John Bray’s connection to the sport of rugby league began when he picked up a ball as a six-year-old in 1947 and took to the field to play for his local club.
Many decades later the east Auckland resident has been awarded The King’s Service Medal (KSM) in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours List for services to rugby league.
Bray’s contribution to and achievements in the game of rugby league in New Zealand is too extensive to detail in full.
His more than 75 years in the sport include starting out as a player for the Hornby Club in Christchurch before going on to play continuously through the grades to senior level.
Bray represented Canterbury in all grades, the South Island in senior grade in 1963-1964 and New Zealand in 1964 wearing the no. 6 jersey for the Kiwis.
He played two tests for New Zealand against France in 1964 but suffered injuries and retired early in 1966 to concentrate on completing a degree in accounting and other management qualifications.
“I pulled a hamstring in 1965 and missed the tour to England,” he says.
Over the years he also refereed schoolboy rugby league games, held various administrative roles including serving on the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) board for 13 years.
Bray managed several league teams in the 1980s and the NZ XIII tour to Queensland, Australia, in 1986.
He managed the successful 1987 Kiwi team which beat Papua New Guinea and Australia and the 1988 World Cup team which beat Great Britain to make the final but ultimately lost to Australia.
Bray joined the NZRL Museum Trust in 2005 and served as its chairman from 2015-2023. He was made a Life Member of NZRL in 2010.
When the Times asks Bray what it was about league that he loved so much he’s quick to answer.
“The people,” he says. “The people are good and you meet real people.
“It’s been largely underrated, the benefit that rugby league has done for New Zealand.”
He says the game provides opportunities to people in lower socioeconomic communities and it “keeps kids off the street”.
“It teaches them to accept adversity, hits and knocks, and work as a team. All of that sort of thing.”
