Our Life Members & Club Patrons
The Vikings club honours the founding members and people who have played a significant part in forming the club. The profiles below show our life members and club patrons.
Steve Arnold
Steven John Arnold was the visionary whose idea of “expanding rugby in the Hastings area” in late 1995 saw the formation of the Hastings Valley Vikings.
Steve rightfully deserves the title Mr Viking, not only founding the club but over the years having two very successful terms as President (1996 – 1998, 2001), contributing as a major sponsor, being a playing member of the Golden Oldies team the Wrinkled Horns, Club Coach, taking the First XV team to a grand final in 2003 and finally in recent years as a Club Patron.
Steve was honoured for his dedicated commitment, hard work and exemplary leadership of the Hastings Valley Vikings by being awarded Life Membership of the Club in 2005 at the 10th Year Anniversary Ball. Steve Arnold currently resides in Sydney but still keeps a close interest in the Vikings and manages to make it to a number of games each year.
David McCormack
David John McCormack will always be remembered as the “heart and soul” of the Vikings. He did it all for the Club including stints as, Committee Member, Registrar, Club Captain, First XV Coach, the first Team Captain, the inspiration behind the formation of the Wrinkled Horns and Club President in 1999-2000.
It was during this presidency the title the “family club” was well and truly established, especially with the enthusiastic help of his own family.
Dave was honoured by the Club by being made a Life Member of the Vikings at the 10th Year Anniversary Ball in 2005. Sadly Dave’s life was lost in a motor vehicle accident in 2007 although his legacy lives on in our “family club”. His memory is celebrated each year with the David McCormack Memorial Match when the President’s Select XV play the Wrinkled Horns outfit, a match Dave instigated during his Presidency.
Lance Kedward
Lance “Exploso” Kedward was a co-founder of the Hastings Valley Vikings Rugby Club along with fellow Life Member, Steve Arnold.
Lance was a 1996 foundation player and the inaugural Secretary of the Club.
He has been associated with the Club since its inception either as a player, coach, manager or administrator.
In 1998 he undertook the setup and running of the Vikings Golden Oldies team the Wrinkled Horns and over 20 years later is currently still involved as a player and organizer of the Horns.
Lance became the Vikings 3rd Life Member when he was awarded the honour at the Club’s 20th Anniversary Ball in 2015.
Mark Hill
Mark Hill’s first match for the Vikings was a guest appearance when on holidays in 1999 in which he severely damaged his ankle.
He moved to Port Macquarie in 2001 and again linked with the Vikings Club this time with a much more positive outcome. He joined the Club Committee in 2002 and in the following decade served in many positions including stints as Treasurer, Secretary and serving President when the Vikings won their maiden First Grade Premiership.
Hilly coached Reserve Grade for two consecutive years and served as First Grade manager for many seasons. In 2010 he clocked up 100 senior games with the Club.
He now helps out by pulling out the whistle and refereeing matches. Mark was awarded Life Membership of the Club at the 20th Anniversary Ball in 2015.
Michael Aldridge - Fiona McCormack - David Barnes
Club Patrons
Ryley Batt OAM
Ryley Batt is one of the greatest wheelchair rugby players the world has ever seen.
In 2004 Ryley made his Paralympic debut as the youngest ever wheelchair rugby player to compete at the Paralympic Games.
He reached the Paralympic podium for the first time four years later at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, and led the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers, to their first Paralympic gold medal in 2012. Incredibly, in the gold medal match alone, Ryley scored 37 of the Steelers’ 66 goals against the Canadian team.
After helping win the Steelers’ first world title in 2014, Ryley made history as a member of the first wheelchair rugby team to win consecutive Paralympic gold medals and a World Championship title in a four-year period, defeating the USA 59-58 in a double-overtime thriller at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
John McCormack
The patriarch of the McCormack clan John was originally known as "Cowboy" but is now affectionately known to most in the Viking community as simply "Poppy".
John has supported the Club since its inception even pulling on the boots for a few games of golden oldies and taking out the Wrinkled Horns, "Most Prominent Horn" award one season.
The Vikings are proud to have "Poppy" as a patron of the Club in this our 25th year.
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