Blair_Harding
Blair Harding
New Zealand international rugby league footballer
Blair Edward Harding[1] was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand in 1993.
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| Full name | Blair Edward Harding | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 January 2004 (aged 32) Christchurch, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Centre, Stand-off | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Harding played for Papanui in the Canterbury Rugby League competition. He played for Canterbury in 1993, being part of the side that defeated Auckland to win the National Provincial Competition.[2] Harding was then selected by Howie Tamati to be part of the New Zealand national rugby league team squad that toured Great Britain and France that year.[citation needed]
In 1994 Papanui won the Canterbury Rugby League's Pat Smith Challenge Trophy. Harding also played for the Canterbury Country Cardinals in the new Lion Red Cup competition.[3]
In 1995 Harding moved across town to join the Christchurch City Shiners, Canterbury's other Lion Red Cup team. He also played for the New Zealand Māori side.[4][5][6]
Harding continued to represent Canterbury until 1997.[7] He played for the Papanui Tigers during the 1998 season.[8][9]
Harding died on 11 January 2004, in Christchurch aged 32.[10]
- HARDING, Blair Edward 1993 - Kiwi #647 Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
- Smith, Tony (30 May 2009). "Nothing better than bettering Auckland". The Press. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1994. p.110
- Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1995, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1995. p.179
- Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1995, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1995. p.100
- John Coffey, Bernie Wood (2008). 100 years: Māori rugby league, 1908-2008. Huia Publishers. pp. 278–284. ISBN 978-1-86969-331-2.
- Revamped backline for Canterbury[dead link] The Press, 5 September 1997
- Sydenham fights in vain[dead link] The Press, 3 August 1998
- Harding fires Papanui's revival[dead link] The Press, 18 May 1998