Sonny Whakarau


Sonny Whakarau is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played professionally in England and represented the New Zealand Māori.

Playing career

A Manawatu representative, Whakarau moved south in 1986, joining the Wellington Rugby League and becoming a Wellington representative.
In the 1994/1995 English season Whakarau joined Doncaster and helped them win promotion to the First Division.
He played for the Sheffield Eagles in 1995/96 season. Whakarau represented New Zealand Māori at the 1996 Pacific Cup and then played in their defeats of Papua New Guinea and Great Britain the same year.
In 1996 he joined the Keighley Cougars. Later in the season he was loaned to the Wakefield Trinity. He played for the Wakefield Trinity in 1998, and 1999.
Whakarau then returned home and played for the Levin Knights and Manawatu. In 2000 he was appointed player-coach of the Manawatu team but handed the coaching reins over to former coach Paul Sixtus after one game. He was later appointed the Manawatu Rugby League development officer, in 2001.
In 2002 the Central Falcons were admitted to the Bartercard Cup and Whakarau became a regular in the side, playing close to 50 games over the next three seasons until his retirement from representative football at the end of the 2005 season.
In 2004 Whakarau played for the Levin Lions in the Western Alliance club competition. Whakarau was selected for New Zealand Māori as part of the 2004 Pacific Cup squad.