The greatest part of being a collector of Groggs is the
opportunity to own one of your icons or heroes from the world of sports, stage
or screen. Of course as collectors you always want more, Groggs are a little
like Pringles, you can’t just have the one and as a result there is always
continuous demand for new, often diverse choices of who gets Grogged next.
Since starting The Grogg Blog I have seen various
individuals, who fellow collectors would love to see in their collections,
ranging from Sylvester Stallone as Rambo, Bob Marley, Arnold Schwarzenegger and
more traditional choices from the World of Rugby such as Manu Tuilagi and
Warren Gatland.
However there is one name which has been unanimously mentioned
throughout the profiles within The Grogg Blog and through other social media
groups such as The Jolly Groggers and The Grogg Appreciation Group and that is
Dual Code Rugby Player and Boxer Sonny Bill Williams.
Sonny Bill Williams was born in Auckland, New Zealand in August
1985 and has represented New Zealand in both Rugby League and Rugby Union. In
fact, he is one of only two players to ever have played Rugby Union for the All
Blacks having first played for the Rugby League National team, the other player
being Karl Ifwersen.
Williams' career within Rugby has seen him alternate between
League and Union since his breakthrough season in 2004. It was with Rugby
League side the Canterbury Bulldogs that Sonny Bill Williams made his professional
debut, back in 2004.
In 2008 his time with the Bulldogs was controversially cut
short when he departed mid season to join French Rugby Union side Toulon.
Williams spent the best part of 2 years playing for the French side playing
around 33 professional games and scoring 6 tries in the process.
In 2010, Sonny
Bill returned to New Zealand, this time with Provincial side Canterbury. It was
at the end of this year that Williams made his much anticipated debut for the
All Blacks, lining up against England during the 2010 end of year tour.
In the seasons that followed Williams spent time playing in
Super Rugby with the Crusaders in 2011 and the Chiefs in 2012 before a brief
stint with Panasonic in the Japanese League. After 5 years plying his trade
within Rugby Union, Williams returned to the New Zealand Rugby League scene
this time with the Sydney Roosters for the 2013-14 season, earning himself the
accolade of the World’s Best Rugby League Player at the annual RLIF Awards.
Much
to the delight of Union fans Sonny Bill announced in December 2013 that he
would be switching codes again to play Super Rugby for the Chiefs in the 2015
season, whilst also turning out in the ITM Cup for Counties Manukau where he
will be reunited with former All Black player and Toulon Coach Tana Umaga.
The
move back to union also means that Sonny Bill will be eligible to represent the
All Blacks during the 2015 World Cup, a move which will bring a feeling of
pleasure to all fans of rugby but also introduce a little fear no doubt to
those who will see him line up against their own nations.
It is not just in the dual codes of Rugby that Sonny Bill
has demonstrated his talents, believe it or not Williams is actually a former
Heavy Weight Boxing Champion. Since making his professional debut in 2009 as a
professional boxer, Williams has had a total of 6 fights winning all 6, 3 by
way of KO, winning two Heavy Weight Championships in the process, all whilst
playing Rugby at the same time… madness I hear you say, but Sonny would disagree,
he described his first professional bout as “good off-season training”.
In
October 2013 Williams decided to hang up his boxing gloves (temporarily) to
concentrate on his Rugby commitments, this withdrawal from the sport however
has led to him being stripped of his two boxing titles, but I’m sure one eye was
on the World Cup in 2015 which would no doubt act as a pretty decent
consolation prize should the All Blacks triumph in England!
Sonny Bill is an extremely popular player amongst fans of
both codes of Rugby and it is no surprise Grogg collectors have called for this
popularity to be transitioned into clay and much to the delight of us all The
World of Groggs have recently revealed that Sonny Bill is to be Grogged, with
work having secretly commenced on the piece which will no doubt be as popular
as the player himself.
The timing couldn’t have been better really with the All
Blacks coming to Wales for the Autumn Internationals, no doubt we will see
Sonny Bill entering the Grogg Shop, holding his Grogg proudly in the way
several of his fellow New Zealanders have done so over the years.
I for one
cannot wait to see the finished pieced, but in the meantime you’ll just have to
feast your eyes on the work in progress! Want a Sonny Bill Williams Grogg in
your collection? Pre orders can be made by emailing Carly and the Team at info@groggs.co.uk
Happy Grogg Bloggin’
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| Photograph Courtesy of The World of Groggs |
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