Congratulations Pete - ONZM
The Galaxy club committee and its global members wish to congratulate Pete who was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition for his services to Touch Rugby:
Mr Peter Walters of Maori descent (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri) has been contributing to the growth of touch rugby in New Zealand and globally for more than 35 years.
Mr Walters has coached, played and developed touch rugby all over New Zealand and across 31 countries worldwide, raising the profile of the sport and developing skills, knowledge and resources. He is the founder of Galaxy Touch Club, established in Auckland in 1987, which is the largest touch rugby club worldwide with more than 120 teams in 30 cities and 14 countries. He is the most capped player in touch rugby, representing New Zealand in nine World Cups and winning three. He has been a member of 35 winning national championship teams, with 20 consecutive gold medals for Auckland. He received the Coach of the Year award at the Maori Sports Awards in 1999 and the Tohu Motuhake in 2011. Mr Walters received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Touch New Zealand in 2019.
There have been a lot of congratulations on social media. Pete’s response -
Kia ora Everyone. I want to thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. I am so humbled by your comments and appreciative of you all, not just those here in NZ but everyone all over the world. You have all been part of my life journey and enhanced my life in some way. I shed a tear hearing some of your comments. I want to thank my family - my parents, my wife, my 3 children and my 3 grandchildren, behind the scenes but always supporting me and loyal. Happy New Year. Arohanui ki a koutou. PW
