News

Every player to ever play for the PIC Steelers has been allocated their own personal playing number dating back to the very first Counties Manukau team in 1955.

Months of work collating data, going through old records and tracking down former players has yielded a list of 811 players that have donned the red, white and black hoops. From the original Counties team that was the first to ever represent the region of South Auckland Counties in 1955 all the way through to Reon Graham’s 2022 squad – each player has been assigned their own number in chronological order.

The full list of Steelers players and numbers.

The player designated #1 is Frank Garfield Fruin, who played in the 1955 team, alongside the legendary All Black Pat Walsh (#4).

Manurewa loose forward Thor Manase (#811) is the last player in the list – the most recent to have made his PIC Steelers debut.

Some of the biggest names in the Union’s history lie in between – the likes of Bob Lendrum (#162), Bruce Robertson (#196), Alan Dawson (#231), Errol Brain (#351) and Jonah Lomu (#413).

The list will not be officially confirmed until July 1 next year and the Union is encouraging anyone to come forward if names are missing before the player records are set in stone.

"This is the preliminary list for now based on all the records we have,” said CMRFU Operations Manager Dale Tucker. “But we appreciate someone might be missing and the numbers may change.

“As such, we would caution any former Steelers to avoid getting their number tattooed at this point as it could very well change in the next few months."

Anyone with relevant information is asked to email Dale Tucker – (dale.tucker@steelers.co.nz).

A similar list is being constructed for the Counties Energy Heat and the Union hopes to have that ready for public consumption this side of Christmas.