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

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. He was the brother of fellow New Zealand international Billy Harrison.

Playing career

Harrison played for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

.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 primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. 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 northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

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 New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Auckland rugby league team players Rugby league props