The Surrey Hotel in Grey Lynn has realigned themselves with one of the oldest and largest sports clubs in the inner Auckland city region as a returning sponsor. It is exciting times for the club with the growth of rugby league continuing through the exposure of its players represented in the Vodafone Warriors and International rugby league teams (including woman's grades). This relationship was forged in 2013 when Richmond celebrated its 100th centenary year over the Queen’s birthday weekend. Since then both the Richmond club and The Surrey Hotel have enjoyed many events including Richmond Senior End of Year Award Prize Giving evenings, social club events and Richmond Board meetings.
The Surrey Hotel’s high profile sits comfortably with Richmond’s own profile within the larger Grey Lynn community. Club Chairman Nigel Vagana commented “it is tough for the Richmond Rovers club to maintain our high standards both on the field and off. The generous support of The Surrey Hotel allows us to continue our development. As a local sports club we are continuing to set a high benchmark for our club both on and off the field”. We can only do this off the back of generous sponsors.
Denise King of The Surrey Hotel, added “The Surrey Hotel is delighted to be again partner with one of Grey Lynn’s, if not the greater inner city regions, most successful sports clubs which has had over 50 Kiwi International players developed from this local club. We see it as a great opportunity to assist the club with the development of their junior and senior players from the Richmond juniors ages five up to the Premiers as well as senior Masters (35+ year old) club members. The Richmond club is dedicated to making rugby league accessible and fun for everyone from the social player to those more serious”.
Over recent years the Richmond Rovers club has developed a strong and growing Richmond Junior Academy programme which assists younger players who show talent early on and helps them progress into potentially representing rep teams and maybe even New Zealand one day.