Incredible story of how inaugural Knights captain Sam Stewart played under a pseudonym
It’s the never-before-told story of a prodigiously talented league player in New Zealand who rose to the top of the junior ranks before joining the Knights. The only problem? He wasn’t who he said he was.
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Sam Hauwaho was a rising New Zealand footy star during the early 1980s, a teenager who would later create history with the Newcastle Knights.
The only problem was he didn’t exist.
Hauwaho was actually Sam Stewart, who would soon become Newcastle’s inaugural first grade captain, playing under an alias.
Now the legacy of this concocted man endures at Newcastle through a culture he helped establish in 1988, the club’s inaugural season in the NSWRL.
The building blocks off which the Knights will use to prepare for Saturday’s elimination semi-final against the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland.
THE CON
Stewart was 14 when his selection in Wellington’s Naenae College first XV rugby union side precluded him from playing rugby league.
“Every kid wants to play in the first XV side at school because rugby union is held in such high regard. If you’re in the first XV, you’re pretty much kings of the school,” Stewart said.
“I played for the first XV when I was 14 so it meant you couldn’t play any other sport.
“If Sam Stewart was registered at the local rugby league club then I couldn’t play for my school.
Having fallen in love with rugby league through watching once-a-week TV replays of the midweek Amco Cup competition beamed into New Zealand from Australia, Stewart decided to defy school rules.
He took on the pseudonym Sam Hauwaho and played rugby league for six years.
“I had a love for this other game that I wanted to play and I didn’t want to forsake that,” Stewart said.
“It wasn’t evil but I wanted to play both.
“Everyone still called me by first name, but the surname was Hauwaho. I could now play my rugby and also league.”
The name, that he pinched from a friend, even appeared in team photos.
“In all my (team) photos, age grade and national schoolboys, I’m listed as Sam Hauwaho. They are probably under the house somewhere,” he said.
“As a 14-year-old, it was simple, no big deal, but as I got older, there were complications.”
NAME GAME ENDS
After being selected for the Junior Kiwis rugby league side in his first year out of school, the jig was up. And a 19-year-old Stewart had to convince rugby league officials of his real name.
“When I made the Junior Kiwis in my first year out of school, they still had me as Sam Hauwaho,” Stewart said.
“I had to correct them and said ‘I don’t know what’s happened here, but my name isn’t Sam Hauwaho. Someone’s got it wrong, my name is Sam Stewart’.
“I told them it must have been a typo somewhere.”
THE REAL SAM HAUWAHO
This masthead this week found a Sam Hauwaho on Facebook, who continues live to Wellington and enjoys Maori art.
“I’m 95 per cent sure it’s him but it was 45 years ago,” Stewart, now 60, said when asked if he could verify if the man in the photo was his old mate.
“We all had afros back then in the ‘70s. It was a long time ago.
“Sam and I haven’t kept in touch since school but I’m sure he will have a laugh about it.”
LEAGUE OF ITS OWN
The only top-flight rugby league Stewart got to experience in New Zealand were the legendary Ray Warren’s calls of the midweek Amco Cup competition.
“I played under an assumed name because there’s only one game back home in New Zealand and that’s rugby union and the All Blacks,” Stewart said.
“Growing up in New Zealand, we used to get the Amco Cup games. That was the only rugby league we’d get.
“I was fascinated by the Amco Cup. We would get it (broadcast) on a Sunday, which was the game from the week before and I always thought that I’d love to play in that competition.”
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
The giant forward became a New Zealand Test player and took unpaid leave from the police force in New Zealand to follow his league dream to Australia.
“A mate of mine, who was also a policeman, heard that Newcastle, Gold Coast and Brisbane were entering (the NSWRL) in 1988 so he made contact with the Knights and sent some amateurish tapes over,” Stewart said.
“I was also playing for New Zealand in 1987 and we had a really good win against Australia in Brisbane. Within a couple of months, I was at Newcastle and, to my surprise, I was made captain.”
KNIGHT RIDER
Stewart led the Knights onto Newcastle International Sports Centre for the club’s first-ever game on March 5, 1988.
Parramatta may have won 28-4 – five-eighth Robbie Tew kicked two goals – but the newly formed Knights were gritty and competitive – traits which live to this day.
“We all got on well back then, we bonded and we had pride. We set some standards early on about being the player that everyone wants to play with,” Stewart said. “I believe they still use that today.
“It’s fairly simple but has an underlying meaning. We tried to set an example. It was amazing how we came together as a team. We played for each other and everyone was equal.
“We agreed to set those standards for the younger guys coming through. They put their bodies on the line for their town.
“We knew we weren’t going to win any titles early on but it was such a great rugby league heartland area and they were always going to breed their own champions, which we did in 1997 (when winning the ARL grand final). That was the fruits of all their labour, I suppose.
“A lot of people helped dig the well and I was lucky enough to run out first in that first season. It certainly was a whirlwind back then.”
HENNY PENNY KNIGHTS
Stewart was working for Henny Penny chickens while leading Newcastle in year one, where they won just five of their 22 games.
Nicknamed ‘Slammin’ Sam’, Stewart was Newcastle cap No.1 and captained the Knights for 40 games.
“My first contract was $30,000 a season for three years. I was a policeman back in New Zealand and took leave without pay,” he said.
“We all worked 9am-5pm jobs back then. I was working for Henny Penny, the sponsor, driving a truck around a delivering the chickens. They had 13 stores in the Hunter.
“It was also the first time I had ever been in the gym. Most of us were from the country along with a few Kiwis. We had a ragtag team who won the heart and minds of the Newcastle public.
“Then the Tina Turner ad came along and took the game to new heights very quickly, along with all the media hype around that ad. The crowd also got involved in the frenzy.
“The old (home) dressing rooms back then were wet, dark, dingy, cramped and tight. Sometimes the showers were cold, there was only one massage table but you made the most of it.
“It was the start of something special for the day, you’d switch on when you got into the dressing room. You go into your trance to prepare.”
THE WINNING SEQUENCE
Stewart is in awe of the current Knights, watching their 10-game winning streak on wife Vicki’s laptop, wearing his Knights’ cap and scarf, as the couple travel around Australia.
“It’s been quite remarkable,” Stewart said. “A run of 10 wins in any grade would be unbelievable. It’s been on the back of their defence, especially on their tryline.
“They are really working for each other and are enjoying playing for each other. They are making those extra efforts where, in years gone by, you might not have seen those extra efforts.
“It’s been exciting. Vicki works online and we have something called Starlink so I am able to keep up with the footy.
“I am absolutely proud of what the club has done this year. It can be tough living in Newcastle in terms of a demanding public. We probably didn’t have those demands because no-one expected us to beat teams like Parramatta and Canterbury.”
LIFE TODAY
When Stewart spoke with this masthead, he and Vicki were near Albany, 418km southeast of Perth. The pair are expected back home on the Gold Coast by Christmas, where he is involved in property management.
“It’s amazing how Knights supporters we’ve bumped into on the road,” he said. “I’m flying the Knights flag and we’ve got all the paraphernalia. We’re doing our bit from the other side of the country.
“We’re doing a lap of Australia. We’ve been on the road for about five-and-a-half months and are catching up with the kids along the way – they are spread out all over the place.
“We have no plan. We are taking a day or two at a time. We are just rolling with whatever is happening. There’s a lot to see and do. It’s a huge adventure – leave all your worries behind.”
Originally published as Incredible story of how inaugural Knights captain Sam Stewart played under a pseudonym
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