Reese Griffiths
{{Short description|New Zealand international rugby league footballer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox rugby league biography
|name = Reese Griffiths
|fullname = Reese Kenneth Griffiths[http://www.nzleague.co.nz/kiwis/player_profile.php?letter=G&id=372 GRIFFITHS, Reese Kenneth - 1956 - 63] nzleague.co.nz
|image =
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|position = {{rlp|WG|CE}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|12|25|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths |title=Death search: registration number 2016/24813 |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |accessdate=2 November 2018}}
|birth_place = New Zealand
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|09|16|1937|12|25|df=y}}
|death_place = Greymouth, New Zealand
|height =
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|club1 = Runanga (WCRL)
|year1start =
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|appearances1 =
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|teamA = West Coast
|yearAstart = 1954
|yearAend = 64
|appearancesA =
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|teamB = South Island
|yearBstart = 1956
|yearBend =
|appearancesB =
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|teamC = New Zealand
|yearCstart = 1957
|yearCend = 63
|appearancesC = 11
|triesC = 1
|goalsC = 0
|fieldgoalsC = 0
|pointsC = 3
|updated =
|new = yes
}}
Reese Kenneth Griffiths (25 December 1937 – 16 September 2016) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand in the 1957 and 1960 World Cups.
Playing career
Griffiths played in the outside backs for Runanga in the West Coast Rugby League competition. He represented the West Coast between 1954 and 1964, and the South Island in 1965.{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/84526528/west-coast-loses-rugby-league-star-reese-griffiths|title=Coast mourns league legend|publisher=}}
He was first selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team in 1957 and attended the World Cup that year as an injury replacement for Neville Denton. Griffiths went on to play in eleven test matches for the Kiwis between 1957 and 1963, including at the 1960 World Cup. He finished his international career having played in 35 games and scored 18 tries for New Zealand.
In 1960 Griffiths was also involved in the West Coast side that won the Northern Union Cup from Auckland.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-86969-366-4}}.
Personal life
Griffiths worked in the West Coast mines and also owned a commercial fishing boat. He is commemorated in a mural on the side of a Runanga dairy, alongside George Menzies and Bernie Green.
Griffiths died in Greymouth on 16 September 2016.{{cite news| url=http://deaths.press.co.nz/obituaries/the-press-nz/obituary.aspx?n=reese-griffiths&pid=181437942| title=Reese Griffiths death notice| date=17 September 2016| work=The Press| accessdate=2 October 2016}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{New Zealand 1957 Rugby League World Cup squad}}
{{New Zealand 1960 Rugby League World Cup squad}}
{{West Coast Jubilee}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Reese}}
Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen
Category:New Zealand coal miners
Category:New Zealand national rugby league team players
Category:New Zealand rugby league players
Category:Rugby league players from Greymouth