Wiremu Hira Muru ( – 15 May 2020), commonly known as Rick Muru, 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 ...

footballer 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 ...

Playing career

From

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settleme ...

, Muru played for the

Taniwharau Rugby League Club The Taniwharau Rugby League Club is a rugby league club from Huntly, New Zealand. They compete in the Waikato Rugby League and WaiCoa club competitions. The club plays in a green and gold strip and are based at Waahi Pa Huntly. History Taniwhar ...

in the

Waikato Rugby League Waikato Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of rugby league in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The WRL are represented by the Waikato rugby league team. They are currently part of the Upper Central Zone alo ...

competition and represented

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, t ...

. He also played for New Zealand Māori, including at the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1977 Pacific Cup The 1977 Pacific Cup was the second edition of the Pacific Cup, a rugby league tournament held between Pacific teams. The tournament was hosted by New Zealand and eventually won by the New Zealand Māori side, who defeated Western Australia 35-12 ...

s. In 1980 Muru was selected to play for the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird o ...

on their tour of Great Britain and France. He played in 5 games, scoring one try, but did not play in any of the test matches.

Later years

Muru was a member of the

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are ...

tribe and was a nephew of

Robert Mahuta Sir Robert Te Kotahi Mahuta (26 April 1939 – 1 February 2001) was a prominent Māori politician. He was born Robert Jeremiah Ormsby and changed his name by deed poll. Mahuta was the first Māori leader to negotiate a satisfactory compens ...

. Muru served as the chairman of the Waahi Marae Committee and was a board member of the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand 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 ...

when Tainui controlled the club. In 2015, he was named at prop in Taniwharau's team of their first 70 years. Muru died at Waahi Pā, Huntly, on 15 May 2020, aged 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muru, Rick 1950s births 2020 deaths New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league players Place of birth missing Rugby league players from Huntly, New Zealand Rugby league props Taniwharau Rugby League Club players Waikato rugby league team players Year of birth missing