PROFILE: MR T. F. McKENZIE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 9

PROFILE: MR T. F. McKENZIE

'T'HE leading part that A the West Coast, in particular, and New Zealand, in general, has played in Rugby League in recent years is in no small way due to the efforts of Mr T. F. McKenzie. During the 46 years Mr McKenzie has been associated with the sport he has filled the roles of player, administrator, referee, selector and manager with enviable success. Mr McKenzie was first introduced to Rugby League in 1918. Then, as a schoolboy player, he was associated with the Woolston club in Christchurch. During his younger years Mr McKenzie was also a junior soccer representative, playing for Canterbury in the fourth and fifth grades. Mr McKenzie lived for a time at Springfield, where no Rugby League was played. During his stay in the district he represented the Malvern sub-union at Rugby Union. On returning to Christchurch he joined the Hornby Rugby League club and, in 1930, gained selection for the South Island as a centre. A shoulder injury ruined his chances of making the Kiwi team which toured Australia in that year. Returning to the West Coast, his birth-place, in 1932, Mr McKenzie settled in- the Rugby-playing district of lijangahua. Such was his enthusiasm and ability as an organiser that it was not long before the 13-a-side game had ousted Rugby as the most popular sport in the area. While at Inangahua, Mr McKenzie served as secretary of that League and as a referee. When he returned to Greymouth, Mr McKenzie represented West Coast and, in 1934, again wore the South Island jersey, this time as a full-back. After World War H, Mr McKenzie turned his attention to' administration and to refereeing. Between 1945 and 1961 he was the secretary • of the West Coast Rugby League and, earlier in his term, a prominent referee. His son, Peter, is now a senior referee in Greymouth.

Mr McKenzie’s work for the sport was first recognised in 1951-52 when the New Zealand council appointed him business manager of the touring team to Great Britain and France. He was later manager of the 1954 World Cup team to France.

Mr McKenzie is perhaps best known for his selecting. He was first a West Coast and South Island selector in 1952 and a New Zealand selector in 1955. a year that France toured this country. He was recently reelected as a New Zealand eelector for the coming season, when it is again a French team that New Zealand will oppose. Illness, which forced him to relinquish his place on the New Zealand panel to select the tourists to Australia last year, may restrict his activities for the coming season. He is named as an independent chairman for the South Island panel this season, the first independent member of an island selection panel for many years. Mr McKenzie's greatest gift to New Zealand Rugby

League was the National Coaching School, now held every season. The school, a •'brainchild” of Mr McKenzie, was first held in 1959 with such success that all but four of the team that toured Great Britain and France in 1961-62 had passed through at least one coaching school. Annually 26 promising players are brought together and coached by Mr C. R, Mountford. the former West Coast and Wigan player-manager, and coach. A team is then selected to play either the previous year's Kiwi team (usually played in the form of a final trial for a tour) or an overseas touring team.

Through his association with Rugby League, as a player, manager, selector, administrator and referee, Mr McKenzie has won respect from administrators of other sports. A fitting reward for his 46 years of work would be the selection of tile winning team in the 1965 World Cup series to be played in Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane next April.