Neil Howard at Tauranga Boys’ College holds a unique distinction. He is the only man to have coached three winning codes in Super 8 sports; football (1999, 2001) cricket (2005, 2006) and golf (2013).
“Howie” is a staunchly proud Auckland Grammar Old Boy. In 1987 he was a member of the First XI football team that won the Auckland and National Secondary Schools’ titles.
The team photo, illustrating a much leaner specimen, resides front and centre in his office. It reveals that the team played 30 games for 26 wins, 2 draws and just 2 defeats. They outscored their opposition 80 goals to 15!
Howie started at Tauranga Boys’ College in 1995, eventually reaching the status of assistant principal, a position he still holds.
He was hired by the long serving Principal and staunch supporter of the Super 8 concept, Graham Young, with the understanding that he would take over the First XI Cricket side at the end of the year.
Howie became First XI football coach “by accident” in the winter of 1995 after the sudden departure of a teacher and with the exception of 1997 continued in this role until 2005. By 1998 he was firmly entrenched in both codes and it’s doubtful that anybody has seen more Super 8 sport than Howie. He was witness to the first ball bowled in the first cricket tournament, Howie recalls:
“In 1998 we played Rotorua in the first Super 8 fixture in any code. It was a disaster for us. We were bowled out for 85 and lost by 8 wickets. Two All Blacks Craig Newby and Mike Delany played for Rotorua that day.”
Howie gleefully recalls though that Tauranga extracted revenge later in the season.
“We met again in a Gillette Cup match. We were bowled out for 168. Rotorua was 87/8, but put on 80 for the ninth wicket. The last two wickets fell in succession, leaving Rotorua one run shy of the target.”
Howie was coach or manager of the First XI cricket team from 1995-2008. In that time Tauranga managed to win the Super 8 twice (beating New Plymouth both times in 2005 and 2006).
They also attained four consecutive top three finishes at the Nationals from 2005-08. In 2005 Tauranga shared the Gillette Cup with Christchurch Boys’ High School to become National Champions.
Howie says a future Black Cap was a big part of these successes.
“Kane Williamson is one of the best schoolboy sportsmen I have been privileged to see. On debut for the third XI in the third form he made 93 against a First XI. In the fourth form he debuted for the Bay of Plenty senior team and made 60 against a Counties team featuring Black Cap Daryl Tuffey. His first class debut came in the sixth form. He was a more than useful basketballer to. In one Super 8 game I saw him hit eight three pointers. And most importantly he was an outstanding young man on and off the field”
Williamson’s most dominant season as a cricketer was in 2006. He scored 713 runs at 79.22 and took 22 wickets at 16.36. His highest score was 161.
However, Howie says it’s not the best innings he has seen in a Super 8 match. Peter Drysdale, the brother of Olympic rowing champion Mahe, holds that honour. Peter made 123 not out in the Super 8 final against New Plymouth. How many did Williamson get? He made 75 and took three wickets!
Howie recalls an amusing incident at the presentation ceremony of the 2005 Gillette Cup.
“In 2005 we (Tauranga Boys’) won the Gillette Cup. At the tournament dinner former New Zealand cricketer John Reid, who mentored me a little bit at Suburbs New Lynn, presented the trophy. In his speech he said I taught one of your teachers everything he knows.”
Howie says “Reid was a school teacher and after a serious chat about careers in the late eighties he ended up having more of an influence on me than he probably ever knew. He was a great role model as well as a great player and a true gentleman.”
In the winter football has kept Howie occupied. Howie coached the First XI for ten seasons and was even assistant coach of the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ team in Australia in 2003 & Canada in 2005. Under Howie Tauranga’s First XI won the Super 8 twice in 1999 and 2001, Howie recalls.
“In 1999 we won the first tournament on the Gully in New Plymouth. People were writing to the local paper complaining about the fact we were playing on the hallowed rugby turf”. The final was won 3-1 despite the miss of an early penalty.”
In 2001 Howie says Tauranga beat Hamilton in the final at Hastings with “one of the gustiest efforts I have ever seen.
“Hamilton had about 70% of the ball, but we won with a great defensive effort.” With 5 wins out of 5, they were deserved winners.”
Nathan Fry, who later coached the First XI and scored a goal for New Zealand when they famously held the England Schoolboys to a draw, was the captain in 2001 and again in 2002 when Tauranga achieved their best ever finish to a season in 2002 when they were Runners up at the Nationals (to the old enemy, Auckland Grammar).
“The 2002 team was a special group – determined, skilled and focussed. We didn’t win Super 8 that year which proved how tough the Super 8 is because one lapse cost us, but certainly provided us the desire to do even better later in the season.”
In 2008 Howie had a change of pace in regards to sport. He took over golf. Howie admits his knowledge of golf is limited, “all I really do is drive the van.” However in 2013 Tauranga won the golf competition for the first time and finished third at the Nationals.
Howie says, “I like to compete and I guess because I had success in other codes, I convinced the boys that the Super 8 isn’t this big mythical thing and that they we’re just as capable as those young men from our school who had gone before them.”