The Northland rugby league team are a

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 ...

team that represents the

Northland Region Northland (), officially the Northland Region, is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 regions of New Zealand, local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout t ...

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 ...

competitions. They are based in

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to admi ...

. They currently compete in the

Albert Baskerville Trophy The NZRL Men's National Competition (previously called the National Zonal Competition) is the top-level rugby league competition run by the New Zealand Rugby League. In 2010 the competition replaced the Bartercard Premiership following a Sparc f ...

as the Northern Swords. Between 2006 and 2007 they were part of the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Ze ...

, playing under the name the Northern Storm. Northland was originally known as ''North Auckland'' and has previously used the nickname ''the Wild Boars''. The 2015 captain is Chris Bamford.

History

Northlands first season was 1929 and they challenged

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

for the

Northern Union Cup The Rugby League Cup is a New Zealand rugby league trophy that is contested between districts on a challenge basis. The trophy used to be known as the Northern Union Challenge Cup. It is the oldest rugby league competition in New Zealand. Hist ...

, losing 22–19.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. .

2006-2007: Bartercard Cup

The Northern Storm joined the

in time for the 2006 season. There inclusion was due to the work of Anthony Murray and Harry Clyde. The Storm's first win was 40–22 against

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 ...

and was dedicated to Murray who had died earlier that week.

Notable players

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

associated with the Northern Storm included

Todd Byrne Todd Byrne (born ), also known by the nicknames of "Bones", "The Big Pretzel", and "Skinny", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played at club level in the National Rugby League for the Sydn ...

& Grant Rovelli.

2006 results

In the Northern Storm's debut season in 2006 the club performed poorly, managing only two wins and two draws from eighteen matches. They finished in last position on the table, collecting the

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

. A bright point of the season was that fullback Brendon Hikaka, centre Mason Pure and hooker Linton Price were all selected for the

Junior Kiwis The 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. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

.Storm trio take a step up
''The Northern Advocate'', 25 August 2006

2007 results

Before the season started 2006 Head Coach Geoff Morton moved South and joined the

Counties Manukau Jetz The Counties Manukau rugby league team represents the Counties Manukau zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. Previously, teams representing Southern Auckland and the Franklin district of New Zealand have competed in the Lion Red Cup and Barte ...

. He was replaced by Phil Marsh. The Storm started the season strongly with big wins against the Jetz (54-28) and

Central Falcons The Manawatu rugby league team are a rugby league team that represents the Manawatu Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They have the nickname the Mustangs and between 2002 and 2007 competed in the Bartercard Cup as the Central ...

(48-24). However they then suffered heavy losses to both the

Waitakere Rangers The Waitakere Rangers were a team in the now defunct Bartercard Cup Rugby league competition in Sport in New Zealand, New Zealand. They represented five clubs based in Waitakere City including the Glenora Bears who previously represented the Cit ...

(66-16) and league leaders the

Auckland Lions The Auckland Lions were a rugby league club that had teams in both the New Zealand Bartercard Cup and the NSWRL Premier League. They were mostly drawn from the Mt Albert Lions Rugby League club. Mt Albert had a proud tradition in Auckland and had ...

(70-8). The squad showed improvement since 2006 but they again finished near the bottom of the table.

Notable players

Frank Pickrang Francis John Pickrang (18 February 1915 – 23 May 1999) was a rugby union and rugby league player. He represented the New Zealand rugby league team in 2 tests against England in 1936. In the process he became the 245th player to represent New ...

(played for New Zealand before moving to Whangārei to play for City in 1939).

References

External links

Northern Swords
''NZRL.co.nz'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Northland Rugby League Team Rugby league teams in New Zealand Rugby league in Northland 1929 establishments in New Zealand