My thanks to Willie for his willingness to open up to 'Ten Questions' on keithquinnrugby.com
The great Auckland and All Black winger Bryan Williams was one. I really loved watching 'BeeGee' play. But I grew up out in West Auckland and there was a massive Rugby League following out that way then. So I loved seeing those brilliant Kiwi outside backs Dane O'Hara and Fred Ah Khoi play too.
Vancouver in Canada I think is one of the nicest cities in the world. I've been there recently and loved it. It has a lot of similarities to NZ.
I'm really not sure. Am I the best person to ask?
I totally deplore all the backstabbing there seems to be too much of in life. I also hate, can I say - gutless wonders!? You know what I mean.
Not really although in my playing days I would always put on my left sock first. I never quite knew why!
Firstly, I'll go for two of my very proudest moments? That's easy. Becoming a dad for the first and second time were days I will never forget. Then in a rugby sense playing my first test at the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995. It was Tonga v France at Loftus Versfeld Ground in Pretoria. I cried right through the Tongan National anthem - I just wished and wished my parents had been still alive to have been there.
It's a piece of art I commissioned to be painted for one of New Zealand's best beaches in the far north. And the lovely house I designed on the water in which the painting sits.
Being with mates, friends and family with lots of love and laughter......Perfect!
I have yet to attend a Commonwealth Games or Olympics but I hope to achieve either or both of those over the next four years. Now that I'm fully into my broadcasting career those two are the 'biggies.'
I've always liked the little expression I heard first years ago; 'Put your hand Up not out.' I reckon that has worked for me.
Auckland fullback Ben Atiga replaced Mils Muliaina near the end of the Rugby World Cup match v Tonga in Brisbane; sadly Atiga's only All Black appearance.
INTER-ISLAND MATCH
This was a game which was begun in New Zealand in 1897 and which became an annual one (with the exception of 1930 and the war years) until 1986, between teams representing the two main islands of New Zealand.
The inter-island series, North Island against South Island, was, through the 1920s right up to the early 1970s, consistently up to international standard. In its heyday, the game was eagerly looked forward to by everyone in New Zealand as it featured a match that often had the look of New Zealand ‘A’ against New Zealand ‘B’ (the ‘A’ team being the side which won!). Sometimes the game did officially double as an All Black trial.
In the 1970s lack of promotion of the game led to loss of interest. The New Zealand Rugby Union, after years of playing the inter-island game at major grounds, started moving it to lesser towns. Public support fell away and towards the end the game was marked by the number of top players who declared their unavailability rather than by those who did turn out. It was sad for New Zealand traditionalists when the match was abolished in 1987 and replaced by a three-way regional trial series featuring teams from three new zones, Northern, Central and Southern.
The last annual game in 1986 was typical of the decline of the North v South game. Played in the smasll town of Oamaru in the South Island, the game had a local college match as its curtain-raiser. When the college game finished, most of the crowds of local schoolchildren drifted away home, leaving the inter-island match to go ahead in front of a much smaller audience. The North Island won the game 22–10, ending the annual series with 49 wins. South had won 26 times and there were three drawn games.
The North-South game did return for special one-off games in 1995 and 2012. The former was an All Black trial and the latter was a fundraising game for the financially troubled Otago Rugby Union.
Ironically the inter-zone series which had followed the cancelled North-South series in 1986 had only three seasons of play before it, too, folded through lack of interest.
From 1987 to 2011 inclusive; How many men have refereed the seven Rugby World Cup finals?
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