The Young Māori Party Football Club’s (YMP Rugby Club) Origins; Te Rau Kahikatea Theological College was established in 1883 to train Māori for the Anglican ministry and became the birthplace of the longest surviving Rugby Club in the Poverty Bay Rugby Union, the YMP Rugby Football Club. The Club itself has its origins when the Young Māori Party, a political group headed by Sir Apirana Ngata, Dr Maui Pomare, Dr Peter Buck and Frederick Bennett, was promoting the philosophies of Māori social advancement. They did this by encouraging the revival of Māori culture and promoting the benefits of good health and housing and good education through the formation of sports and cultural groups to partake in inter-tribal competitions.The Young Māori Party Football Club was formed after a meeting at Te Rau College in April 1910.