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<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRemembering Cherie Steele-Shanks\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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30 July 2025<\/p>\n
We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Cherie Steele-Shanks, a rugby league stalwart and pioneer.<\/p>\n
Cherie dedicated nearly five decades of service to the game, helping rugby league thrive and most notably, championing growth of the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Hailing from Auckland\u2019s Hibiscus Coast, Cherie\u2019s love for the game dates back to 1976 when she took on the role of Secretary at Glenfield Rugby League, later also serving as Treasurer and Chairperson. Her efforts and work for the Greyhounds saw her awarded Life Membership at her beloved club.<\/p>\n
During this time, Cherie also served as Secretary of Auckland Rugby League Secretary, going on to hold a number of roles within the organisation until 1995.<\/p>\n
In 1996, Cherie established the New Zealand Women\u2019s Rugby League committee, which led to the inception of the first National Women\u2019s Tournament. She went on to lead the committee and players in raising $250,000 to attend the 2000 Women\u2019s World Cup which they won. This was followed by another World Cup victory in 2005.<\/p>\n
In recognition of her tireless efforts, Cherie received the New Zealand Rugby League Distinguished Service Award in 2006, and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 for services to women\u2019s rugby league.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Cherie became an NZRL Life Member, only the second woman in history to receive this honour.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging her pioneering work in advancing the women\u2019s game across Auckland and Aotearoa, Auckland Rugby League named the Women\u2019s Premiership Competition in her honour in 2023. Today, the Steele-Shanks Premiership remains the Auckland\u2019s premier women\u2019s competition and Cup.<\/p>\n
We offer our deepest sympathies and thoughts to Cherie\u2019s family, friends, and all those whose lives she impacted. Her contributions and legacy in our game of rugby league, especially the women\u2019s game, will live on forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remembering Cherie Steele-Shanks 30 July 2025 We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Cherie Steele-Shanks, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-31175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}