Sonz Tana
“My family and I first moved to Avondale in the 1950s, back when there were vineyards and orchards. We lived on Rosebank Road where the Market Gardens were. I’ve lived on Great North Road, Victor Street and then settled on Eastdale Road. There are now 5 generations of my whānau who are still here. I enjoy living in Avondale, the people make it home.
When I came to Auckland, I attended Avondale Primary and that’s where I learnt how to speak Pākehā. Back then, us Pākehā and Māori children, we didn’t know what the difference was, we were just humans. I’ve been able to keep my reo because my mother spoke it to me and so I still speak the old Ngāpuhi tongue.
The dialect being taught today is very different to mine. When I attended meetings in Auckland with other kaumatua, they acknowledged my strong accent, which is from home, up north. When my kids ask me why I didn’t teach them, I told them I was not going to force it on them; they need to learn their reo in their own time. Now they are learning and I support them, although the dialect they learn now is very different, I don’t judge them. My kids know they can come to me and ask for advice.
My journey with Avondale Wolves began when I took my daughter, Tuvira, to play for the Under 6s in 1983. At the time, Rugby League was seen as a ‘boys’ game but when my daughter finally got a chance to play, the coaches did not want to take her off. She was dynamite! I was a coach, player and committee member for Avondale Wolves. I’ve coached many kids back in the day, including Karmichael Hunt, Tony Tatupu and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad; whose Dad also played with me at Avondale Wolves. I knew the father of Kat Saifiti, (current manager of the Avondale Wolves) Trevor Saifiti, very well.
My advice to the Avondale Wolves is to keep climbing that ladder!”