Howard Kevin Tamati (born 3 January 1953), generally known as Howie Tamati, is a New Zealand politician and former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer and coach who played for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He is the cousin of fellow international Kevin Tamati.

Early life and family

Tamati was born in Waitara on 3 January 1953, the son of Esme and Kingi Tamati. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

descent, he affiliates to the

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa or Te Ātiawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with about 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in We ...

Ngāti Mutunga Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki hapū), and then to the Chatham Islands (along with Ngāti Tama) ...

and

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. He was educated at Waitara High School. Tamati is the cousin of Kevin Tamati. Howie Tamati and Joanne Smith had three children. He is now married to Aroaro and has four more children.

Rugby league career

Player

Tamati played for the Waitara Bears and represented

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

locally before being selected for the Kiwis in 1979. Tamati played a total of 50 games for the Kiwis, including 24 tests for them between 1979 and 1985. Tamati played for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

between 1983 and 1984. He played against his cousin in the final of the 1984 Challenge Cup.

Coach

Tamati began his coaching career with the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

side. He then coached the New Zealand side for two years from 1992. He was replaced in 1994 by Frank Endacott. Tamati coached the Taranaki Rockets in the 1996 Lion Red Cup and the 1997 Super League Challenge Cup. In 1997, he was appointed the coach of the Oceania Nines Fiji national team. Since 2007, he has been the convener of the New Zealand Kiwis selectors.

Administrator

Tamati currently serves as the Chairman of the New Zealand Māori Rugby League starting in 2004. Tamati was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Sport Taranaki from 1994-2019. In 2013 he was appointed the president of

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

Political career

Tamati served three terms as a

New Plymouth District Council New Plymouth District Council () is the territorial authority for the New Plymouth District of New Zealand. The council consists of the mayor of New Plymouth, , and 14 ward councillors. Composition Councillors * Mayor, * Councillors at Lar ...

lor from 1999 to 2007. He was re-elected as a councillor in October 2010. He is the former chairman of Te Ihi Tu Maori Prisoner Habilitation Centre in New Plymouth. In 2016 he announced he would not seek re-election to the council in 2015 and won the

Māori Party Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

nomination for the

Te Tai Hauāuru Te Tai Hauāuru () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives, that was first formed for the . The electorate was represented by Tariana Turia from to 2014, f ...

electorate in the

2017 New Zealand general election The 2017 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 23 September 2017 to determine the membership of the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. The 51st New Zealand Parliament, previous parliament was elected on 20 September 2014 and was official ...

Honours and awards

In 1990, Tamati was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the

1994 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1994 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other ...

, he was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to rugby league.Sporting Trio in Latest Wing of Graduating 'Cops'
''New Zealand Police'', 28 November 2007 Tamati was selected as the patron of New Zealand Police recruitment wing 245 in 2007. In 2008, he was named in the

Taranaki Rugby League Taranaki Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. The TRL are represented by the Taranaki rugby league team. They are in the Mid-Central zone along with the ...

Team of the Century. He has also been inducted into the Taranaki Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

NZRL Roll of Honour

Profile at CherryandWhite.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamati, Howie 1953 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Central Districts rugby league team players Fiji national rugby league team coaches Junior Kiwis coaches Local politicians in New Zealand New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team coaches New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportsperson-politicians Ngāi Tahu people Ngāti Mutunga people People educated at Waitara High School Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Waitara, New Zealand Taranaki rugby league team coaches Taranaki rugby league team players Te Āti Awa people Te Pāti Māori politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Waitara Bears players Wellington rugby league team coaches Wigan Warriors players