John Yates is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand in two World Cups. His brother, Victor, was a New Zealand rugby union representative and played rugby league for Auckland while his father, Moses, represented North Auckland in rugby union.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Edward Yates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby league | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Prop, Second-row | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing career edit
Yates originally played rugby union, playing his first senior game for Rarawa and was chosen for North Auckland.[2]
In 1953 Yates switched codes and he quickly became an Auckland representative and first played for the New Zealand national rugby league team in 1954.[3] He was part of both the 1954 and 1957 World Cup squads.
In 1958 he was part of Auckland Rugby League's first ever Grand Final, being part of the Otahuhu Leopards side that lost 7-16 to Ponsonby.[4]
References edit
- ^ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ The Sporting Yates Family Te Ao Hou The New World, No. 37 (December 1961) p.60.
- ^ YATES, John Edward - 1954 - 57 Archived 5 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
- ^ Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4.