26 May 2015

Sir Owen Glenn names Warriors trust board

4:11 pm on 26 May 2015

The former ACT Party leader, John Banks, will be involved in running a trust established by millionaire Sir Owen Glenn to develop rugby league at grassroots and secondary school level.

After a falling out with fellow Warriors owner Eric Watson, Sir Owen has transferred his 50% stake in the Warriors rugby league club into trust named the "Sir Owen Glenn Warriors Trust".

He has appointed Banks, Bill Birnie and Mark Rice as board members while Sir Ralph Norris will be the patron of the trusts.

Sir Owen said, Mr Birinie is ideally suited to chair the board given his role as a board member of Sport New Zealand, High Performance Sport NZ and the Warriors.

He said with Mr Banks being a previous Minister of Sport, Mayor of Auckland and passionate rugby league supporter, h was an ideal person for the role.

Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell on the burst.

Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell on the burst. Photo: Photosport

Mr Rice is the Principal of St Paul's College in Auckland, a school that has a positive rugby league culture and encourages participation in the sport. Mark is also a Trustee of Sport Auckland, a past Convenor of the NZ Secondary Schools Rugby League Council and recent past member of the Auckland Secondary School Heads Association College Sport board.

Sir Owen also announced he was giving an additional $100,000 on the Trust, and lead a process with the Trustee board members and the NZRL to produce a five-year blueprint to advance the sport of rugby league in New Zealand.

Given Sir Owen is giving his Warriors shares to the trust Sir Owen felt there was no reason for the existing proceedings between he and club co-owner Mr Watson, which currently before the courts, to continue.