2019 - Mark Ealey

St Bede’s College Rugby is on a path to improve the quality and strength of the overall club and the school’s rugby programme. There are a number of facets to this, including:

• Improvement of the overall level of rugby delivery at St Bede’s so that a high number of students at the school will continue to make rugby their winter sport of choice
  
• Ensuring that all boys who participate in Rugby at St Bede’s benefit from doing so during their time at the College
  
• Delivery of actions to improve the performance of all teams across the club as well as the premier teams
  

With this in mind, the key tasks have been identified and in 2019 a new Rugby Development Officer (“RDO”) role has been put in place to help us deliver on these ambitions – setting up the Club to be stronger over many years. Mark Ealey will carry out this role in 2019.

Mark and his wife Miyuki had three rugby-playing sons go through the College between 2003 and 2009. Gareth was a tighthead prop, Nick a scrumhalf/flyhalf and Bryn was a jack-of-all-trades. Gareth went on to play for one year at University of Canterbury before switching to MMA and now Brazilian Jiujitsu, Nick is still playing at Kobe Steel and Bryn is currently a nationally ranked power-lifter.

Mark has an extensive background administering rugby in Christchurch and Japan. He played at University of Canterbury in the late 1970s and early 80s (overlapping at UCRFC with Mr. Davidson) before playing one season in Wales and a further ten seasons in Japan. Rugby has been his passion since switching from football at high school, something that is reflected in the fact that all three of the Ealey boys are named after scrumhalves, even including an Australian. Second son Nick has continued that family tradition by naming his second son “Aaron”. Being born in Anfield in Liverpool always meant that a round ball would be put in front of him, but the rugby fervour at Shirley Boys’ High School in the early to mid-1970s saw Mark change codes.

Mark lived in Japan from 1983 to 1994, before returning with wife Miyuki and the family to Christchurch. He worked at Christchurch Polytechnic for ten years lecturing in Japanese and Japanese Modern History, and has also been a freelance translator for the past 25 years, translating seven books from Japanese to English. Mark’s long-suffering wife (or ‘rugby widow’ as the Japanese say) Miyuki has certainly watched her fair share of Bedeans representing the College in one team or another through the years.

Mark also runs the International Rugby Programme (IRP) at St Bede’s College.

Please let yourself be known to Mark if you see him on a sideline this year. He will probably have a camera in his hand taking photos of the boys doing their thing out on the field.