Superbowl Wellington
Wellington Wolves now have 80 players of all levels involved with the club.
“I used to play NFL Blitz with Bryant Westbrook, who played for the Detroit Lions.”
Anaru arrived in Detroit with his family in 1998 when his mother got a job there as a teacher. He was fascinated by the new game.
“I’d watched it on television a little bit when I was in New Zealand, but I didn’t really understand the rules,” he says.
Westbrook took Anaru and his family to training sessions and to NFL games, and it wasn’t long before he wanted to play himself.
“In America, high school football can be pretty intense. They train two months before the start of the season. I would train twice a day, five days a week.”
Anaru spent six years in Detroit and football became an important part of his life.
“I would train for four hours in the morning, then take an hour and a half break, and then train for another three hours. I made many friends playing football, and when I started to practice with my high school team, everyone was so helpful and welcoming. It was a bit difficult remembering all the plays at first, but it becomes easier the more you practise.”
When Anaru returned home to Wellington in 2004 he feared his football days were over, until a chance meeting at an indoor netball game.
“I was introduced to a guy who played with the Wellington Wolves and he invited me to come along. I didn’t even know a football league existed in New Zealand,” he says.
American Football Wellington was set up in 1996 to govern the game in the city. However American football was first introduced when local man Quentin Poulsen started up Wellington’s first American football team in 1987.
For the team first two seasons they played without equipment, the team was eventually named the Harbour City Hurricanes and in 1989 they obtained some equipment.
In 2003 the Hurricanes amalgamated with the Wellington Knights to form the Wellington Wolves.
According to Anaru, interest in the game is growing.
“When you include juniors there’s about 80 players involved with the club now. A lot of the guys who play with us also play other sports. They can stay fit as our season takes place when the soccer and rugby seasons are finished. Anybody can come along and train.”
A number of Kiwis have played in the NFL, but probably the most successful was Riki Ellison, who played for nine years at the top level and won the superbowl twice.
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Quentin Poulsen at 8:22 a.m. on 11 September said
Thanks for the mention. It is true that twenty-three years ago I founded Wellington's first American football team. I set up two more clubs in the city, created a competition and regional association, and arranged for the Doane College Tigers of Nebraska to visit us for two games. So where am I now? Eleven years ago I packed my bags and headed for Europe in search of adventure. I actually had little idea of what I wanted to do, and spent much of the first year tending bar in pubs around Britain. Then one day I noticed in the Guardian an advertisement for people interested in becoming English teachers. The course was in Madrid. That was, perhaps, the biggest turning point of my life. I completed the course and have spent the past decade teaching English as a foreign language. Aside from Spain, where I worked in several different cities, this profession has taken me to China, Russia and Turkey, and also back to England, on two occasions, for summer camp work. I, myself, have learnt Spanish and Turkish along the way, taught myself to read French, and visisted much of Europe, the Middle East and India. As a New Zealander I am always mindful of what a huge privilege it is to live and work among foreign societies. It's an amazing lifestyle, and I've never looked back once on my decision to leave New Zealand.