NZ Warriors' Harata Butler completes emotional rugby league journey

RNZ News

a day ago

Harata Butler leads the Warriors out against Canterbury Bulldogs.
Photo:
www.photosport.nz
Harata Butler wipes away tears at the thought of taking her NRLW career to her childhood home of the Waikato.
On Saturday, NZ Warriors women will play the first of three 'home' games at Hamilton, when they face Canberra Raiders at FMG Stadium.
The Aussie rugby league competition will also celebrate 'Indigenous Round', so Butler and her teammates have a chance to debut their specially designed 'Te Kahu' jersey, and reflect on the diverse cultural forces that drive their collective journey.
"I don't know that I'll ever be able to find the right words to articulate this feeling at this time," she began. "It will probably be a feeling I want to bottle up and keep for a very long time to come."
A perfect storm of emotions hits Butler like a tsunami, as she thinks about how proud her deceased parents would be, if they could only be there to share the moment.
"Running out on Go Media Stadium for our first home game was a massive experience, but for me personally, this will be my Go Media runout," she admitted.
"Chasing the dream to play NRLW has come with sacrifices, like having to leave home. I was definitely trying to come home and play in front of my parents, but unfortunately, they will have the best seats in the crowd.
"They actually lay at Taupiri Maunga [cemetery], so being able to play at FMG on Saturday, knowing that it's so close - we'll drive past them on the way through - that's probably going to be my moment and every time I take that field, just knowing they're there."
Part of the Warriors' mission statement in their return to the competition is to blaze a pathway for young women all over the country to pursue rugby league as their chosen sport.
Taking the NRLW to the Waikato opens a doorway to the next generation, one that didn't seem to exist when Butler was growing up in nearby Huntly.
"When I was about eight, right up to when I was about 17, the only professional wahine athletes played netball," she said. "I used to think, 'I want to be a Silver Fern'.
"As I got a bit older and I stopped growing, and everyone got taller than me, I started thinking, 'I want to be something else now'. It wasn't until my late teens that the world of rugby union and rugby league smacked me in the face, and said, 'We've been here this whole time'.
"I had a bit of a dabble on the field and thought, 'I want to pursue this game'."
Harata Butler began her rugby league journey at Huntly's Taniwharau club.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Butler, 32, played her junior footy at the Taniwharau club, where former Warriors Lance Hohaia and Wairangi Koopu began their careers.
Her ambitions took her to Auckland and then across the Tasman, where she eventually made her NRLW debut for Cronulla Sharks in 2023. Since then, she has logged 18 games for the Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys and Warriors, while also representing Māori All Stars four times.
"If you ever wanted to be the best growing up and playing rugby league, you had to come to Tāmaki Makaurau, because this was where the game was thriving," she recalled.
"You saw a lot of wahine throughout New Zealand move to Tāmaki or travel. Now, having FMG Stadium considered a second home for our Warriors NRLW side … it's home for me, it's my first home and, being a proud wahine tangata whenua, it's going to be a memorable time."
As they embrace their cultural diversity, the Warriors women gathered at Te Mahurehure Marae in Point Chevalier this week to recognise their roots, whether they be Māori, Pacific Island or Indigenous Australian.
"I'm a Gomeroi man from far western New South Wales," coach Ron Griffiths said. "I've grown up knowing who I am.
"I can trace my lineage back to first contact in Australia - I was one generation away from the 'stolen generation'. My dad and my aunty used to get moved from house to house … they needed to have a clean set of clothes for school every day or they could have been taken from my grandmother.
"A lot of our language was displaced. We weren't allowed to speak language and there are so many parts of our history that are missing.
"We weren't even allowed to vote until the 1967 referendum."
Griffiths, who also coaches the Indigenous All Stars men, took the Warriors role knowing the part ethnicity would play in their programme.
"One thing for us, we've got a real diverse range of culture, so for me, it's been good to immerse ourselves in it and embrace it.
"The club is so welcoming, and wants to make sure every culture is acknowledged and everyone feels comfortable."
The Hamilton connection has a part to play in that and the Warriors wahine have already invested into building a rapport with their new fanbase, visiting local schools and conducting coaching clinics.
"Since day one, we've talked about changing the rugby league landscape in New Zealand," Griffiths said. "Waikato is a rugby league stronghold or it certainly could develop into one, if we put time into it, which we plan on doing."
Ron Griffiths took the Warriors job knowing it would come with a heavy accent on cultural diversity.
Photo:
Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Butler is sure the occasion will carry her team, who have
gathered back-to-back wins for the first time in their history
and now chase a third straight against the winless Raiders.
"There will definitely be mana pumping through all of us and, in another part of our beautiful country, there will be girls travelling with their families from rural communities," she said. "It's about inspiring the next generation, and we're here now and we're here for the long run."
As she reflects on her own pathway and the pioneers that showed the way for her, Butler understands she has been entrusted to continue that work in the NRLW's newest outpost.
"I'm so proud that I get to walk out and bring that to life for our girls down in the Waikato and throughout Aotearoa," she said. "We're here in their backyard and for them to see that in person with their own eyes will no doubt light that fire in a few bellies.
"To be part of this pioneering part and bringing the professionalism of this game back to Aotearoa … I like that word, but it makes me feel really old.
"I try and dodge it as much as I can, but it's a huge honour to be considered a pioneer of our game."
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