Striving to be the best
Founded in 1903 as a rugby club, today’s Hautapu Sports Club is a diverse community–focussed club that caters for men, women and children who want to play sports including rugby, netball and hockey.
Rugby
We are one of the leading clubs in the Waikato and have helped develop many players who have represented their province and country, including All Blacks.
Netball
Our netball teams play at the St Peter’s School indoor gymnasium, in Cambridge Road, and at the Cambridge Netball Centre in Scott Street, Leamington.
Junior sports
Since 2021, Hautapu Sports have been a key provider of sports activities for children who previously played for their schools.
Our junior sports include:
Hockey (years 3-8)
Netball (years 0-8)
Rugby (years 0-8)
Summer sports
We run junior and senior social touch modules from October till December.
School holiday programmes
In partnership with the YMCA, we host sports–based holiday programmes, catering for children aged X to Y.
Non–playing memberships
We have many supporters who watch from the sidelines or simply enjoy the social interaction of being part of our club.
THE NUMBERS
Rugby — 83 (senior), 306 (juniors)
Netball — 74 (senior), 284 (juniors)
Hockey — 237 (juniors)
Summer Touch — 320 (juniors), 120+ seniors.
Non–playing members — 400+
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction By Dave Simes Club PresidentWhat our club stands for
Welcome to Hautapu Sports Club, where we unashamedly aim to be the leading sports club in the Waikato.
While this may be subjective, we have a club committee with a clear purpose, direction and goals of how we will achieve this. Central to everything is ‘our people’, whether it be players, coaches, managers, key sponsors and volunteers, or our fantastic army of supporters.
A key focus in 2022 and 2023 has been to grow our core sports of rugby, netball and hockey, and build on this by introducing new sports and activities.
It’s amazing that we now have 216 coaches and managers for our junior teams alone!
Our club’s point of difference has been its high performance and providing aspirational pathways for players and coaches but just as important is the fundamental purpose of being part of sport ‘for the love of the game’.
One of our guiding principles is to create an environment of diversity and friendship, well-being and enjoyment through the participation in club sport.
We are well on the way to achieving our goal, evident through the high growth in all junior sport numbers, and
our highly successful netball and rugby teams.
Special projects, engaging in community events and partnerships, and improving our facilities are high on the club’s 2023 priorities.
Community engagement is important too and we’re delighted to end 2022 with formal partnerships agreed with the Cambridge Lions Club and the Cambridge Interlock Disabilities Trust.
We still have much to do. COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of clubs and hubs in our communities.
We could not sustain our activities without the fantastic support of our sponsor family, community funders and club membership. I formally acknowledge this support. We are grateful this ongoing support helps us thrive, and provide a vital avenue for our community to participate in sport.
Finally, I warmly welcome new and returning members and supporters to Hautapu Sports as we build towards an exciting and eventful 2023 sporting year.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction‘Central to everything is our people’
Our 120 years of achievement
Founded more than a century ago, the Hautapu Sports Club has become one of the strongest and most respected clubs in the Waikato.
We began as the Hautapu Rugby Club, founded in the old bacon curing room at the Hautapu dairy factory in 1903.
Men sat around on milk cans while player-coach Jack Cowling chaired.
The spirit, skill, character, commitment and fortitude characteristic of the Hautapu club will continue to stand us in good stead for the future.
As a rugby club, Hautapu has won Under 21 competitions, Senior B titles, and we have won the Waikato Breweries shield six times.
We participated in the first Waikatowide club competition in 1968. A decade later, in 1978, we won the 3rd division and were promoted to the second division, where we stayed for another decade before winning the
2nd division in 1988 and reaching the premier grade where we remain.
However, we did not end the 10 year cycle of success in 1988. Ten years later, in 1998, we won and lifted our very first Breweries Shield.
Five more shields have been won since 1998: in 1999, 2006, 2007, 2019 and 2020.
Of course, today we are more than a successful rugby club.
Meeting the needs of our community and our local schools, we have diversified and now provide the chance for adults to enjoy netball, and cater for hundreds of children who enjoy rugby, netball and hockey.
We operate all year, running senior and junior touch modules in the summer.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction Today’s Hautapu Sports Club enables adults and children to enjoy sport side-by-side.Ready for more rugby success
In 2023, Hautapu Sports will again field three senior rugby teams — the Premier A side, the Development team and the Colts (Under 21) team.
It was a successful season for all three sides in 2022 with the Premier As making the play-offs for the fifth straight year only to fall short in the semi-finals to the eventual champions.
A key goal for the Development team in 2022 was to improve on their 2021 campaign, and they did that without a doubt, even beating the defending champions in one of the best games of the season.
OUR REPRESENTATIVES
The Colts also had a great season, impressing in many ways on their way to the Grand Final before losing to the eventual champions.
As most of the squad returns in 2023, they will look to run it back and go one step further and win the competition.
• Seven All Blacks (three in the last 15 years).
• Seventy players selected by Waikato, including 19 in the last 10 years.
• Twenty players have appeared in the Super Rugby competition since its inception in 1996.
Our coaches
Sean Hohneck.
In 2023, we are fortunate to have all coaches returning, as well as some fresh new faces. We will again be able to boast extremely experienced coaches who have played and coached professionally all over the world.
This year’s Premier As will again be led by Sean Hohneck and Will Helu, with Andrew Douglas, who has returned from coaching professionally overseas.
Coaches for the Development team will be club president Dave Simes, Craig Stevenson, and Leandro Arreseigor.
For our 2022 finalist colts, Dennis Hazelton and Tom Casey return.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introductionSenior netballers win their grades
Several grades of senior netball are available at Hautapu Sports club.
These include Premier Women’s, Premier Mixed, Premier Reserve and A Grade.
The modules are administered by Cambridge Netball Centre.
Our Premier and Hawks teams won their respective grades in 2022.
CHAMPIONS
Hautapu Sports are the 2022 Premier Netball champions! The Property Brokers Hautapu Premier side (above) beat Otorohanga 62—48 in the grand final at St Peter’s, Cambridge, to take home the trophy.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction
Our senior rugby teams play at Memorial Park where they are well supported.
Our community engagement
Hautapu Sports strongly believes in giving back to the community that supports and embraces us.
Our current engagements with our community include:
Fighting cancer together
Since January 2022, our junior clubrooms have become the home for the Interlock Trust.
Interlock provides a fun, safe, welcoming space for people who are living with a disability to connect with friends and community while developing opportunities to learn, share and connect.
Cancer affects too many New Zealanders and the Hautapu Sports community has not been spared.
In 2021, our club established the Hautapu Whaanau Support Fund to provide financial support to members of our club community or for their loved ones in the event they are affected by a serious health issue.
If we can ease the financial burden for the next family who has to fight, it will be worth it.
The Waterboy is a charity that helps removes obstacles and provides opportunities for those who might otherwise not be able to experience sport.
Hautapu Sports has supported The Waterboy by fundraising for them through charity auctions held at club events such as The Long Lunch (September) and the Battle of the Bridge Fight Night (December).
Our club will hold fundraising activities, such as the Hautapu Charity Match, to create and maintain the fund.
We show our support for the Cancer Society by wearing their logo on our rugby shorts.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction
Our family of sponsors
Hautapu Sports is grateful to the family of sponsors who help make it possible for us to providing sports opportunities for more than 1,000 adults and children.
We thank the following sponsors for their support:
LEAD SPONSORS OUR FAMILY OF SPONSORS
PRINCE ALBERT THE OLDE ENGLISH PUB
— an introduction
Hautapu Sports Club
Junior sport shows big increase
Hautapu Sports Club launched junior hockey, netball, and rugby players and teams in 2021.
The schools in our local catchment sought clubs to provide sports activities for their students, preferring the club model for various reasons.
We saw a huge uptake in players choosing to participate at our club.
By 2022, our playing numbers and teams had increased to unprecedented levels.
In 2022, we had 262 hockey players in 28 teams ranging from year 3 to year 8.
Our new entrants to year 8 netballers played in our 36 teams, comprising more than 270 players.
Rugby, which caters for new entrants to year 6, saw 310 players in 26 teams.
Administratively, this was challenging and our junior code coordinators,
Hautapu Sports Club — an introductionand some helpful parents, did an outstanding job to cope with the influx of so many new players.
Coaches, managers, umpires and referees for the most part were sourced from within the parents of the teams.
Splice Construction, Joe’s Garage and for netball, Property Brokers, became sponsors, enabling almost 900 junior superstars to be kitted out in the club colours of red and white.
In recent years, Hautapu Sports have administered the Junior Touch Module and in Term 4, 2022, players represented our club in Junior Touch teams for the first time.
While the module has grown significantly to 54 registered teams, 34 of these teams comprising 329 players are representing Hautapu Sports.
Friday afternoons and evenings during summer sees more than 500 juniors playing and enjoying Touch at Memorial Park.
Opposite: Our junior hockey players play at St Peter’s, Cambridge’s pitches. More than 260 children played hockey in 2022.
Our netballers play at the Cambridge netball centre and our mixed adult teams play at St Peter’s, Cambridge. More than 270 children played netball for our junior teams in 2022.
Since late 2022, Hautapu Sports has hosted school holiday programmes in partnership with the YMCA.
The Y Out of School Care is designed to keep primary and intermediateaged children engaged and active. Our customised holiday programme teaches foundations and fundamentals through the sports of rugby, hockey and netball.
Children can also engage in a number of clubroom activities such as arts, crafts and our interactive Zones and Spaces, and the programme includes off-site day trips.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction
Having fun off the sports pitch
Hautapu Sports Club is not just about what happens on the pitch — we love to provide entertainment for our non-playing members and supporters too.
In 2022, we held a number of successful social events, enabling friendships to be made and renewed. These included our Long Lunch in September, a four-hour gathering at which our special guest speakers were Sir Graham Henry and legendary All Black Christian Cullen.
Everyone had an entertaining afternoon and we raised more than $17,000 for our club and its chosen charity, The Waterboy.
In July, we held a Gin and Tapas Night at which our guests sampled various culinary treats and a range of gins.
It was also an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate the suitability of our clubrooms for social functions.
To end 2022, our club and its rivals at Leamington organised a charity ‘Battle of the Bridge Fight Night at Cambridge
Velodrome. The December event was another fundraiser for The Waterboy.
Hautapu’s
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction Our guests enjoy our Gin and Tapas Night in July. Liam Messam and his team of boxers prepare for Fight Night. Guests are enthralled by All Black Christian Cullen at the Long Lunch.Supporting local fundraising
On the second Sunday of every month, Memorial Park is alive with bargain hunters.
The Lions Club of Cambridge raises more than $200,000 a year to put back into the community.
A significant contributor to the charity’s income is its Trash ‘N’ Treasure Market that has operated for 25 years.
Historically the market was spread throughout the Town Centre of Cambridge — offering residents and visitors to the town a variety of products at bargain prices.
But in 2022, the market needed a new home and has now relocated to Memorial Park, as part of a partnership with Hautapu Sports.
Stallholders come from around the upper North Island selling a wide variety of goods including handmade items, produce, plants, pre-loved products and collectibles.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction
What our club stands for
Douglas (52) is getting to grips with ‘big picture’ requirements to ensure the long-term sustainability of the club, while also making sure its day-to-day operations run smoothly.
“Volunteers have built a successful club but we’re now at a size that we needed a role that would help pull everything together,” he says.
All up, the club now has more than 1,700 men, women, children and nonplaying members, all benefitting from sport and social interaction.
Being a family man gives him an understanding of what’s required to help families support and encourage children whose sports involvement is just beginning.
Douglas first became part of the Hautapu club in 1997 when he was an injury-hampered first five, just back from a spell overseas. Douglas — a teacher, by profession — soon moved
into coaching. Two years of coaching the B team provided a good grounding and he headed overseas again.
In 2006, Douglas returned to coach the club’s Premier rugby side and in three seasons, the team twice won the championship and were runners-up for the other season.
Douglas was employed as Sports Manager and then Deputy Principal at St Peter’s, Cambridge, from where he also coached the NZ Secondary Schools team from 2009-2011.
The lure of life overseas drew Douglas back to Europe, where he coached Biella in Italy (2017-18) and then Japanese club Toyota Shokki in Japan (2018-19).
From Japan, Douglas headed to the United States to become the coach of Old Glory DC in 2019, a year after its foundation as a professional club playing in the Major League Rugby (MLR).
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction A 30-year career in sport and education has prepared Andrew Douglas well for his latest challenge — his role as Hautapu Sports Club’s first full-time general manager.‘A timely return’
Douglas’ return to Cambridge in 2022 was timely, as Hautapu Sports Club’s growth was such that its executive committee started to look to establish a new, full-time role of general manager.
It suited Douglas well, giving him the chance to draw on his experience of top-level rugby, in amateur and professional environments, as well as his work in the education sector, and his understanding of children and young adults.
Married to Gabby, the Douglas family also includes daughter Isabella (23) and son Jack (21).
“I know what it’s like to be a sporting parent and think I have the skills and experience to relate to the families whose children are our youngest members,” Douglas says.
In simple terms, Douglas sees his role as “driving the club forward”, on and off the sports fields and courts its members play on.
Priorities are around member involvement in the club, and helping performance all-round.
“It’s also important we find ways to future-proof the club, to make sure what we do is sustainable,” he says.
Volunteers and the strong support of the Cambridge community are an essential part of the club’s success and he will work to help build that.
The “sleeves-up” side of the job will see Douglas supporting co-ordinators of the club’s junior sports, as well as supporting senior coaches and helping new players settle in.
He will also be an assistant coach with the club’s Premier A rugby squad.
The Waikato Rugby Union has confirmed the season draw for the Premier Rugby Competitition.
Hautapu’s Premier A team will play on the following dates, with 2.45pm kick-offs. The club’s Development team and Colts will play the same opponents, starting at 1pm.
April 1 Otorohanga (away)
April 8 University (home)
April 15 Fraser Tech (away)
April 22 UMS (home)
April 29 Melville (away)
May 6 Te Awamutu Sports (home)
May 13 Marist (home)
May 20 Hamilton Old Boys (away)
May 27 Morrinsville (away)
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction
HAUTAPU SPORTS CLUB
Our clubrooms are the ideal venue for private functions as well as for our members’ use.
Club directory
Venue
Our main grounds are at: 211 Victoria Street Cambridge, 3432, Waikato
Executive Committee
President: Dave Simes
Secretary: Cathie Shaw
Finance Convenor: Andrew Flexman
Director of Rugby: Nigel Kewish
Director of Netball: TBA Committee members: Viv Clarke, Tim Morris, Josh Bull
Patron: Jake Moreland
Key contacts
Rugby: Nigel Kewish
Netball: TBA
KEEPING IN TOUCH
• GENERAL ENQUIRIES: admin@hautapusports.com
• WEBSITE: www. hautapusports.co.nz
• FACEBOOK PAGE: www.facebook.com/ hautapusports
• iNSTAGRAM: www. instagram.com/ hautapusports
Senior Rugby: seniorrugby@hautapusports.com
Senior Netball: seniornetball@hautapusports.com
Junior Netball: juniornetball@hautapusports.com
Junior Hockey: juniorhockey@hautapusports.com
Hockey: Marie Dale Junior Rugby: Josh Bull General Manager: Andrew Douglas admin@hautapusports.com
Junior Rugby: juniorrugby@hautapusports.com
For venue hire requests, please visit our website for online application form.
Hautapu Sports Club — an introduction