The Te Atatu Roosters is a rugby league club based in Te Atatū, New Zealand. They participate in the Auckland Rugby League competition. They currently have 25 teams across schoolboy, junior and senior grades. The Roosters premier team is in the 2023 season Fox Memorial Shield competition after qualifying from the 3 match qualifying competition.
Home ground
The Roosters play at the council owned Jack Colvin Park located on the Te Atatū Peninsula, next to the North Western Motorway. Junior teams also play at Te Atatū South Park.
History
The Te Atatū club was founded in 1955 after the opening of the North-Western motorway led to suburban growth in the Te Atatū area. The first team was a 7-aside team formed to represent Te Atatū North and South. They initially had to wear Glenora jerseys (who were a club based in Glen Eden) and their first ever game was against Wesley at Fowlds Park. The first training area was in a cow paddock on Edmonton Rd, before they were later able to move to Ramlea Park.
In 1961 Te Atatū won their first schoolboy championship in their Te Atatū colours. In 1960–61 Te Atatū Peninsula Park was developed on Neil Avenue and in 1965 they fielded their first senior side in the Senior B grade. The ground is still commonly referred to as 'Neil Ave'.
In the late 1960s work began on the current club rooms on Toru Avenue. They were built on Crown (council) land arranged with Waitematā Mayor Jack Colvin after 3 club members were elected to the WCC Parks Committee. However, before the club rooms could be built the land needed to be prepared. The land was in such poor condition that no other clubs had bothered applying for it, and life member Ken Pitman described the task of preparing it thus: "What a mess, over six acres of swamp, gorse and pine trees, five feet thick. Well we were all enthusiastic and silly enough to attempt the impossible. We chopped, scrounged, swore, drank and burned our way through the lot". The council also helped by putting a culvert under the motorway and realigned the creek which ran through the park. Eventually the playing fields were established and work could begin on the club rooms.
The club rooms took over 6 years to complete with the foundation stone being laid on 17 December 1962, with the official opening on 19 April 1969 by MP Martin Finlay. Just as the land was prepared solely by club members, so to was the club room built completely by members including Ken Pitman, Tom Hetherington, Ted Quedely, Eric Draper, Ernie Rainbow, Morrie Ramsey, Peter and Bis Pitman, Buddy Jones, Harry McWilliams, Jim Denyer, Gordon McCarten, Pat Fairweather, Don McMeekin, Murray Hill and Ian Pattulo.
By the 1970s Te Atatū were becoming more competitive on the field at senior level and completed wins over all of the top clubs over a period of time, including Ellerslie Eagles, Mt Albert Lions, Glenora Bears, Richmond Bulldogs and Ponsonby Ponies. At this time the club also began producing NZ international quality players such as Dennis Williams who aged only 18 famously scored a brilliant individual try with his first touch of the ball in his debut test versus Great Britain, along with John Smith and John Wilson. In 1973 they won the Senior Competition and the Phelan Shield. In the same year they played the first ever Australian Aboriginal rugby league team in a pre season game, losing 13–17.
Around this time other branches of the club were formed at Ranui (which later led to the formation of the Waitemata Seagulls), and Massey. Teams playing at Moire Park in Massey were known as Te Atatū Massey. The nickname 'Roosters' was adopted along with the Eastern Suburbs (now Sydney Roosters) style jersey. In 1976 they turned 21 yrs old and celebrated with a ball at the Mandalay in the city. In 1979 club members looking for a summer activity to continue bonding and to develop player skills formed the Te Atatū Roosters Softball Club. The softball club has since relocated to the Massey Rugby Club and plays at Rosedale Park on Auckland's North Shore, but has retained the name Roosters Softball Club.
In the 1980s the club finally began experiencing the success on the field they had sought after for many years. In 1986 they were runners up in the Fox Memorial Shield to Mt Albert losing 31-4 but weeks later were crowned National Club Champions after defeating the same opposition 36-10. Then in 1988 they won the Fox Memorial Shield beating local rivals Glenora 22–16 in the final at Carlaw Park and a month later won the National Club title for the second time by again defeating Glenora at Eden Park as curtain-raiser to the Kiwis – Kangaroo World Cup final.