May 27, 2025 • 9 mins
The Hurricanes Alumni Foundation Trust is hosting its annual fundraising dinner on Friday - ahead of the much-anticipated Hurricanes v Moana Pasifika match.
The trust looks after former Hurricanes players who find themselves without jobs, in tough financial positions or struggling with mental health and well-being.
Former Hurricane and trust founder Mike Russell joined Nick Mills to discuss his work.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks ab Right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're privileged to have Mike Russell join us on the show. Now. Now,
there's a special event happening in Wellington this week. It's
the Hurricanes Alumni Foundation. Trust is hosting their annual fundraising
dinner on Friday to raise money to support Hurricanes alumni.
You know, this is a great initiative and a great
idea and when I first saw it, I thought to myself,
how good and every sporting organization should have one. They're
(00:37):
going to do stuff where they work with mental health,
well being and support and career support post rugby. When
you know these some of these guys are in huge
amounts of money one year, next year they don't get selected,
they're not wanted, they're gone. How do you go mentally
from being earning really really really good money to going
(00:58):
and finding a job. And basically this alumni is there
to try and help you and sort you. So joining
me now is Mike Russell the form Can you remember him?
He set up and was involved with the Trust with
an old friend of mine. By the way, Mike, welcome, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Nick.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Tell us about the alumni. What happened, how it started?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, it's not too glamorous. Chris Boyd you remember him.
He came to me one day and said, why don't
you set up an alumni And I thought, well, okay,
that'll be easy, that'll be there, very easy. But it was.
It was somewhat difficult because we didn't have all the names, addresses,
(01:40):
contact emails of the players, the management or anything. So
we had to start from scratch with a makeshift board
and finally got all the players, all the management, all
the staff, and got a database and where we went.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So has the has the Hurricanes organization been supportive or
they help you do they work with you?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Hurricanes have been fantastic that we couldn't do it without
their support. So the Hurricanes, the board's been fantastic, the
staff and obviously the coaches especially you know, the next
level now with Clark has fully embraced it and obviously
realizes the importance.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Now, obviously I'm familiar with the alumni situation at universities
in America and that's huge. I mean, people that become
successful give millions of dollars, you know, they just throw
the money at them. Does that the same sort of thing.
Have You've had people that have gone on and said
I owe this to my time at the Hurricanes. It
might have been one or two or three years, but
(02:39):
I owe something and want to help out and give
back to it.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yes, it's more probably. Yeah, the Wellington and the Hurricanes
region have got some very loyal supporters. Got an email
a couple of weeks ago from one of our past
Hurricane staff members who wants to is going to put
it in as well, is going to donate all as
memorabilia and jerseys to the alumni. So that's the examples
(03:04):
of how people can support us, which been absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Tell us some of the stories of work that the
alumni has done.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, you know a lot of work in supporting the
alumni with this is Hurricanes and Hurricanes Power. I might
add players and their families, so Post Rugby would support
with counseling. That might be personal stress, it might be
a relationship, it might be workplace issues. So that was
obviously a growing need from us for us. We've had
(03:39):
supported the faros of Sam Doyle who passed away with
leukemia a couple of years ago. We raised some money
for Michael Fatty Looafer some of you listeners may have
heard who had a terrible back injury which has been
great to support his faro with Norm Hewitt last year,
(03:59):
who passed away from motor neuron disease. So Friday night
we've got We've got Arlen Thomas Hewitt and their daughter
Lizzie coming along to the dinner. We've got some auction
items that one of Norm's jerseys he's donated that will
donate to motor Neuron New Zealand. So we've had two players,
(04:21):
Jared Cunningham and Norm who have passed away. So those
are the ways that we can support people in times
of hardship.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
In my intro, I said, and I know from all sports,
all professional sports. It's not just the Hurricanes and Super Rugby,
but sometimes players get two three hundred thousand dollar contracts
one maybe two years, then suddenly it's gone and spent
all the money because I think they're going to earn
it for the rest of their lives, and suddenly someone's
(04:49):
better than them. And that's real life and real professional sport.
Do you work with those sort of people and have
you seen instances like that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
One hundred percent? You know, we've had examples of very
famous Hurricanes who who have earned money for fifteen years,
who have then, through various reasons, struggled and have had
have come away with zero. Obviously, we can't publicize that.
(05:17):
We just work privately, and so that's the satisfaction that
that myself and our board get. If we can help
one or two or three or half a dozen families
a year with that support, that's where the that's where
the real joy is.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And basically you're doing it for nothing, oh absolutely nothing.
I mean, you're did doing it because you feel that
you can do something to give back one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You know, I tried coaching for a couple of games
and that didn't suit me. So yeah, this is about
just giving back and obviously still being connected with the Hurricanes,
which which I love and I love the organization, so
that's a that's a you know makes me happy, and
the and the and the board of fully supportive and
(06:02):
the same applies to them, which is great.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So the current team say, for do you just go
and once a season go and have a little meeting
with them to go and after training and say hey,
look I might rustle some of you will know me,
some of you won't, and as you get a bit older,
the lesson this will know who you are and explain
what you do and ask if anyone needs any help
or what does anyone want to be involved? Is that
(06:25):
how it works?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
That that's that used to be the case, you know,
But now that the Hurricanes with Clark at the how
fully fully open so that any any of the alumni
I can go to n z c I s and
turn up to any team meeting, we can go to
the changing rooms after the game where it's totally part
of the team, which is which is really special.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So really like a glorified old boys network.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, it's sort of aas you've got to think of
a name for I suppose, and alumni was you know, yeah,
we didn't like old boys network, so alumni was the
name we came up with it. And especially with the
Hurricanes power girls, you know we do the same support
obviously for them and their far no so but you
know that at the moment with Clark at the Helm
is totally open and supportive, which is really great.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Do they have an old boys game? Do they have
an old timers game? I remember as a kid, I
used to go and watch Taranaki play Wellington. That was
the old timers game, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, and sort of that's been a coup. Few years
ago that was the case, but I think the the
older boys have sort of got older and a little
bit more difficult.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Now. Well, tell us about the function you've got on
Friday night and tell us give us a bit of
a rundown on that and how what's going to happen And.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, so we're at a sell out again two hundred people,
which is absolutely amazing given the difficult economic times that
that we're in, especially in Wellington. So which I mean,
we've got, as I said, great support, really low supporters.
First of all, we hear from the two coaches, Clark
ladle or in one Tana Umanger obviously is the alumni member.
(08:02):
Alumni member, yes, so so that'll be great to fully
sup of his. So he'll they'll do a Q and A.
Jason pine Piney will do a Q and A with
those two for the game the following day, which is
reasonably important. And then we've some networking and dinner and
we've got a final guest speaker Farmena. So some of
(08:24):
listers might have heard about him and his league career
where reputed to have earned over a million dollars and
spent it all on basically alcohol and socializing. He's written
a book called The Second Phase, obviously talking about life.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You know he's a Willington College job or he went
to Willington College.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yes, he came down for some schooling.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
He's actually a basketball player. Yes, he went to league.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Started playing league for it in then eighteen months I
was playing for the canber Raiders. But his book and
as I've heard a couple of podcasts of his life
is fascinating and especially now he's giving back to the sport.
So he'll be hopefully he'll be. He'll be fantastic, lovely
to meet you and see you. Fantastic work you do.
Hope the function goes well and lots of action, lots
(09:10):
of money and puts money in the kiddy. It's called
the Hurricanes Alumni and Mike Russell is the man behind
it and said it he set it up with Chris Boyd.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
What a great initiative. Well done. Congratulations, thank joy and.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Thank you for support.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks. There'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks ab Right.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're privileged to have Mike Russell join us on the show. Now. Now,
there's a special event happening in Wellington this week. It's
the Hurricanes Alumni Foundation. Trust is hosting their annual fundraising
dinner on Friday to raise money to support Hurricanes alumni.
You know, this is a great initiative and a great
idea and when I first saw it, I thought to myself,
how good and every sporting organization should have one. They're
(00:37):
going to do stuff where they work with mental health,
well being and support and career support post rugby. When
you know these some of these guys are in huge
amounts of money one year, next year they don't get selected,
they're not wanted, they're gone. How do you go mentally
from being earning really really really good money to going
(00:58):
and finding a job. And basically this alumni is there
to try and help you and sort you. So joining
me now is Mike Russell the form Can you remember him?
He set up and was involved with the Trust with
an old friend of mine. By the way, Mike, welcome, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Nick.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Tell us about the alumni. What happened, how it started?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, it's not too glamorous. Chris Boyd you remember him.
He came to me one day and said, why don't
you set up an alumni And I thought, well, okay,
that'll be easy, that'll be there, very easy. But it was.
It was somewhat difficult because we didn't have all the names, addresses,
(01:40):
contact emails of the players, the management or anything. So
we had to start from scratch with a makeshift board
and finally got all the players, all the management, all
the staff, and got a database and where we went.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So has the has the Hurricanes organization been supportive or
they help you do they work with you?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Hurricanes have been fantastic that we couldn't do it without
their support. So the Hurricanes, the board's been fantastic, the
staff and obviously the coaches especially you know, the next
level now with Clark has fully embraced it and obviously
realizes the importance.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Now, obviously I'm familiar with the alumni situation at universities
in America and that's huge. I mean, people that become
successful give millions of dollars, you know, they just throw
the money at them. Does that the same sort of thing.
Have You've had people that have gone on and said
I owe this to my time at the Hurricanes. It
might have been one or two or three years, but
(02:39):
I owe something and want to help out and give
back to it.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yes, it's more probably. Yeah, the Wellington and the Hurricanes
region have got some very loyal supporters. Got an email
a couple of weeks ago from one of our past
Hurricane staff members who wants to is going to put
it in as well, is going to donate all as
memorabilia and jerseys to the alumni. So that's the examples
(03:04):
of how people can support us, which been absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Tell us some of the stories of work that the
alumni has done.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, you know a lot of work in supporting the
alumni with this is Hurricanes and Hurricanes Power. I might
add players and their families, so Post Rugby would support
with counseling. That might be personal stress, it might be
a relationship, it might be workplace issues. So that was
obviously a growing need from us for us. We've had
(03:39):
supported the faros of Sam Doyle who passed away with
leukemia a couple of years ago. We raised some money
for Michael Fatty Looafer some of you listeners may have
heard who had a terrible back injury which has been
great to support his faro with Norm Hewitt last year,
(03:59):
who passed away from motor neuron disease. So Friday night
we've got We've got Arlen Thomas Hewitt and their daughter
Lizzie coming along to the dinner. We've got some auction
items that one of Norm's jerseys he's donated that will
donate to motor Neuron New Zealand. So we've had two players,
(04:21):
Jared Cunningham and Norm who have passed away. So those
are the ways that we can support people in times
of hardship.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
In my intro, I said, and I know from all sports,
all professional sports. It's not just the Hurricanes and Super Rugby,
but sometimes players get two three hundred thousand dollar contracts
one maybe two years, then suddenly it's gone and spent
all the money because I think they're going to earn
it for the rest of their lives, and suddenly someone's
(04:49):
better than them. And that's real life and real professional sport.
Do you work with those sort of people and have
you seen instances like that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
One hundred percent? You know, we've had examples of very
famous Hurricanes who who have earned money for fifteen years,
who have then, through various reasons, struggled and have had
have come away with zero. Obviously, we can't publicize that.
(05:17):
We just work privately, and so that's the satisfaction that
that myself and our board get. If we can help
one or two or three or half a dozen families
a year with that support, that's where the that's where
the real joy is.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And basically you're doing it for nothing, oh absolutely nothing.
I mean, you're did doing it because you feel that
you can do something to give back one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You know, I tried coaching for a couple of games
and that didn't suit me. So yeah, this is about
just giving back and obviously still being connected with the Hurricanes,
which which I love and I love the organization, so
that's a that's a you know makes me happy, and
the and the and the board of fully supportive and
(06:02):
the same applies to them, which is great.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So the current team say, for do you just go
and once a season go and have a little meeting
with them to go and after training and say hey,
look I might rustle some of you will know me,
some of you won't, and as you get a bit older,
the lesson this will know who you are and explain
what you do and ask if anyone needs any help
or what does anyone want to be involved? Is that
(06:25):
how it works?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
That that's that used to be the case, you know,
But now that the Hurricanes with Clark at the how
fully fully open so that any any of the alumni
I can go to n z c I s and
turn up to any team meeting, we can go to
the changing rooms after the game where it's totally part
of the team, which is which is really special.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So really like a glorified old boys network.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, it's sort of aas you've got to think of
a name for I suppose, and alumni was you know, yeah,
we didn't like old boys network, so alumni was the
name we came up with it. And especially with the
Hurricanes power girls, you know we do the same support
obviously for them and their far no so but you
know that at the moment with Clark at the Helm
is totally open and supportive, which is really great.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Do they have an old boys game? Do they have
an old timers game? I remember as a kid, I
used to go and watch Taranaki play Wellington. That was
the old timers game, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, and sort of that's been a coup. Few years
ago that was the case, but I think the the
older boys have sort of got older and a little
bit more difficult.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Now. Well, tell us about the function you've got on
Friday night and tell us give us a bit of
a rundown on that and how what's going to happen And.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, so we're at a sell out again two hundred people,
which is absolutely amazing given the difficult economic times that
that we're in, especially in Wellington. So which I mean,
we've got, as I said, great support, really low supporters.
First of all, we hear from the two coaches, Clark
ladle or in one Tana Umanger obviously is the alumni member.
(08:02):
Alumni member, yes, so so that'll be great to fully
sup of his. So he'll they'll do a Q and A.
Jason pine Piney will do a Q and A with
those two for the game the following day, which is
reasonably important. And then we've some networking and dinner and
we've got a final guest speaker Farmena. So some of
(08:24):
listers might have heard about him and his league career
where reputed to have earned over a million dollars and
spent it all on basically alcohol and socializing. He's written
a book called The Second Phase, obviously talking about life.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You know he's a Willington College job or he went
to Willington College.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yes, he came down for some schooling.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
He's actually a basketball player. Yes, he went to league.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Started playing league for it in then eighteen months I
was playing for the canber Raiders. But his book and
as I've heard a couple of podcasts of his life
is fascinating and especially now he's giving back to the sport.
So he'll be hopefully he'll be. He'll be fantastic, lovely
to meet you and see you. Fantastic work you do.
Hope the function goes well and lots of action, lots
(09:10):
of money and puts money in the kiddy. It's called
the Hurricanes Alumni and Mike Russell is the man behind
it and said it he set it up with Chris Boyd.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
What a great initiative. Well done. Congratulations, thank joy and.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Thank you for support.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks. There'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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