Ernie Wiggs Explained

Ernie Wiggs
Fullname:Ernest David Wiggs
Birth Place:New Zealand
Club1:Otahuhu Leopards
Club2:Mount Albert Lions
Teama:Auckland
Teamb:New Zealand
Yearbstart:1964
Yearbend:68
Appearancesb:5
Triesb:1
Goalsb:20
Fieldgoalsb:0
Pointsb:43
Coachteam1:Mangere East Hawks
Coachteam2:Otahuhu Leopards
Source:[1]
New:yes

Ernest David "Ernie" Wiggs (– 10 October 2014) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand in the 1968 World Cup.

Playing career

Wiggs played for Otahuhu in the Auckland Rugby League competition. An Auckland representative, Wiggs was selected for New Zealand in 1964 for a Test against France at Prop. He was then selected to play Great Britain at Lock in 1966 before being included in the 1968 World Cup squad as a Winger. Wiggs also won the New Zealand Rugby League's player of the year award that year.[2]

Between 1967 and 1970 he won the Painter Rosebowl Trophy four times as the leading points scorer in the Auckland Rugby League competition.[3] Wiggs was also part of the 1969 Auckland side that defeated Australia 15–14.[4] Wiggs again won the trophy in 1973, however by then he was playing for the Mount Albert Lions.

Wiggs later coached both the Otahuhu Leopards and the Mangere East Hawks.[3] In 1978 the Wiggs-coached Hawks made the Fox Memorial grand final, losing to Otahuhu.[5]

Wiggs died in 2014,[6] and he was buried at Waikumete Cemetery.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org. rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. 1 January 2018.
  2. Sky Rugby League Annual '98 New Zealand Rugby League, 1998
  3. http://www.aucklandleague.co.nz/display_page.asp?item=374 Otahuhu Rovers Rugby League Football and Sports Club Inc
  4. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood. Auckland: 100 Years Of Rugby League 1909-2009 Huia Publishing, 2009.
  5. The Hawks: 40 years of Rugby League, Suburban Newspapers Publishing, 2003. . p.12.
  6. News: Ernie Wiggs obituary. 15 October 2014. New Zealand Herald. 19 October 2014.
  7. Web site: Cemetery search details. Auckland Council. 19 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062825/http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/cnlser/cm/cemeterysearch/cemeterydetails.aspx?id=32466. 4 March 2016. dead.