About the Author

John Coffey is a long-time sports journalist and self confessed 'rugby league buff'. He worked for the Christchurch Press for 44 years. He covered more than 100 rugby league test matches at 17, and was the only New Zealand journalist on tour with the 1971 Grand Slam Kiwis in Britain and France. Bernie Wood MNZM for 24 consecutive years he was on the Board of the Wellington Rugby League, severing that link in 1992 to become Deputy Chair of the NZRL where he remained a director for 10 years.