Rata Wiremu Harrison (3 January 1935 – 30 April 2013) was a New Zealand

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 ...

player who represented

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 was the brother of fellow New Zealand international Billy Harrison.

Playing career

Harrison played for

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 ...

.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. . He played in two test matches for

in 1961, against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. On 13 August 1962, Harrison was part of the Auckland side who defeated

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

46-13 at

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 19 ...

. This was the first televised rugby league match in New Zealand, as one hour of edited highlights were shown on AKTV2 that night and other regional channels showed the highlights the following week.Coffey, John. ''Canterbury XIII'', Christchurch, 1987. Harrison died on 30 April 2013.Rata Harrison
''nzherald.co.nz'', 2 May 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Rata 1935 births 2013 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Rugby league players from the Auckland Region Rugby league props