26/08/2026
Rest In Love Jack 🖤🤍🖤
Condolences to the Newson whānau and Hornby Rugby League Club on the loss of an absolute Legend of our game 🖤🤍🖤🕊️🙏🏼
Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne.
The tōtara tree has fallen in the great forest of Tāne.
For more than 70 years, Jack gave his heart and soul to rugby league and to the Hornby Panthers. He started playing for Hornby as a 10 year old and, incredibly, continued playing his whole life, with his last game with the Panthers Masters when he was 80.
Jack was so much more than a rugby league player.
He was a coach, a mentor, a Life Member, a volunteer, a friend, and for generations of young players, someone they could look up to and rely on.
He was the man who would quietly step in when someone needed a hand.
Always there. Always willing to help. Never asking for anything in return.
Jack's greatest legacy isn't measured in games, awards or years of service.
It is measured in people.
The players he coached.
The young people he encouraged.
The friends he made.
The families he became part of.
And the generations that will carry his influence forward.
Rugby league wasn't simply something he loved.
It was who he was.
Jack quietly gave his life to something bigger than himself.
Jack was a big man with an even bigger heart.
For us at Hornby, Jack isn’t just part of the club's history.
He is part of its soul.
Jack, thank you for a lifetime of memories, friendship, guidance, and love.
Thank you for every player you helped, every young person you encouraged, every game you watched, every hand you offered and every life you touched.
Your boots may now be hung up, but your legacy will never leave the Hornby Panthers.
Rest in so much Love Jack 🖤🤍🖤