Grassroots coach, Rugby Southland board, and everything in between
“The fundamentals of a five-year-old going to watch rugby probably hasn’t changed from when I was five. You always thought those guys were All Blacks, a lot of them were just club rugby players."
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Not many people get to view Southland rugby through as many lenses as Michael McKenzie.
On Saturday afternoons you’ll spot him behind the goalposts watching intently in his role as Pirates-Old Boys’ premier head coach.
Following the club season, McKenzie slips into his next duty, coaching the Southland Development team - effectively the Stags’ feeder team.
Up until April McKenzie was also the Pirates-Old Boys Rugby Club’s president.
He only stepped down from that role to avoid a conflict of interest after being appointed to Rugby Southland’s board.
Volunteers are grassroots sport’s kryptonite, and McKenzie provides a shining example of that.
His recent appointment to the Rugby Southland board simply adds to his growing commitment to the sport he loves.
“I’ve always probably been of the mindset, rather than standing on the sidelines pointing the finger saying there are issues, I like to be part of the solution. That’s ultimately where the board role interests me.”
“For me, I was interested in how the bigger wheel turns, I suppose.”
His knowledge of the rugby workings sets him up well for the Rugby Southland board role. But McKenzie also comes from a financial background in the banking sector.
It’s an important asset given the ever-growing financial pressures on provincial rugby unions.
McKenzie’s already shown at a grassroots level he can very much be part of a solution.
The Pirates-Old Boys premier team has had its challenges before becoming a regular playoff team which now bangs loudly on the door of a Galbraith Shield title each year.
He recalls battling to beat Riversdale while having just 16 players available in his early days as coach. Pirates-Old Boys had four usual forwards playing in the backline that day, and McKenzie had to pull on the boots given the shortage of playing numbers.
A couple of weeks later they had to default to Star because of a lack of frontrowers.
It was a bleak period for Pirates-Old Boys.
“We had 16 players the first year I was there…. We had a lot of guys stepping up from the Bs to just get a team on the field and that showed the resilience the club had.”
The following year, in 2019, he coached alongside David Hall when Pirates-Old Boys progressed to the final before being beaten by Marist in the decider.
“[The turnaround] has been based on having good loyalty out of the team, guys that have stuck around and adding a few additions here and there. One of our first recruits was Isaac [Te Tamaki], he has been a great servant and a very loyal guy and a true club man.”
If that wasn’t enough, McKenzie decided to get himself involved with the club’s committee and quickly found himself as the Pirates-Old Boys president.
Much like on the field, the club had some work to do off it to ensure it had a sustainable long-term future.
He’s proud of what has unfolded in recent years where playing numbers were now healthy and the clubrooms on Saturday evenings were a popular place to be.
“I think Covid taught us all a lot of things, if we were going to keep doing what we were doing we were going to get left behind.”
“The biggest thing I saw looking in was the club was probably 18-19 years since its joint venture and there was still a lot of thinking where part of it was Pirates and part of it was Old Boys.
“I looked at it and thought this is a successful club in its own right, as a joint venture, so let’s operate as one. Let’s be proud of heritage but push forward, and also let’s look at the opportunity.”
There was a big push to get more people back together in the clubrooms after games, and they’ve gone about putting on various events to do so.
“It hasn’t been about spending money it’s about people leading by action and doing things.”
“The success of it has been the people involved taking a lead on it, that’s why I hold the committee in such high regard because it has been a bunch of people who have been prepared to put their hands up.”
McKenzie has enjoyed playing a role in helping the Pirates-Old Boys rival, given it was at the Pirates Rugby Club where his love of the sport was sparked.
His father played and coached at Pirates. McKenzie recalls the Saturday evenings as a kid playing in the Camden St gym, attached to the old Pirates clubrooms, while dad dissected the days’ rugby over a beer.
While rugby in many ways has changed, the formula of latching onto the interest of kids remained the same today, McKenzie says.
He pointed to the role the Stags can play in that. It’s bigger than just results on the scoreboard.
“The fundamentals of a five-year-old going to watch rugby probably hasn’t changed from when I was five. You always thought those guys were All Blacks, a lot of them were just club rugby players, but in your eyes they were All Blacks.
“So, the ability of those players or the management to say ‘gidday’ to those kids, give them a pat on the back, shake a hand, sign an autograph here or there, has the same feeling 20 or 30 years ago.
“At the end of the day there is more to it than just the winning and losing, it’s those people and how they present themselves in the community.
“It’s about making sure all of our people are ambassadors of our brand and represent us in the best way possible.”
For McKenzie, his playing journey started as a kid in the under-6 ranks at Central Star at Browns.
He continued when it was merged to become Limehills-Star and then again when Drummond was added to become Drummond-Limehills-Star.
After his school days at Central Southland College he headed to Lincoln where continued to play before heading on to the Pleasant Point Rugby Club in Timaru.
On his return to Southland, he ended up joining the Midlands Rugby Club, while living in Winton. He eventually ended up helping then Midlands head coach Paul Henderson with the club’s Premier team.
Five games into the season Henderson had to withdraw and McKenzie at 28-years-old found himself holding the reins to a premier team which was struggling in that grade.
After moving into Invercargill he had a conversation with Regan Johns, who was coaching Pirates-Old Boys’ premier team at the time, and Johns got McKenzie involved.
That move from Johns was a smart one given just what McKenzie has since poured into the club.
McKenzie is in his seventh year as a part of the Pirates-Old Boys’ premier coaching team.
Pirates-Old Boys has developed into a consistent performer, although the club hasn’t etched its name on the Galbraith Shield since 2006.
They’ll get another chance to take a big step towards that on Saturday when they line up in a 2023 semifinal showdown against Woodlands.
Although many will have Woodlands as warm favorites given it finished the round-robin first and Pirates-Old Boys fourth.
Every club needs stayers like Mckenzie all voluntary of course.and supporters who are there win lose or draw.marist supporters club started by the late Peter Grace has been a great asset over the last 30 years or so for the green and blacks.good luck all the finalists but go marist!