By Stu Piddington

Timaru lawyer Pauline-Jean Luyten has made New Zealand rugby history as the first woman of Pacific Island descent to be appointed to a provincial union board.

Luyten, of Tongan descent, will join the South Canterbury Rugby Football Union board as an independent following the union's annual meeting on Wednesday.

The appointment has been met with pride by South Canterbury Rugby chief executive Craig Calder who said the union is proud to appoint the first ever woman Pasifika board member in New Zealand Rugby.

BEJON HASWELL/STUFF

Pauline-Jean Luyten is the first woman of Pacific Island descent to make it on to a provincial rugby union board.

Luyten said it was an honour and privilege to be asked to the board.

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"To also be able the help the Tongan rugby community and make connections between the cultures is great," she said.

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"I guess being female also adds another dimension."

Luyten said she had always been a "passionate" rugby fan with a love of all sport.

"I remember collecting the 'Small Blacks' when I was young and then at Timaru Girls' High School I played rugby back in 1997 when it was first introduced .

"I was a fullback because of my background in football I could kick a ball. My twin sister Mary-Ellen played in the forwards and went on to represent the South Canterbury women's team."

Luyten's rugby playing career was brief endding before university when she dislocated her shoulder. Later she took up running ultra-marathons, including completing the Mt Everest marathon in Nepal, the 60km Kepler Challenge and finishing the Oxfam 100km race in 22 hours.

Her mother Ailine was one of the first Tongan women to take up residence in Timaru when she arrived in the early 1970s.

"We have an interesting family tree because my father is Dutch and I have married a Welshman."

As well as a law degree at Otago University Luyten completed a Bachelor of Science in 2005 and then went on to complete post graduate studies in sports medicine in 2009.

At the moment she is completing her Master of Indigenous Studies.

"That is also helping me explore my Tongan identity," she said.

"I am looking also forward to contributing to rugby, the board are a great bunch, passionate about preserving the game and seem really open to any new ideas."

Generous with her time, Luyten, who has three children under the age of 7, was also a founding member of the Tongan Society South Canterbury which was established in 2016, is on the society's board, and is its secretary.

A number of her cousins are handy provincial rugby players including Seti Kiole who played for Mackenzie back in 2003 and still holds the Hamersley Cup senior record for tries in season. Kiole dotted down 35 times at an average of just under three a game, before taking up an overseas contract.

Luyten said her mother helped many of the early Tongan rugby imports to South Canterbury adjust to life in New Zealand, including those living in Fairlie.

South Canterbury Rugby chief executive Craig Calder said they were delighted to welcome Luyten onto the board.

"Pauline brings to the board an in-depth legal skill base that we were seeking to cover fellow lawyer Greta's (O'Connor) leave.

"We worked with Pauline and the Tongan Society when we arranged the recent Pasifika Talanoa, her experience helped give us an insight and how to better connect with the Pasifika community."

He said it was an exciting era for rugby and the union looked forward to Pauline bringing a fresh perspective to the board table, and to contribute to the growth of South Canterbury rugby.

At the annual meeting Neville Twaddle was elected president and Grant Norton was installed as chairman with new board member Steve Fisher his vice chair.  Fisher has also taken over from Jeremy Sutherland as the Council of Clubs chairman.

Roncalli College deputy principal Andrew Jones was the other new face elected on the board to join Ray Teahan, Brent Isbister, Vaughan O'Shaughnessy, Michelle Martin and Luyten.

In 2015 Martin became the first woman appointed to the South Canterbury Rugby board.

Article added: Saturday 04 May 2019