Ruben Wiki,
ONZMThe New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
(born 21 January 1973 in
South AucklandSouth Auckland is an imprecisely defined area of Auckland, New Zealand, often stereotyped as a socio-economically disadvantaged, and sometimes rough, urban area with a relatively large Polynesian and Māori population. The name South Auckland is not an official place name but is in common use by New...
, New Zealand) is a former professional
rugby leagueRugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative centre-turned-prop forward, he retired with the record for most number of international appearances of any rugby league player in history. At club level Wiki played for the
Canberra RaidersThe Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...
, winning the 1994 NSWRL Premiership with them before finishing his career with the
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
. He currently works as the
NZRLThe New Zealand Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. The NZRL was founded on the 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year....
's High Performance Manager and a High Performance Assistant with the
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
.
Playing career
An
Otahuhu LeopardsThe Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, New Zealand. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competition run by the Auckland Rugby League. They are coached by Peter Caccioppoli. Between 2000 and 2003 they also competed in the Bartercard Cup.The team are the current holders of...
junior, Wiki played first grade for the
Canberra RaidersThe Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...
and
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
in the
AustralasiaAustralasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
n
National Rugby LeagueThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
(NRL) competition.
Alongside future All Black captain
Tana UmagaJonathan Ionatana Falefasa "Tana" Umaga, ONZM is a New Zealand rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He played for the Hurricanes starting with the Super 12's inception in 1996 and took over the captaincy in 2003...
, Wiki wreaked havoc for the
Junior KiwisThe Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. They are not necessarily an age grade side, but the second national team behind the New Zealand national rugby league team. They are...
in 1992. He represented the
New Zealand Māori side-See also:* New Zealand national rugby league team* New Zealand Māori rugby union team* New Zealand Māori cricket team-External links:* Google Books...
in 1992 and 1993, playing on the wing at the
1992 Pacific Cup-Section 2:An opening ceremony was held at Carlaw Park before the New Zealand Māori v Australian Aboriginies match.-Finals:-Semi Finals:-Third place playoff:-Final:...
. In 1993 he played for
AucklandThe Auckland rugby league team is the team which traditionally represents all of the clubs which play in the Auckland Rugby League competition. The Auckland Rugby League team has traditionally been a powerhouse of New Zealand domestic rugby league...
.
In 1994, he teamed up with Kangaroo legend and current Queensland State of Origin coach,
Mal MeningaMalcolm Norman Meninga AM is an Australian former rugby league test captain and current coach of Queensland's State of Origin team. As a player he was a legendary goal-kicking centre, counted amongst the finest footballers of the 20th century...
(who was recently listed in the
Australian Rugby League's Team of the CenturyIn late 2007, the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League commissioned a college of 130 experts to select the 100 best rugby league players in the game's 100-year history in Australia...
, as centre to score a premiership win for the Canberra Raiders. He was then involved in controversy when both the
Canberra RaidersThe Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...
and new Auckland Warriors tried to register him for the 1995 season. After a long dispute Wiki stayed with Canberra where he would remain until 2004 before moving to the Warriors. In 2001 Wiki was banned for two matches after pleading guilty to a dangerous throw charge on Sydney prop
Scott LoganScott Logan is an Australian former professional rugby league player for the Canberra Raiders. His position is prop. He has been described as, "one of the most durable props of the modern era."-Playing career:...
.
Wiki joined the
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
in 2005. He became only the tenth player and first New Zealander to play 300 first grade games in the NRL when he started at prop in the Warriors 28-26 victory against the
Wests TigersThe Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...
on the 29 June 2008.
Representative Football
Wiki, of Samoan and Maori heritage, played 55
test matchA Test match in rugby league football is a representative match between teams representing members of the Rugby League International Federation.The definition of a Test match differs from that of an international match...
es for New Zealand between 1994 and 2006, equally (with
Darren LockyerDarren Lockyer is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He was the captain of the Australian national team, the Queensland State of Origin team and his National Rugby League club, the Brisbane Broncos. His professional career spanned between 1995 and 2011...
) the most test matches played by any rugby league footballer in the world (as at May 2011). He captained the
New Zealand national rugby league teamThe New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
in 18 of those tests.
Wiki will probably be remembered most as the captain of the Kiwi team that scored an historic 24–0 win over the Kangaroos in the 2005 Tri-nations. This was the first series win since 1978 and the first time in 20 years that New Zealand had kept Australia scoreless in a test match. In the final Wiki was named man-of-the-match and became the first player of any nation to reach fifty test caps.
During that same period, his former junior Kiwi team mate Tana Umaga, was also captaining his team, the
All BlacksThe New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
to an undefeated tour of the England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
Retirement
After playing his 55th test match in the 2006 Tri Nations final Ruben Wiki announced his retirement from the international game along with other New Zealand veterans
Nigel VaganaNigel Vagana is a retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand and Samoa international representative centre, he retired as the Kiwis' all-time top try-scorer with 19...
and
Stacey JonesStacey William Jones, ONZM is a professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He currently plays for the Point Chevalier Pirates in the Auckland Rugby League's Phelan Shield...
. New Zealand lost the final in
golden pointThe golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn rugby league football matches. The term is borrowed from soccer's now defunct golden goal.-Australasia:...
extra time 12-16 after the scores were locked at 12-all after 80 minutes.
Wiki snubbed the chance to join a European
Super LeagueSuper League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
side for the 2009 season, and entered into retirement from first grade rugby league in 2008.
He played, what was meant to be his final game with the
All GoldsThe All Golds could mean;*The touring party of New Zealand players in the 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain*The New Zealand national rugby league team itself*The 2007 All Golds Tour in celebration of the original tour...
as part of the
2008 Rugby League World CupThe 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...
against the
New Zealand Maori rugby league team-See also:* New Zealand national rugby league team* New Zealand Māori rugby union team* New Zealand Māori cricket team-External links:* Google Books...
. Later that year he was an assistant to the New Zealand team which won the Rugby League World Cup.
In 2009 Wiki came out of retirement to play for the Samoan Residents, a team representing his Mother's homeland, in a one off match which raised money for the
Samoan tsunamiThe 2009 Samoa earthquake was an 8.1 Mw submarine earthquake that took place in the Samoan Islands region at 06:48:11 local time on September 29, 2009 . At a magnitude of 8.1, it was the largest earthquake of 2009....
relief fund.
In 2010 Wiki took up a role as a High Performance Assistant with the Warriors. On the 22 January Wiki was named the
New Zealand Rugby LeagueThe New Zealand Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. The NZRL was founded on the 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year....
's national High Performance Manager, a role which will ensure he is involved with the New Zealand Kiwis.
Media
Wiki's biography,
Ruben Wiki, was published in 2006.
In August 2009, Wiki appeared on the New Zealand travel program
Intrepid JourneysIntrepid Journeys is a New Zealand television series, which screens on TV ONE. Making its debut in 2003, the show focuses on New Zealand "celebrities" who travel over to exotic countries to see the country's history, culture and people....
with a trip to
LaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
.
Honours
In 2002 and 2003 Wiki was named the
Canberra Raiders' player of the yearThe Mal Meninga Medal is the name of the award that goes to the Canberra Raiders' Player of the Year. The award was named after former Raiders captain and coach, Mal Meninga and was first awarded in 2008. Before this there was no name for the award but was still awarded...
. In 2006, he was named in a
KiwiThe New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
All Time XIII at a gala awards dinner celebrating New Zealand's centenary of rugby league alongside his good friend
Stacey JonesStacey William Jones, ONZM is a professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He currently plays for the Point Chevalier Pirates in the Auckland Rugby League's Phelan Shield...
. Wiki and Jones are the only recent players to be named in the side with the majority of the players being from the "immortal" 1950-60s side and the destructive 1980s team.
Wiki was made an
Officer of the New Zealand Order of MeritThe New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
(ONZM) in 2007 for his services to rugby league.
Career highlights
- 2008 - New Zealand Warriors
The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
upsetting minor premiers the Melbourne StormThe Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
18-15 in what was the first time an 8th placed team had defeated the 1st placed since 1999.
- 2008 - First New Zealander to reach 300 first grade NRL games
- 2008 - The oldest player in the NRL at 35 years and 250 days.
- 55 test caps for Kiwis 1994-2006 before retiring from representative football
- 18 tests as Kiwi captain 2003-2006
- 2006 - Set a record for the most first grade NRL games by a New Zealander, surpassing Stephen Kearney
Stephen Peter Kearney, ONZM is a professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Parramatta Eels in the NRL as well as the New Zealand national team...
's mark of 264 games.
- 2005 - Was awarded man of the match in his 50th test for the Kiwis. In the same match he also became the first player ever to receive 50 test caps for their country. New Zealand won this historic test against Australia 24-0 and consequently beat Australia for the first time in a series since 1953.
- 1994 - Won a premiership with the Canberra Raiders club.
- First Grade Debut: Round 11, Canberra v South Sydney at Canberra Stadium, 13 June 1993
Personal life
Wiki drank a bowl of the Pacific island drink
kavaKava or kava-kava is a crop of the western Pacific....
after each match, which he credits for his longevity in the game.
His sister, Germaine Wiki, has also represented the Kiwi Ferns.