Akina Rovers
The Akina Rovers Hockey Club was founded in 1945 and a men’s team played in the local competition for the first time in 1946 season.
Records show that this was a successful club right from the start. In 1946 they won the Hunt Cup and were runners-up in the Inter-town Competition. In 1947 they won the Senior Men’s Competition, Opening Tournament and the Simmonds Memorial Tournament. The men’s team during the 1970’s and 80’s had the honors of being the HB Club Champions for 12 consecutive years. Many of these players also gained regional and national honors.
Those who gained Hawkes Bay Honors First Ladies 1952 – 1958 were:
Henae Hassell, Pauline Bousefield, Pam Russell, Marie Wilson, Pam Rowlands
Second time round, an Akina women’s team first played in 1974. The Dick girls wanted to play and Tangi Haami Jones brought her whanau along. Two of these originals, Julie Harris and Tangi Jones, played for the club for over 20 years and were also dedicated committee members. Many women’s players have gained regional and national honors.
Akina is the home club team to many New Zealand rep players including Caryn Paewai who retired after reaching 148 caps for the NZ Black sticks.
In the 2010 season the Akina senior womens team took the womens competition out unbeaten, coming out on top with a total of 5 trophies.
